In a move that could dramatically change Los Angeles’ skyline, city leaders announced Monday that helicopter landing facilities will no longer be required atop new buildings.

The fire code requirement has been criticized for contributing to the “flat-topped” look of Los Angeles’ skyline, particularly in downtown.

Los Angeles was the only major U.S. city with such a rule, which has been in place since at least the 1970s. — dailynews.com

The recent "TALL DC: New Monumentalism" exhibition took a critical approach to how outdated urban building standards -- specifically in D.C. -- can affect the built environment and the field of architecture, even as social demands and technology progress. Graduate students of Emerging Technologies and Media at The Catholic University of America proposed three skyscrapers among D.C.'s historical monuments to further encourage the questioning of this notion and the definition of "a monument". — bustler.net

SURE Architecture's "The Endless City in Height" skyscraper is all about going with the flow while making a bold statement. Proposed for the SkyScraper & SuperSkyscraper Competition, the entry recently won first place in the international competition. Designed to integrate itself with the surrounding streets in London, pedestrians discover the skyscraper's vertical city inside while walking up and down the "endless" interweaving ramps that wrap around the tower. — bustler.net

A new pair of towers proposed for downtown San Francisco would include the city's second-tallest building - and perhaps its most startling public space, an open-air plaza set beneath the main tower's elevated first floor.

The project straddles the northwest corner of First and Mission streets, with a 605-foot tower on Mission and a broad 910-foot high-rise on First. By comparison, the Salesforce Tower under construction on the southeast corner will top off at 1,070 feet. — sfchronicle.com

Once complete the tower will be the world’s tallest, beating current record holder the 828m-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Client Jeddah Economic Company has not yet confirmed the exact height of the tower, but has indicated it will be over 1km tall.

In December, contractor Saudi Bauer completed piling work for the tower, including sinking 270 piles up to a depth of 110m. — bdonline.co.uk

Last night, nearly 500 New Yorkers gathered at the New York Public Library’s main branch for a forum on the wave of skyscrapers that are rising along the Southern edge of Central Park. Skyscrapers that will, depending on whom you ask, either transform Central Park into a gloomy airshaft or create shadows as fleeting and insubstantial as a cloud moving across the sun. Concerns were raised, grievances aired and oligarchs denigrated. — observer.com

A forthcoming report from the Municipal Art Society, called “The Accidental Skyline,” bemoans what’s happening on 57th Street, absent New Yorkers’ input. It suggests any new tower casting a shadow over Central Park should require the approval of the City Planning Commission. That’s a plausible trigger for public oversight, dependent on city commissioners with backbone who understand design. — nytimes.com

Berg | C.F. Møller and DinellJohansson recently won the competition to design a future residential landmark for Stockholm. Hosted by Swedish real estate group HSB, three competing teams were required to propose three innovative residential buildings for three central locations in the city. The winners will work with HSB to develop and build the residential complex by 2023, in time for HSB's 100th anniversary. — bustler.net

The tower would have only been 697 feet until the developers bought Steinway Hall — a deal that allowed for the building’s height to double, but also gave the Landmarks Preservation Commission the final say.

The approval was a no brainer, members said.

“It represents the best of both worlds of new construction and design and historic preservation,” Commission Chairman Robert Tierney said Tuesday.

Fellow commissioner Fred Bland called the combo “daring and smart.” — nydailynews.com

Watch a four-part interactive documentary about the fascinating past, present and future of high-rise living in cities around the world. — nytimes.com

Yin Zhi, head of Beijing Tsinghua Urban Design Institute, said, "The technique that Broad Group uses has no precedent in the world, and the cost they promised is very low. So they either have some record breaking techniques or it’s a lie. They are gambling. If they win, they will change the history of world architecture, but that's one chance in a million." — news.xinhuanet.com

"We mustn't let ourselves be imprisoned by a 'heritage vision' of the city," Ms Hidalgo told the news magazine L'Express. "We are working towards a "genero-city" which is to say a city that is open, convivial and in vibration." — BBC News

The London skyline has traditionally been a slow-moving beast. While cities in Asia or the United States throw up dozens of new buildings virtually overnight, the capital’s horizon evolves at a more sedate pace. That’s all changing. A clutch of thrilling new buildings is revamping the skyline and helping to fulfil the desperate demand for housing. It’s taking place all over the city, but particularly in a southern stretch between London Bridge and Lambeth. — telegraph.co.uk