In addition to a swooping, stepped concrete and sloped stainless-steel roof-line, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City, Mo., features a radial glass atrium that hangs on finely tuned steel cables. The privately funded, $413-million job is set to open Sept. 16 after more than a decade of planning, design and construction.Locals
The team selected materials based on availability and delivery time. One of the replacement schools was a supermarket that had been empty for 10 years. Another structural conversion reconfigured a warehouse. It took just minutes for a tornado packing 200-mph winds to level a third of Joplin, Mo.'s public schools last spring. In a remarkable turnaround, it took less than three months to bring the schools back on line in time for the new school year.On Aug. 17, classroom sessions resumed on schedule in Joplin, even as construction crews continued cleaning up from the May 22 tornado, an EF5 event
Photo by Nadine Post for ENR A common purpose is a great motivator. The hundreds of people cooperating and coping at Ground Zero, many of whom are otherwise fierce competitors, have many reasons for putting up with the added hassles, restrictions and sacrifices. Related Links: Key Links Help Reshape Manhattan Below Grade at WTC Hub, a Transit Tango At New York's New World Trade Center, Uncommon Cooperation 9/11 Memorial Is Centerpiece of World Trade Center Redevelopment In the giant “ant colony” under the $18-billion World Trade Center rebuild in Lower Manhattan, there are seven major concurrent projects (eight, if the
Related Links: Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial website The decades-long dream to create the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., will become a reality on Aug. 28. Fifteen years in the making, the memorial faced challenges—ranging from an extensive approval process to a site on the National Mall made of fill from the Potomac River—before construction could start in late 2009. Two years later, the design-build team, the first use of the delivery system for a memorial on the Mall, will deliver the $120-million vision within walking distance of the spot where Dr. King delivered his
Image courtesy of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture Kingdom Tower, under design by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, with structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti, would enclose 530,000 sq m. The skyscraper is expected to cost $1.2 billion. If a Middle East prince has his way, Saudi Arabia will someday be home to the world's tallest building. Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz recently unveiled a scheme for a 5.3-sq-kilometer city north of Jeddah that would include a mixed-use supertower designed to reach more 1 km above the desert floor.Kingdom Tower, under design by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, with
A resort hotel company's plan to build an $824-million hotel and conference center northeast of Denver near Denver International Airport, and a separate proposal to relocate the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo complex there, have Denver tourism and city officials worried that the projects could draw hotel business away from the Mile-High CityNashville, Tenn.-based Gaylord Entertainment Co. has announced plans to build the hotel and conference center, outside of Denver in neighboring Aurora County, with a planned late 2015 opening. Gaylord is buying the land from LNR Property LLC, Miami Beach, Fla., for an undisclosed amount; the sale is
Photo courtesy Bintan Resorts Work is now under way on Lagoi Bay, a resort encompassing over 1300 ha on Bintan Island. Photo courtesy Bintan Resorts The project faces a number of engineering challenges because it is being built on swamp land. Work is now under way on Lagoi Bay, a resort community encompassing over 1300 hectares on Bintan Island, one of Indonesia’s largest islands. Valued at approximately $812 million, the project is slated to be completed by 2014.Once a coconut plantation, the coastal development is less than an hour away by ferry from Singapore. The owners, Bintan Resorts, hope to
Image: Courtesy SFOMA Norwegian architect Sn�hetta released its preliminary design for the 225,000-sq-ft expansion of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. General contractor Webcor Builders will face the challenge of a compact urban site, currently a maze of alleyways, that is 335 ft long but only 98 ft wide. The project includes a public promenade with an entrance to the wing, which will sit behind the Mario Botta-designed original that opened in 1995. A more detailed design, executed in partnership with the local EHDD Architecture, is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. Construction completion is set
Orlando, Fla., city commissioners voted to allow construction to begin on the delayed $383-million Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, or DPAC, after board members stepped forward to personally guarantee a $16-million letter of credit that will replace tourist tax dollars if projected revenues of $43 million fall short. Courtesy DPAC Construction will begin in June on the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, shown in an architect's rendering above. “For more than 20 years this region has struggled to build a new performing-arts center,” says Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer (D). “But unwilling to give up and wanting
A series of earthquakes reaching magnitude 5.1 on the Richter scale rocked the city of Lorca in southeastern Spanish on the evening of May 11, causing eight deaths and injuring nearly 300 people, according to municipal officials. Several buildings in the historic center collapsed, including at least one stonework church. The quake's epicenter was between Lorca and La Hoya, some 15 km away. With a population of some 80,000, Lorca is about 75 km southeast of Murcia.
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