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Berlin has just said “yes” to Communist-era blocks and “no” to more new skyscrapers. On Monday, the city announced that it was listing some key Communist-era structures in Alexanderplatz, East Berlin’s central square, as historical monuments. It is an irremovable nail in the coffin of a 22-year-old plan to demolish the square and replace it with a “little Manhattan”—a set of 10 new 150-meter high towers. — citylab.com
"Alexanderplatz won’t stay entirely unchanged. Two new towers will still be built, one of them a twisting number from Frank Gehry."Previously:Berlin's Alexanderplatz high-rise developments continue to take shapeBerlin hopes Germany's tallest residential tower has the 'Bilbao effect'Berlin After... View full entry
“Their manufacture is very accurate, there’s very little work that needs to be done on site,” said Green. “Because of this, construction will be very quick. Someday I’d like to make a building where all you need is a giant allen key to put it together.”
Baobab’s structure consists of a series of these solid timber walls that travel the full height of the tower, along with timber columns and a central timber “core” housing elevators and stairs.
— theguardian.com
Related: Vancouver architect Michael Green proposes 35-story wooden skyscraper for Paris View full entry
High-rise buildings and apartments are crowding small alleyways and residential areas, investors ignoring the huge pressure they are putting on already weak infrastructure. [...]
Hai, a resident of Thanh Xuan District, said locals are most worried about the danger of fire [...]
High-rise developments also put a huge strain on local power and water supplies, struggling sewage systems and storm-water drainage, creating more hazards for neighbouring residents.
— vietnamnet.vn
The Ponte saga is a classic South African story. Once a Jacuzzi-filled playground for the segregated white elite in the apartheid era, then falling into chaos in the 1990s as the wealthy fled to the suburbs, then the object of failed luxury-condo schemes, the tower is now undergoing a renaissance as an icon of Johannesburg’s urban revitalization. [...]
The hollow core began to fill with garbage and rubble – several stories high.
— theglobeandmail.com
Despite seeing completion last October, following orders from leader Kim Jong Un, only half of the units of a major apartment complex built near Pyongyang’s Taedong River are currently occupied. [...]
“The elevator runs only during breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours, so for long spans of time it will be impossible to get to the 40th floor,” the source said. “There isn’t even a place for people to put their bicycles, which are the most fundamental tools for people’s livelihoods.”
— dailynk.com
Dubai is home to the iconic 828-metre high Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, but companies here are now vying to claim second place on the list of tallest towers in the emirate.
[...] the trend of building 'megatall' towers — those which reach more than 600 metres high – is likely to increase, particularly in the Middle East. [...]
Currently, Dubai has 917 high-rises and 465 skyscrapers, states Emporis, which collates data on building worldwide.
— emirates247.com
KONE has initiated the first stage of elevator and escalator installations at Saudi Arabia’s 1km-tall Kingdom Tower.
The Finnish lift firm is currently fitting elevator guiderails at the project, which is being developed by Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) and is set to become the world’s tallest building on completion.
— constructionweekonline.com
Related: The new elevator technology that will let cities soar far higher View full entry
The current race to the top of the skyline is the most impressive in New York City’s history, with ever-taller skyscrapers sprouting from the Financial District all the way to 57th Street. And YIMBY has now learned that 217 West 57th Street, aka the Nordstrom Tower, received a height boost between April and June of last year, pushing the tower’s pinnacle to 1,795 feet. That will make it the tallest building in New York City, the United States, and the Western Hemisphere. — newyorkyimby.com
Previously View full entry
Architect Juan Gabriel Moreno is teaming up with Chicago's International Latino Cultural Center to build a new downtown headquarters in the form of a wild-looking $50 million complex. Announced during the most recent edition of Chicago Latino Film Festival that took place this month, the organization announced its ambitious new "Ibero-American Tower" which would house a number of components [...]. — chicago.curbed.com
A Chinese construction company is claiming to be the world’s fastest builder after erecting a 57-storey skyscraper in 19 working days in central China.
Broad Sustainable Building, a prefab construction firm, put up the rectangular, glass and steel Mini Sky City in the Hunan provincial capital of Changsha, assembling three floors a day using a modular method [...].
The company now has ambitions to assemble the world’s tallest skyscraper, at 220 floors, in only three months.
— The Guardian
Most buildings in the country today use the minimum structural safety standards that the government has prescribed, say building safety experts and structural engineers.
"Our codes offer the lowest level of earthquake safety protection. We are designing for one-fifth the intensity that might hit a particular earthquake zone," says Sangeeta Waj, technical director at global design firm AECOM.
Experts however point out that there is no separate code in India for high rise buildings.
— The Economic Times
There's another project coming to Manhattan that's even thinner: 303–305 E. 44th Street, designed by Eran Chen of ODA Architecture.
At 47 feet wide, this one's the narrowest of the bunch. Developed by Triangle Assets, the tower will rise about 600 feet high, creating 115,000 square feet of residential space. [...]
The design for 305 E. 44th is predicated on a stack of volumes; nested between them are the project's signature amenities, private gardens.
— citylab.com
Yet as Berlin’s property values continue to soar - rising faster than any German city over the past five years - residential developers are set to challenge the Park Inn’s elevation supremacy. Two international builders have unveiled plans to erect skyscrapers at Alexanderplatz that will stand nearly 500-feet high[...]
Though the new designs have triggered intense public reaction for their girth and ambition, they are being joined by more than 20 new residential properties in the planning[...].
— abcnews.go.com
Previously: Berlin hopes Germany's tallest residential tower has the 'Bilbao effect' View full entry
An abandoned skyscraper still stands incomplete in the bustling capital of Guangdong Province after 16 years because no one is brave enough to ask for it to be torn down.
The 46-story building looks strange as it towers over Guangzhou, a commercial hub in southern China with a population of more than 12 million. Its location just behind a golden high-rise building -- popular in China -- and luxury hotels makes the concrete shell look especially creepy and eerie.
— Nikkei Asian Review
The technology of supertall buildings is a bit like genetic testing or nuclear energy: a volatile form of power. Technological capacities have outpaced our judgment. We know we can do it, but we don’t know when not to do it. And so some endlessly wealthy mogul [...] will eventually move into a preposterously expensive penthouse so far above the Earth’s crust that the air is thin and gales hammer at the glass. A mile’s not science fiction. It’s not even an outer limit. — nymag.com