Widest Skyscraper in the World

Ok, that everybody is following the TBW is somehow not surprising and the internet offers us thousands of pages with tons of pictures. - But what about the widest building of the world (WBW ?!) ? Well, there is hardly information on that with a bit of googling. One building that is popping up here and there is a skyscraper in Hong Kong, called the Harbourside Building. It belongs definitely to 'one of the' widest buildings int the world, but which one is THE widest building in the world?

I couldn't figure it out on the spot, so I will leave you with this info - if you know more, let me know!

Some more info regarding the Harbourside Building: Basically the building consists of 3 towers that have been built together as one skyscraper. With its 75 floors it is the second tallest residential building in HK (where the Sorrento is the #1 with only 1 additional meter!). The wall-like skyscraper has been completed in 2003 and has a height of 255m.
What is quite interesting are the six open gaps between the three towers which reduce the wind pressure.

The Leadenhall Building, London, UK

Here is a project that is planned to be finished by 2010: The Leadenhall building in London, 48 floors, 225m high

Skyscrapers u/c in Mumbai, India

Hello to everybody with an interest for skyscrapers in Mumbai India!

Ok, I have been getting some emails and realized as well that my blog has been visited continuously over time from Indian visitors. And just recently some few have reached my page after googling for skyscrapers in Mumbai - so, I thought I'll catch up on that subject again.

I will start here with posting some projects that are under construction right now. You can either check it out right here below, which is probably a bit more overviewable, but for more details you can also visit Jai's thread on skyscrapercity titled "the bombay boom" [ http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=360628 ], listing all kinds of skyscrapers u/c in Mumbai. Though, notice that finished projects, will be deleted from his list!

To make it more overviewable, I am considering to publish each project and their individiual information with an own post. But a bit short on time at the moment so not sure how progressive this will be. Stay tuned!

1 India International Trade Center [proposed 72 floors, 320m, got an approval as over-60-story building]
2 S D Tower (see my earlier post in June) [60 floors, 252m]
3 Ashok Towers 1 [53 floors]
4 Planet Godrej [52 floors, 221m]
5 Shreepati Arcade [45 floors, 161m]
6 World Trade Center 1 [36 floors, 155.8m] (not to be confused with the International Trade Center]
7 RNA Mirage [41 floors]
8 Belvedere Court [40 floors, 149m]
9 Oberoi Spas [40 floors]
10 Kalpataru Heights [39 floors, 144m]
11 Orchid Enclave [47 floors]
12 The Legend [40 floors]
13 Suraj Towers [40 floors]
14 Rushabh [40 floors]
15 Heritage [34 floors, 138m]
16 KSRTC Tower (Bangalore) [45floors]
17 Oberoi Woods Towers [40 floors]
18 South City (Calcuta) [35 floors]
19 Oberoi Skyheights [35 floors]
20 Oberoi Woods Towers [30 Floors, 129m]

Additionally:

