Skyscrapers

This ambitious "Earthscraper" concept from BNKR Aquitectura seeks to address several problems faced by Mexico City - a growing population, the lack of new plots for construction, the need to conserve historic buildings and height restrictions on new structures. "The historic center of Mexico City is in desperate need for a pragmatic make-over," says BNKR. The solution - build an inverted pyramid underneath the main plaza at the heart of the city.  Read More

Chicago-based firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill (AS+GG) has officially been announced as the design architects for the Kingdom Tower that is to be built in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Initially planned to stand one mile (1.6 km) high and be called the Mile-High Tower, the building was scaled down after soil testing in the area in 2008 cast doubt over whether the location could support a building of that height. Now the building will stand over 0.62 miles (one kilometer) tall, which will still allow it to overshadow the 2,717 ft. (828 m) Burj Khalifa to claim the title of the world’s tallest building.  Read More

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) has won an international competition to design the Wuhan Greenland Center. At 606 meters (1,988 ft) high, the building is expected to be China’s third tallest and the world’s fourth tallest when construction is due to be completed in 2016. The tower will feature a number of sustainable elements, the most visibly obvious of which is the tower’s streamlined form with softly rounded corners and a tapered body that culminates in a distinctive domed top.  Read More

Chicago's Willis Tower, formerly known as Sears Tower, was the world's tallest building from 1974 to 1998 and remains the tallest building in the U.S. to this day. Its 1451-foot (442 m) height adds up to enough window area to keep a window washer busy for life, or space for enough solar panels to be comparable to a 10 acre solar power plant. As part of a pilot project, the south facing windows of the 56th floor of the Willis Tower will be replaced with Pythagoras Solar's transparent solar windows which cut down on heat gain – and therefore cooling costs – as well as harnessing energy from the sun.  Read More

As cities become more densely-populated, the trend for multi-dwelling complexes has been to build up – hence the advent of the highrise as we know it today. Building down doesn’t seem to be much of an option, as it would be very labor-intensive, and residents would justifiably freak out at the thought of living hundreds of feet below the surface of the Earth. Malaysian architect Sarly Adre Bin Sarkum, however, has proposed a multi-level building that goes down – into the ocean. While his hO2+ concept is pretty unlikely to ever be built, the imagination behind it was enough to merit a Special Mention in eVolo magazine’s 2010 Skyscraper Competition.  Read More

One of the big drawbacks for high-rise living is the lack of outdoor space, which in the best case is usually limited to a small balcony, or in the worst cases a window flowerbox ... or nothing at all. An innovative skyscraper design by Barcelona-based firm Nabito Architects solves this problem with a corkscrew design that makes the roof of the unit below an outdoor space for the unit above.  Read More

It might look like something out of Isaac Asimov's imagination, it might look like it could never stand up, but this bizarre concept building is about to go into construction. "Floating Observatories" is Stefan Dorin's winning entry in the recent Taiwan Tower Conceptual International Competition - and in return for his US$130,000 first prize, now he has to actually build the thing. The new tower, standing more than 300 metres tall with its helium-filled observatory "leaves", will be the crown jewel of Taechung, the third largest city in Taiwan.  Read More

This technology might not be fully appreciated by readers located in earthquake-free locales, but if you've ever felt the ground move beneath your feet you'll be pleased with this technology. At Tokyo Big Sight last week Japanese company THK was demonstrating how their linear motion systems could dampen the shock of an earthquake. One of their systems, when placed underneath an object that you'd like to protect, will absorb most of the shock of an earthquake.  Read More

The 71-story Pearl River Tower, described as one of the most energy-efficient skyscrapers in the world, has reached its topping out milestone on the way to its planned completion later this year. (For those not in the architectural know, topping out or topping off is a ceremony held when the last beam is placed at the top of a building.) With a height of 309.6 meters the 2.3-million square-foot Pearl River Tower incorporates the latest green technology and engineering advancements, the most immediately obvious of which will be a pair of openings in the tower’s facade which feed wind turbines to generate energy for the building.  Read More