Photo: Courtesy Architect 0f The Capital Related Links: No Small Plans: Architect of the Capitol Takes Reins By December, workers from Aulson Co. LLC. are expected to finish applying nearly 500 gal of paint and lots of caulk to the 288-ft-tall, cast-iron dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The dome, nearly 220 years old, most recently was restored in 1960 and repainted in 2002. Current work will protect the famous symbol of democracy until a more-ambitious overhaul, scheduled to take place within five years, during which workers will strip all the layers of paint and fully restore the
Photo: Courtesy of SOM The $450-million China World Trade Tower in Beijing’s Central Business District, which opened on Aug. 30, has become the city’s tallest structure at 330 meters. The 81-story high-rise will have 36,421 sq meters of mixed-use space and is LEED Gold registered, says its designer, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), Chicago. The project’s energy and conservation strategy includes crystalline walls layered with “fritted glass” and “metal fins” that serve as “vertical sunshades” and maximize daylighting for the building’s interior, says the firm. The tower’s structural engineer was Ove Arup & Partners, HK Ltd.; its mechanical-electrical engineers
One of the world’s most ambitious urban development initiatives is taking place in Doha, the capital of the Gulf kingdom of Qatar. Photo: Courtesy Of Hochtief Infrastructure master plan includes commercial and residential centers, along with an airport and seaport. Even in a region known for brash city-building, Qatar’s plans will radically enlarge its urban footprint in the next decade to accommodate hundreds of thousands of additional residents with new housing, commercial and tourism centers through about a half-dozen projects. These projects include a plan by the state-owned developer Dohaland to re-create Doha’s downtown using more traditional Gulf architecture; further,
An Aug. 28 fire that heavily damaged an articulated dump truck and three other pieces of construction equipment at a mosque under construction in Murfreesboro, Tenn., might be connected to the national debate surrounding Manhattan�s contentious Islamic center under development two blocks from the World Trade Center site. The equipment, owned by Ole South Excavating of Murfreesboro, was doused with accelerant and set ablaze in a suspected arson attempt. Ole South Excavating could not be reached for comment. The equipment was being used to break ground on the new Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. Joel Siskovic, an FBI spokesman in Memphis,
Starting next month, California’s state capital campus, a complex of 23 buildings encompassing 5.5 million sq ft, will be cooled by water chilled in a 4.25-million-gal thermal-energy storage tank. The 140-ft-tall metal cone is the final phase of a $181-million central-plant replacement on course to receive the second-highest ranking—LEED Gold—of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green-building rating system. Photo: Todd Quam Digital Sky Aerial Imaging Payback period is three to four years for the energy-efficient systems in the state capital’s $181-million district heating and cooling plant. The 78,000-sq-ft California central plant is the largest
Covered by what is claimed to be the world’s tallest tensile structure, the Khan Shatyr Entertainment Center has opened in Astana, Kazakhstan. Photo: Courtesy Nigel Young, Foster + Partners Designed by London-based Foster+Partners, the 150-meter-tall transparent tent is clad in cushions of insulating ethyl tetra fluoro ethylene to shelter Kazakhs from their harsh climate. With a 250 x 230-m elliptical footprint, the tent encloses a park as well as entertainment and leisure facilities. The structure’s design-build team includes Sembol Construction, Antalya, Turkey, and structural engineer Buro Happold, London.
Construction began in May on a new headquarters complex for the European Central Bank in Frankfurt’s Ostend district, flanking the Main River. Designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au, based in Vienna, the energy-efficient design includes a geothermal heating system. Gassmann + Grossmann Baumanagement GmbH is the construction manager on the project. It is expected to be completed by 2014, at a cost of $1.05 billion. The 12-hectare site was formerly home to the Grossmarkthalle, the city’s wholesale produce market; the 12,500-sq-meter market building is being restored and incorporated as part of the bank complex. The complex’s centerpiece will be two towers linked
Canada-based SNC-Lavalin has been awarded a $625-million engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract to build a grassroots sulphuric-phosphoric acid complex in Eshidya Jordan. The project owner, JIFCO, is a joint venture owned by Jordanian Phosphate Mines Co. and the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd. JPMC is a producer of phosphoric acid and fertilizer, and IFFCO is the largest fertilizer producer and distributor cooperative in India. SNC-Lavalin will provide project management, design, equipment and construction management. The complex will have a capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year of phosphoric acid. It will also include a single-line sulphuric acid plant with
Vancouver, B.C., residents better not fall too deeply in love with the 27,500-seat Empire Field, which is on course for a June 20 completion. The stadium, built to host the Canadian Football League’s BC Lions while the team’s current home, BC Place, is under renovation, will only exist in its current form until November of next year. Then, like recyclable scaffolding, North America’s first-known temporary stadium for professional football—constructed from some 15,000 parts shipped from Switzerland in 70 containers—will be dismantled and shipped home, where it will be reincarnated as another temporary sports facility. Courtesy of BC Pavilion Corp In
Federal courthouses built in the recent construction push appear to have been overbuilt, according to a study by the U.S. Government Accountability Office in May 25 testimony before the House public buildings subcommittee. While the report’s conclusions are preliminary because it has not yet been reviewed by the federal judiciary and the U.S. General Services Administration, GAO says that the 33 federal courthouses completed since 2000 include 28%, or 3.56 million sq ft of excess space, which cost $835 million to build and $51 million in operating costs based on 2010 dollars. The excess was due to building over congressionally
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