- Planet Godrej [51 floors]
- Ashok Towers [one 50 floors, three 30 floors]
- Raheja Excelsior [~50 floors]
- Orbit Heights (Residential)
- Orbit Haven, Napeansea Road (Residential, future project)
- Orbit Grand I & II, Lower Parel, 22-25 floors, future projects
- Orbit Enclave (Residential) [19 floors, residential]
- Orbit Eternia (Residential)
- Orbit Arya (Residential)
- Villa Orb (Residential) ['only' 19 floors]
- Hafeez Contractor House (Commercial)
- Orchid Tower [~50 floors]
- Orchid Woods [3 towers a 47 floors]
- Tabrez Tower [45 floors]
- Vasant Polaris [~43 floors]
- K Raheja Universal Mixed Development [5 towers of 40 stories]
- Sumer Burhani Park [2 towers with 40 floors, 6 towers with 21 floors]
- RNA @ Central Park [40 floors]
- Maharaj Retreat [40 floors]
- RNA SUnderbans [~40 floors]
- Raheja One Altamount Road [~38 floors]
- Vasant Splendour [37 floors]
- SUmer Trinity Towers [3 towers of 36 floors each]
- Vasant Grandeur [~35 floors]
- Sheth Beaumonde [3 towers of 35 floors each]
- Nirmal World Homes [3 towers fo 35 floors]
- DSK Durgamata Tower [~35 floors]
- Raheja Legend [~35 floors]
- Neptun Laptop [~35 floors]
- Four Seasons Hotel [~35 stories]
- Sunbeam Tower [~35 stories]
- Hafeez Contractor House [~35 floors]
- Hiranandani Torino [34 floors]
- Sarovar Dharshan [34 floors]
- Evershine Crown [34 floors]
- Hiranandani Octavius [33 fllors]
- NG Royal Heights
- Raheja Atlantis
- Lokhandwala Apartment Hotel
- Casa Grande
- La Citaldel
- Oberoi Park View
- Oberoi Park View
- Gundecha Gardens
- City of Joy
- Runwal Infinity
- Lodha Grandheur
- Raheja Princess
- RNA @ 4th
- Hiranandani Somerset
- Kalpataru Horizon
- Nirmal Blue Diamond
- Acme Court
- Brooke Ville
- Rustomjee O-Zone
- Elanza [3 towers 28 stories]
- Marathon Nextgen Era
- Agrarwal Trinity Towers
- Hiranandani Meridian
- The Majestic
- Whispering Palms
- Hiranandani Evelina
- Evershine Cosmic
- Project by Haresh Mehta
- Hiranandani Springhill
- Cosmic Heights
- Amrit Shakti [25 floors]
- Dosti Flamingos
- Anmol
- Evershine Embassy
- Lokhandwala Towers
- Shreeji Heights
- Tipco Heights
- Shantivan
- Lake Florence
- Siddhivinayak Horizon
- Swapnalok Towers
- Girija
- Lake Pleasant
- Sea Queen Heritage
- Lake Lucerne
- Vasant Lawns
- RNA Royal Park
- Oberoi Commercial Tower
- Siddhi Highland Residency
- Ritu Terraces
- Swapnalok Towers
- Ravi Estate Phase - 2

Wuoohaa, done...this is really incredible. So I hope you get an idea of what is going on in Mumbai, India! To mention again here that most of the above are in construction already. Additionally, that there are also all the 15-24 stories buildings, which are not listed here, since they are almost endless (hundreds of such buildings!!).

Project, London: The Minerva Building

Click on image for larger view

New Project for Canary Wharf, London

Planned as a residential tower including hotel. Height around 180 meters with 54 stories.

Skyscrapers: Current and Future Trend Regarding Design, Function, and Height

"THE FUNCTION AND THE ASTONISHING DESIGNS THAT SEEM TO CONTRADICT THE RULES OF STABILITY WILL OVERTAKE THE TRIVIAL FACTOR OF HEIGHT!"

I have written this statement earlier in a post of mine. I think it is pretty obvious and is not a new discovery. Though, maybe I have just worded it nicely enough, but I have been asked to repost it so it is again for some time on the front page. If I get more positive comments, I might consider incorporating it into my blog title.

Btw, I used the term "function" not regarding office space, condominiums, etc, but in particular in respect to green buildings that will add to its environment (see my post on the BoA Building in NY to be found in my JUNE folder [Archive]).

Actually I might have to write the above in past tense:
"THE FUNCTION AND THE ASTONISHING DESIGNS THAT SEEM TO CONTRADICT THE RULES OF STABILITY HAVE OVERTAKEN THE TRIVIAL FACTOR OF HEIGHT" - well, as we see height seems to be still of great importance as one TBW is being built after the other....

Prime Tower - Switzerland's 1st Skyscraper

The news is not new and I have posted already previously on this project. The Prime Tower in the Maagareal, Zurich, should be completed by 2009/2010.

Here is some more visualization of Switzerland's first skyscraper. But this is the finally chosen project (architects Annette Gigon&Mike Guyer). Honestly, I liked the other project (see my ealier post on my blog) from Burckhardt + Partner AG better. Anyways, here you have the chosen project:

Up up up

View on Manhattan

Some pictures from the helicopter tour... [Click on image for larger view]

Lipstick Building and a Model of the New MoMa

Lipstick Building (View from my old apt on 2nd Ave)



















Model of the MoMa Building














And THE one....

NYC - New York New York

Wanted to post some few pictures I took when I lived there. Unfortunatley, I had to realize that there are not many of skyscrapers... so here they are and also on the next few posts:

A BIG 'THANK YOU' TO ALL OF YOU

Well, I have created this blog only some weeks ago and observed that there are already a reasonable amount of people visiting my blog.

