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
A Lower Manhattan community board in late May approved a planned mosque and Muslim cultural center near the site of the 9/11 attacks. The center would require demolition of a 153-year-old building two blocks from the World Trade Center site. The plan has drawn criticism from families of 9/11 victims. It must still be approved by New York’s Landmark Preservation Commission.
Photo: Controled Demolition Inc. Before Photo: Controled Demolition Inc. After With cracks as sharp as the frozen Arctic air, a 1,375-ft-tall steel communications tower in Port Clarence, Alaska, was demolished on April 28, the first step in the decommissioning of the U.S. Coast Guard’s network of LORAN radio navigation facilities. The 400-ton, 45-segment triangular tower is the tallest structure to be felled by explosives, says Controlled Demolition Inc., Phoenix, Md., which performed the operation as a subcontractor to Jacobs Field Services North America. The remote installation, located 75 miles north of Nome, was one of 24 land-based LORAN stations in
Getting energy-efficient design into school construction can be tough, but the Gen7 modular-classroom building from American Modular Systems, Manteca, Calif., fits many of the latest energy-efficiency advances into one package, bringing the cutting edge of green technologies to modular school construction. Photo: American Modular Systems Gen7 modular classrooms are showcases of sustainable technologies. Introduced at the Green California Schools Summit 2009 in Pasadena, Calif., in December, Gen7 is being touted as a “grid-neutral” modular-classroom solution for California school districts. “Gen7 is a loaded model, with every possible option,” says Tony Sarich, vice president of operations for AMS. “It’s not the
The 2010 World Cup begins on June 10, when Mexico challenges South Africa in Soccer City Stadium in southwest Johannesburg, near the historic Soweto township. Thirty-two teams from around the world that have survived the qualifying rounds will contend for a share of the $17.6 million in prize money. However, even as the soccer stadiums project the image of a “new” South Africa, questions remain about the considerable infrastructure upgrades needed to raise the standard of living for millions of people. More importantly, the players will compete for bragging rights in the world’s most popular sport. Where the championship trophy
The hospital that served as the model for television’s long-running medical drama “ER” will soon get a new lease on life. Chicago’s 96-year-old Cook County Hospital, vacant since 2002, is about to receive a $108-million renovation that will turn the historic building into administrative offices for the local health-care sector. Photo: Cook County Renovation will turn century-old hospital into administrative offices for medical staff. The two-block-long building has been idle since 2002, when it was replaced by the new John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital, located nearby on the same grounds. After the planned renovation, the old building will house administrative
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