Courtesy of Amtrak Rendering of proposed new Union Station train shed, looking south from H Street. Existing historic station would be behind new shed. Related Links: PDF of Amtrak plan summary, press release Amtrak has unveiled an ambitious plan, which would cost $6.5 billion or more, to revamp Washington, D.C.,’s Union Station, adding capacity to handle future passenger traffic, preserving the historic station’s distinctive architecture and seeking to give a boost to the local economy.The expansion and alterations to the station would be literally topped off by 3 million sq ft of new, privately financed office, residential and other buildings,
Photo by Bruce Damonte Under public pressure, the developer enhanced the form of a scaled-back Barclays Center arena. Related Links: Reshaping of Barclays Center Arena Made Possible By Collaboration, Digital Tools Developer Gambles on Modular High-Rise for Atlantic Yards Sports Village Brooklyn Basketball Arena Nears Final Buzzer Fifteen years ago, the 22-acre plot for the $4.9-billion Atlantic Yards sports village in Brooklyn, N.Y., was an eyesore. For more than 20 years, drug dealers, gangs and prostitutes had populated the neighborhood. Many buildings were vacant. "Blighted Brooklyn" was a more fitting moniker than the familiar "Brownstone Brooklyn."Now, crime is down, and
Opportunity knocked for SHoP Architects on July 2, 2009. On that Thursday, Bruce C. Ratner, the beleaguered developer of the controversial Atlantic Yards sports village planned for Brooklyn, N.Y., made an offer that any architect would be crazy to turn down but almost as crazy to accept.
Image Courtesy of Tohono O'odham Nation If built, the Tohono O'odham's West Valley Resort, near Glendale, Ariz., will include a hotel, convention space and a casino. Related Links: Arizona Governor Trumps Tribe A bill written to block construction of a resort-casino near Glendale, Ariz., could face an uphill battle in the Senate. Passed by the House on June 19, the measure is the latest move by the project's opponents—including the city of Glendale, Gov. Jan Brewer (R-Ariz.) and regional tribes with competing gaming establishments—to halt the estimated $184-million project.The resort-casino was to be built on a 54-acre site purchased in
Every couple of months, when non-Iraqi representatives of the design team, mostly from the U.S., visit the site of the $100-million Al-Menaa Sports Complex in a suburb of Basra, they move in and out of the war-torn nation with as much secrecy as possible. All travel plans and meeting locations are kept confidential. They alert only one construction executive to the trip. While there, they have armed guards escorting them at all times. Instead of a construction fence, a precast-concrete security wall surrounds the site."We even have to be careful about how we send e-mails about travel to the site,"
Related Links: Maglev Moves From Trains to Tranes Opening Up Mechanical Spaces (requires login) One of the top medical institutions in the Middle East, the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is adding 176,515 square meters of medical space and 167,225 sq m of landscaped underground parking. A central challenge to the job is to keep the buildings cool in the hot desert climate.Desert construction is no walk in the park. Riyadh's temperatures can range from -2° C in winter to 44° C in summer. Warm weather lasts from May 14 to September 27, with
Courtesy of Hirsch Bedner Associates No one sleeps at Antilia, a $1-billion residence built for India's richest man, because it violates the tenets of Vastu Shastra, an ancient version of feng shui. Courtesy of Hirsch Bedner Associates The ballroom is one of many spaces used by the family during the day. The 27-story "house" has 168 parking spaces, nine elevators, three helipads, a health spa, a 50-seat theater and more. A lavishly decked-out 27-story residence in the heart of South Mumbai—built for India's richest man and the ninth wealthiest person in the world—is swathed in secrecy. All are mum about
Photo Courtesy of In-Press With the last few sections of structural steel recently erected, the U.K.'s tallest building, London's Shard, stands at its 310-meter height. With the last few sections of structural steel recently erected, the U.K.'s tallest building, London's Shard, stands at its 310-meter height. Some 500 tonnes of steel in some 800 pieces went into forming the spire, which will receive over 500 panes of glass cladding.Steel subcontractor Severfield-Reeve Structures Ltd. began erecting the skyscraper's 12,500-tonne main frame around two years ago. Columns and composite floors form the lower 40 levels; concrete columns and post-tensioned slabs complete the
Rendering courtesy KSP Jurgen Engel Architekten The mosques minaret will ascend 265 m into the sky, making it the tallest minaret on any mosque in the world. Rendering courtesy KSP Jurgen Engel Architekten The mosques prayer hall, shaped like a cube with regular rows of pillars, will be able to accommodate 35,000 worshippers at any one time. Algeria is set to begin construction of what is expected to be, after worship centers in the Saudi Arabia holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the world’s third-largest mosque. In February, China’s state-controlled China State Construction Engineering Corp. signed a $1.3-billion construction contract
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