I can't see if you are mostly the same visitors re-visiting, but I wanted to thank all of you visiting my skyscraper page! Obviously it is more fun to write some stuff on the web knowing that there are people out there who are interested in it. THX!

Just to let you know, I do NOT have concrete info on who is visiting my page, but I have two infos: 1st, number of visitors per day & number per hits per day, and 2nd the country from where the visitors are. So that is pretty cool to know that you guys are visiting my posts from all over the world:

VISITORS FROM the U.S., Canada, and Switzerland (top visitors), then also from Taiwan, HK, Malaysia, Argentina, UAE, India, Japan, Spain, Turkey, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Australia, France, Sweden, UK, and Germany!

Thx again also in particular to those who have posted a comment or sent me some additional information on skyscrapers. I hope I can keep you interested, and will try to post again a bit more frequently.

Cheers.

To the Honor of Hugh Stubbins, 1912-2006

I wanted to post something to the honor of Hugh Stubbins, mostly known as the lead architect of the Citigroup Center on 53rd and Lex/3rd in Manhattan.
He passed away one day ago, yesterday Wednesday, 5 July, 2006. Stubbins was an architect of international reputation, whose most important commissions include the Congress Hall in Berlin, the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston, and the Landmark Tower in Yokohama, the tallest building in Japan.
He had received his masters degree in architecture from Harvard in 1935 and opened his own office in Boston thereafter.
He was also a top level athlete and a candidate for the olympic games in 1936, but he couldn't participate because of an injury on the Achilles tendon.











The Citigroup has also been under threat of possible terrorist attacks. I remember coming home from work one day and there weren't only some cop cars to the side of the building. It was an image of war: 3 small tanks and dozens of special police agents wearing bullet-proof wests, helmets and heavy machine guns. The threat on the Citigroup building had been officially published in the newspapers that day and the city had made every effort to show off the provided security. That was a bit weird living only one block away from that site.

Mansion close to the clouds...

QUIZ: Do you know where this little chateau is? It's not in France. It's not in Europe...

Well, I am sure many of you recognized it immediately, cause of the title of this blog. Another hint: have you seen "Meet Joe Balck" with Anthony Hopkins?...

The first time I really became aware of it was only around 6 years ago. And funny enough, many to whom I had pointed out that mansion didn't even recognize it though being only ~300 meters away.

I know we are moving a bit away from architecture into pure real estate. Here is the solution:

It is Martin Zweig's penthouse located at The Taj Pierre Hotel (sorry, but I just had to put that 'taj' there, it is incredible how things change...) built in the 1920s. It encompasses the top three floors. It is the triplex penthouse at The Pierre, a residence that will forever remain without peer in Manhattan, with spectacular 360-degree views of Manhattan. The apt encompasses 16 grand rooms - including five master bedrooms, 7 full baths and three half-baths, five working fireplaces, oak flooring with mahogany borders throughout, separate guest suites plus staff accommodations. The living room is considered the most magnificent privately owned room in the world, which was the original ballroom at The Pierre Hotel, with a 23 foot high curved ceiling and 20 foot French doors overlooking the park and the city. Four adjoining terraces add to its phenomenal dimensions. This is without question one of the most important and spectacular penthouses in the world.

I remember having seen a headline on the Bloomberg in late 2004 that it was for sale: $70,000,000 and maintenance $44,000. And it is actually still for sale: http://www.brownharrisstevens.com/detail.aspx?id=364979 .















Check also my post "The Pierre Hotel - Some History" for some historical information on the building...

The Pierre Hotel - Some History

Well, actually it is "The TAJ Pierre Hotel"...

