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The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has released data chronicling the prevalence of buildings with total heights taller than 150 meters (492 feet) in major metropolitan areas across the world. The statistics speak to several yearslong industry-wide trends as well as a... View full entry
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has published its latest annual web report, Tall Buildings in 2020, with plenty of facts and figures on the state of the skyscraper construction industry during a year full of pandemic-related uncertainty. With 106 completions of buildings... View full entry
It is estimated that up to 1 billion birds die every year in the United States due to collisions with glass facades and buildings, according to experts at the American Bird Conservancy and the Smithsonian. This worrisome statistic has prompted municipalities to institute "bird-friendly"... View full entry
99 Hudson Street, a 900-foot tower residential tower designed by architects Perkins Eastman for developers China Overseas America in Jersey City, New Jersey, is nearing completion. The tower topped out as New Jersey's tallest skyscraper in late 2018. In recent weeks, according to New York... View full entry
The [stabilization plan] calls for 52 piles to be drilled 250 feet down into bedrock to shore up the building, now leaning 17 inches to the north and west. The 2-foot-thick circular steel piles would be filled with steel reinforced concrete. Twenty-two would be sunk along Mission Street and 30 on Fremont Street. — The San Francisco Chronicle
The reinforcements will join the tower's existing 950-pile foundation in helping to stop the tower's drift. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, a report written by a panel of experts studying solutions to the sinking problem states, "In our professional opinion, once the... View full entry
China may be the biggest consumer of sand right now, but the issue is a global one. A UN report published earlier this year showed that sand extraction is far outstripping the rates at which it is replenished. According to a team of scientists who recently wrote about the topic in Science Magazine ($) and The Conversation, “Sand and gravel are now the most-extracted materials in the world”–measured by weight, they surpass fossil fuels and biomass. — Forbes
Writing in Forbes, Laurie Winkless probes the far-reaching and destructive impacts of skyrocketing global sand consumption as the world's urbanizing cities demand more and more of the substance to fuel new construction. View full entry
Tougher building rules for skyscrapers have been drawn up by the City of London because of concerns that a high-rise, urban microclimate will generate winds capable of knocking over cyclists and pedestrians.
Developers will have to provide more comprehensive safety assessments of how proposed buildings will affect people on street level, with more robust testing of roadways and pavements using detailed scale models in wind tunnels and computer simulations.
— The Guardian
After a series of high-profile skyscraper design controversies, including documented incidents of pedestrians being knocked off their feet and cyclists being pushed sideways into the path of vehicles due to strong skyscraper-generated winds, London is moving to regulate the wind-driven... View full entry
With plenty of futuristic and architecturally diverse buildings to choose from, which of these world-famous designs has gained the title of the most popular on Instagram around the world?
We gathered research to find out the most Instagrammed skyscrapers in the world [...] we wanted to see what the total height of these Instagram photos would be in comparison to the height of the buildings themselves.
— Dublin Airport Central
With the looming presence social media has over the built environment, iconic buildings have never been easier to track down, especially as platforms like Instagram make high-profile architecture accessible at the press of a button. Dublin Airport Central recently conducted a... View full entry
A proposed mixed-use development slated for a site beside the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) in New York City has BBG officials worried that the shadows created by the project’s twin 39-story towers will deprive the garden’s specimens of vital sunlight. Gothamist reports that the... View full entry
“If you’re building a greenhouse in a climate emergency, it’s a pretty odd thing to do to say the least,” said Simon Sturgis, an adviser to the government and the Greater London Authority, as well as chairman of the Royal Institute of British Architects sustainability group. “If you’re using standard glass facades you need a lot of energy to cool them down, and using a lot of energy equates to a lot of carbon emissions.” — The Guardian
As the global community continues to mobilize against the rising threat of climate collapse, cities and other entities are moving toward banning or limiting the future development of all-glass skyscrapers due to the buildings' high energy demands, according to a report in The... View full entry
In a sign of the rising concern over the future of postmodern architecture in the American preservation community, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has named the 34-year-old Helmut Jahn-designed James R. Thompson Center in Chicago to its annual “America’s 11 Most Endangered... View full entry
eVolo Magazine has announced the winners of this year's Skyscraper Competition, which is one of the biggest and best known architectural ideas competitions out there. The yearly contest invites entrants to submit their most creative skyscraper designs that rethink vertical architecture and its... View full entry
"We're going to ban the classic glass and steel skyscrapers, which are incredibly inefficient," Bill de Blasio said on "Morning Joe." As the New York City mayor lays out plans for a municipal Green New Deal, he is looking to target one of the biggest sources of emissions in the city: buildings. De... View full entry
Greenland Wuhan Center, designed to surpass the Shanghai Tower and become China’s tallest building, will be falling short of its planned 636 metres (2086 feet) height, after the local government prescribed a 21 percent reduction in height for the central China supertall, according to an account in local media outlet the Paper. — mingtiandi.com
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture won the competition back in 2010 to design China's tallest, and the world's 4th tallest, building. The supertall was originally designed to reach 126 floors, however construction halted in August last year stopping at the 96th floor. The height reduction... View full entry
But a number of prominent architects and urban planners have been speaking out against the material's overuse. [...] They raise questions about the impact glass structures have on our public spaces and the fabric of our cities. Developers demand floor-to-ceiling windows, abundant natural light and views worth charging tenants for -- but what about the rest of us? — CNN
Architects including Ken Shuttleworth (who worked on The Gherkin) and Alan Ritchie (who co-founded PJAR Architects with Philip Johnson) give their two cents on the issues about the abundant use of glass in skyscrapers, from energy efficiency to their uninviting appearance — and yes, that one... View full entry
