Courtesy of PANYNJ Rendering of 408-ft-tall spire of future tallest building in the Western Hemisphere shows no cladding. Courtesy of PANYNJ Older rendering shows a spire with a wrapping, as designed by SOM. The future 408-ft-tall spire of the under-construction One World Trade Center has officially lost its cladding. On Aug. 7, the developers—the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and the Durst Organization—issued 13 new renderings of the 3-million-sq-ft project, which is planned at a height of 1,776 ft. It is touted as the future tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.News broke about the design change several
After seven days of preparations, the implosion, which went off without a hitch and left adjacent structures undamaged, took only seven seconds. Courtesy of CDI Completed in 1986, the Radio Network House posed a challenge because its concrete structure was heavily reinforced to accommodate seismic loads.
Related Links: Standard 201P, Facility Smart Grid Information Model A proposed standard that would provide a common basis for consumers to describe, manage and communicate electrical energy consumption and forecasting is open for an advisory public review until Sept. 3, according to ASHRAE. The group is developing Standard 201P, Facility Smart Grid Information Model, with the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. “Historically, electricity consumption has been viewed as a collection of dumb loads at the end of a distribution system," with almost no interaction between the loads and those responsible for electricity generation and distribution, says Steve Bushby, chairman of the
In October, the National Science Foundation Directorate for Engineering expects to issue a "re-competition" solicitation for four to six national earthquake engineering research centers. The competition to create the infrastructure for the George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation 2, or NEES2, will take place in fiscal 2013 and 2014. NEES2 funding is expected during fiscal 2015-19. Contingent on the availability of National Science Foundation funds, the Directorate for Engineering expects to seek approval for a NEES2 cooperative agreement in mid-2014.In 2004, the National Science Foundation created NEES to give researchers the tools to learn how earthquakes and
Courtesy of Hill International The nine faces of the three tallest buildings in Baku contain of some 10,000 LED light fixtures that evoke a raging fire against the night sky. "Tower light, tower bright, will you guide my way tonight?" A three-building project under way in Baku, Azerbaijan, gives a new twist to a familiar lyric and a new look to the Caspian Sea city's skyline.The Baku night sky first brightened on May 13, when the team flicked the switch on the thousands of red, green and blue LED lights on the nine facades of the three buildings, named the
Despite many challenges, Controlled Demolition Inc. successfully led the razing, using explosives, of the 14-story Radio Network House in Christchurch, which was damaged in the 2011 New Zealand earthquake. The Aug. 5 implosion may open the door to other controlled demolitions in New Zealand, says CDI. “The structure did exactly what CDI said it would, in spite of the extraordinarily heavy rebar in the 1986 [structure] that was built to what was already a rigorous seismic code,” says J. Mark Loizeaux, CDI’s president.He adds that dealing with the concrete structure's reinforcing steel, the area's poor soil conditions and the limited
Courtesy of Gehry Technologies The tool translates 3D files from different vendors' software. Courtesy of Gehry Technologies Data can be accessed from all devices with web access, including tablets. Related Links: Gehry Technologies Gehry Technologies is offering a free preview of its new cloud-based 3D file-management and project collaboration platform. Until Sept. 30, anyone can try out the service, which GT calls the first web-based viewer developed specifically for use by the building team.Called GTeam, the tool is designed for "concurrent work across all CAD tools, so different team members can work on different files of the same project at
Photo by istockphoto.com Pilot program lets buildings qualify for LEED based on lower requirements. Related Links: U.S. Green Building Council EPA's Energy Star program Members of the buildings sector are applauding the U.S. Green Building Council's decision to delay the release of the next version of its popular green-building rating system, called LEED. In the meantime, debate rages on over the content of the draft revision. Consequently, USGBC is holding an unprecedented fifth public comment period on the latest draft, from Oct. 2 to Dec. 10.The delay follows a torrent of comments, some 22,000 so far, that greeted the fourth
Opportunity knocked for SHoP Architects on July 2, 2009. On that Thursday, Bruce C. Ratner, the beleaguered developer of the controversial Atlantic Yards sports village planned for Brooklyn, N.Y., made an offer that any architect would be crazy to turn down but almost as crazy to accept.
