Related Links: Disappearing Act is a 'Whalebone' of a Feat Creek Replica at City Creek is so Real, it Even has Fish For Shelley R. Clark, a structural engineer for the world's most complicated retractable skylight, frustration became the mother of invention. But ultimately, it took her firm Magnusson Klemencic Associates only 15 minutes to turn
India’s leading real estate developer, a major U.S. builder and a London-based hedge fund have formed a joint venture to build integrated residential commercial projects worth $25 billion over the next 20 years throughout the emerging nation.The venture's key partners are India's Sahara Prime City Ltd., investment firm Acropolis Capital Group and Turner International, the international subsidiary of Turner Construction Co., New York City. With an initial investment of $100 million, the Mumbai-based company will operate under the name Sahara Turner Construction Ltd. Sahara Group holds a 63% stake.In its first five-year program, the venture says it will build new
After tortured beginnings that included a false start followed by a protracted design competition during which the eventual winner "gambled" $2 million, a shroud of secrecy has enveloped the planned 1-kilometer-tall Kingdom Tower, to be sited north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Of the 12 stadiums for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, at least six are on track to complete construction within the coming year. Here is a slide show that provides a brief look at how the work for the world’s premier football event is progressing and a summary of some of the challenges facing the contractors.
AP/Wideworld The death toll stands at 17, but authorities say five people remain missing. Google Maps/ENR Art Dept. The collapse of the Liberty Building, shown in orange, impacted surrounding structures. The deadly collapse of three buildings in the historic center of Rio de Janeiro has launched a series of inquiries into the cause of the accident as officials continue to search for the bodies of victims.The 20-story Liberty Building on Avenida 13 de Maio, located near Cinelandia Square in central Rio, fell at about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 25. The debris crushed the nearby 10-story Columbus Building as well as
It’s not just bankers’ ballooning bonuses that can forewarn of an impending financial disaster. It now appears that periodic global cravings for ever-taller buildings might also be harbingers of economic doom. If new research from Hong Kong is to be believed, China’s frenetic high-rise boom, with India in its wake, could reflect a “misallocation of capital, which may result in an economic correction for two of Asia’s largest economies in the next five years.”Since launching its Skyscraper Index 13 years ago, Barclays Capital (BarCap) has revealed “an unhealthy correlation between construction of the next world’s tallest building and an impending
Related Links: Grand Egyptian Museum website The Case Against the Grand Egyptian Museum A joint venture of Orascom Construction Industries, Cairo, and BESIX Group, Belgium, defeated 39 other bidders to clinch the $810-million turnkey contract for the construction of the final phase of what will be Egypt's biggest museum.The joint venture's scope includes construction of the Grand Egyptian Museum—which will house a conference center as well as the museum—an exhibition center, manager's residence and tunnels linking phase-one and phase-two construction to the main building. The 40-month contract also involves interior design and landscaping on a site that overlooks the legendary
Rendering courtesy Hyundai Hyundai's new headquarters, designed by Gensler, will seek LEED Gold status. Looking at Hyundai Motor America, a division of Korea-based Hyundai Motor Co., it would be hard to tell there is a global economic crisis. Hyundai's U.S. car sales were up 20% in 2011 compared with 2010's sales. In total, Hyundai sold 645,691 cars this past year in the U.S. The company is tearing down its existing U.S. headquarters in Fountain Valley, Calif.—about 30 miles south of Los Angeles—and investing $150 million in a new one. Hyundai joins other major corporations—Google and Coca-Cola, for example—that are putting
Courtesy of HCC The $8-billion Lavasa development, a 1,500-acre new hill town planned according to the principles of new urbanism, is one bright spot on the nation's horizon. India is beginning to face both the myriad problems of its urban centers and the many opportunities for economic and social transformation.By 2030, a $1.2-trillion investment will be required to meet projected demand for the 700 million to 900 million sq m of commercial and residential space, says a McKinsey Global Institute report. The real estate development is equivalent to building a new Chicago every year.In addition, 2.5 billion sq m of
+ Image Courtesy of the National Disaster Management Authority Sixty-eight percent of India's population is in danger due to poorly designed buildings in earthquake zones. The 344 towns in zone five are among the most damage-prone cities on the planet. Related Links: As Indian Ocean Tidal Wave Death Toll Mounts, U.S. Joins Aid Effort Massive Loss of Life Prompts Calls for Expanded Tsunami Warning Net After the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that killed over 230,000 people in 14 countries, officials from the National Disaster Management Authority of India decided that installing deep-sea sensors could warn them