Courtesy of National September 11 Memorial & Museum Panels with 2,983 names of victims can be heated or cooled for the comfort of visitors. Photo by Nadine Post/ENR Sole surviving tree from 9/11. Related Links: At New York's New World Trade Center, Uncommon Cooperation Key Links Help Reshape Manhattan Below Grade at WTC Hub, a Transit Tango Tower Crews Get Royal Treatment Editorial: In Close Quarters, Spirit of Cooperation Reigns Slide Show: ENRs World Trade Center Saga Continues Port Authoritys World Trade Center Site All Coverage of Rebuilding Ground Zero Video: Progress in Rebuilding Ground Zero Video: An Overview of

Rawabi, a planned city for 40,000 residents, is under construction in the West Bank. The first phase will encompass about 100 residential buildings between five and nine stories tall, ranging from 2,800 to 3,500 square meters, as well as schools and other public and commercial buildings. The 1,557-acre site covers the slope of a hill in Birzeit, a university town located just north of the town of Ramallah in the West Bank and 10 miles north of Jerusalem. “Rawabi” means “the hills” in Arabic.
Earthmoving and road construction began late last year, and construction of the buildings began in June. The

Architects and structural-steel, concrete and masonry interests fighting the “wood first” movement are breathing a collective sigh of relief since Oregon legislators adjourned for the year on June 30 without enacting legislation that would give wood a leg up over other framing materials for use in public buildings. Photo by Patrick Cotter Architects The Remy, a six-story, wood-framed apartment building in Vancouver, B.C., where the wood-first movement was born. It was partly complete when a May 3 fire destroyed it. Photo by Nick Procaylo / The Vancouver Sun An opponent of Canada's 'wood first' movement cited the Remy, a six-story

A new report claims that Foster + Partners’ unfinished Harmon Hotel tower on the Las Vegas Strip is beyond repair and could potentially collapse in a “code-level” earthquake. Related Links: Who's To Blame for Faulty Foster Tower? Owner MGM Resorts International recently commissioned Weidlinger Associates, a California-based engineering consulting firm, to perform a structural assessment of the 400-room, oval-shaped high-rise that anchors the northeast corner of CityCenter.The report, whose findings were made available July 11, represents the latest salvo in a battle that dates to 2009. It says the 28-story tower’s construction defects are “so pervasive and varied in character

Teams of budding and seasoned architects faced off last week for the second annual Iron Designer Challenge, where they constructed freestanding “Portals”—structures that mediate two spaces—in less than three hours. Photo Laura Mirviss The Gensler team after winning the 2011 Iron Designer Challenge. Photo Laura Mirviss The Turner team assembles their Portal, which is primarily made out of bamboo. Related Links: Architects, Students Compete in Iron Designer Challenge Student Teams Strive to Build Best Emergency Shelter The Gensler team won the 2010 contest, in which participants built emergency shelters, and once again, it took home the grand prize. Inspired by

Spring is in the air for two firms selected to construct a new spring training and western headquarters facility for the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball team in Mesa, Ariz. Populous, Kansas City, Mo., beat out nine competing firms to win the design contract, while Hunt Construction Group, Scottsdale, Ariz., bested eight others for the general contractor job. Photo: Baseball Image Courtesy City Of Mesa Conceptual drawings show possible layouts for the Cubs’ new spring home. Photo: Baseball Image Courtesy City Of Mesa The project will be built as a construction manager-at-risk project. “It’s a complex project, and we want

A lawsuit over construction of a life-sciences building at a major university stands as the first known claim related to the use of building information modeling by an architect.

With construction for London’s 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games approaching 90% completion, Brazil is taking the construction baton. Officials there have begun procuring a master planner for the next games, set for Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Courtesy Olympic Development Authoority Handball arena, completed this month, is in East London's Olympic Park. London’s Olympic Development Authority, responsible for games-related construction, this month completed the handball arena. ODA had already handed over the main stadium and velodrome, also sited in East London’s Olympic Park.ODA Chief Executive Dennis Hone said that 83% of work at the 200-hectare park had been completed by

The State Dept.'s Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) manages U.S. embassy construction around the world. Last year, OBO launched a Design Excellence initiative, modeled after the General Services Administration's long-established program. Over the past year, State Dept. working groups have studied OBO's programs and policies and came up with more than 60 recommendations for changes in how it does business.  ENR's Washington bureau chief, Tom Ichniowski, spoke with OBO's acting director, Adam Namm, and its deputy director, Lydia Muniz, in late April during a meeting of the bureau's Industry Advisory Panel, and followed up with Muniz on May 4,

Guidelines for the performance-based design of structures to resist disproportionate collapse are under development by the American Society of Civil Engineers' Structural Engineering Institute. SEI expects to release a draft next year and publish the guidelines in 2013. “We are providing guidelines for those who wish to use them. We are not mandating use,” says Robert Smilowitz, chairman of the SEI's disproportionate collapse standards and guidance committee and a principal at structural engineer Weidlinger Associates Inc., New York City. “Our immediate objective is to provide a solid technical basis for designing structures that are more resistant to disproportionate collapse. It