In "Fifth Avenue, A Very Social History," published in 1978 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Inc., Kate Simon recounts some of the Pierre Hotel's early history:

"Ambitious and tenacious, like many of his fellow Corsicans, Charles Pierre Casalesco left his father's Ajaccio restaurant where he had been the busboy, to go as Charles Pierre to the brilliant Hotel Anglais in Monte Carlo....On a job foray to London, he was picked out by Louis Sherry for a position in New York. Twelve years of Sherry's brought him to an impasse. Smart women were beginning to smoke in public rooms. Mr. Sherry forbade it in his restaurant, an irritating, old-fashioned prohibition, Pierre thought, and, after flights of heated words he left. A stint then at the Ritz-Carlton on Madison Avenue at Forty-sixth, followed by his own restaurant, first on Forty-fifth immediately west of Fifth Avenue, and later at 230 Park, a place equally famous for its cuisine and for its care of American heiresses who, it was seen to by M. Pierre (himself occasionally the escort) went directly home to Mama. Inevitably he became a conservative elder statesman, deploring the vast democratic size of World War I parties and the unrestrained Prohibition guzzling that followed after. He soldiered on in this frantic new world that had lost its manners until a group of admirers and financiers, among them Otto H. Kahn, Finley J. Shepherd (who had married Helen Gould), Edward F. Hutton, Walter P. Chrysler, Robert Livingston Gerry (the son of Elbridge Thomas Gerry, lawyer, philanthropist and grandson of Elbridge Gerry, the inventor of 'gerrymandering') and others decided to use the site of the Gerry mansion at Sixty-first Street and Fifth Avenue for a hotel to be managed and run by Charles Pierre. The new structure, rising forty-two stories, could hardly keep the Richard Hunt chateau quality of the pink mansion it replaced, but a few old France touches were built into the hotel whose motto was 'from this place hope beams.'"

The Depression took its toll, however, and the hotel went into bankruptcy in 1932. Six years later, oilman J. Paul Getty bought it for about $2.5 million in 1938 and subsequently sold many cooperative apartments in the building. The hotel's operations changed hands a few times until Trust Houses Forte Corporation took it over in 1973 and finally the Four Seasons luxury hotel chain in 1986.

Switzerland - Country without Skyscrapers

In Switzerland buildings of large dimensions are rather frowned upon. But the future predicts that Switzerland will receive in the coming years many new glas- and steeltowers.

A skyscraper is defined to be taller than 150 meters. All neighbor countries of Switzerland have at least one of those building, though, the Swiss have decided that it does not fit into their image (Asia has actually the most skyscrapers, with HK having over 7,000!).

The first tower in Switzerland to be taller than 100 meters (~300 feet) has been constructed no more than 3 years ago: The trade show tower in the center of Muba, Basel.

In the 70s the trend to larger buildings had been slowed down and restrictive building codes were established. Then in 1984 the Swiss polulation decided to vote for the pohibition of skyscrapers in Switzerland. This was in force until 2001.

The abolishment of this regulation and the construction of the Basler Messeturm indicated that there will be something going on in the close future. Particularly in Basel and Zurich large projects of new towers have been proposed. In the next few years 10 towers shall be constructed, among them the Swiss Prime Tower (see below) with its 126 meters height. Even in the Alpes some towers shall be built, one of them a bit above Davos.

Davos High-rise - Schatzalp Tower

Here is another picture of the Schatzalp Tower, a project of "Herzog & de Meuron". Unfortunately, I haven't found a picture with a closeup view where material etc is well identifiable.

Click on image for larger view.

Big engineering no longer exciting?

[Taipei 101 - Tallest Building of the World]

"THE FUNCTION AND THE ASTONISHING DESIGNS THAT SEEM TO CONTRADICT THE RULES OF STABILITY WILL OVERTAKE THE TRIVIAL FACTOR OF HEIGHT!"
-yvesdominic-

Just shortly I came across the above statement in a text on the fact that nowadays people are not really knowledgeable anymore on which high-rise makes the list of tallest buildings as #1. The same article also claims that the magic of skyscrapers has vanished and that the world's tallest buildings present awesome symbols of power and prestige. Well, the latter has been the case since the beginning of human constructions.

Now, it is true that probably many would not know that the Taipei 101 is the current tallest building of the world. They might not even be able to recognize it when seen, though, it does indeed have a distinctive form.

I agree with the fact that people aren't anymore as familiar with high-rises as they used to be. But I highly disagree that the engineering of skyscrapers has lost its fascination (and not only because I might be more interested in this subject than others).

First, those buildings have lost their importance regarding 'brand positioning'. Considering the Empire State building we know that it has been featured in King Kong, Sleepless in Seattle, and so forth. Yes the Empire State has been the the tallest building for some time after its construction and it has also been built in a time when such tall constructions became possible through new engineering techniques (as most of us know the elevator played a significant role not only regarding transportation). And some of the original problems still exist today: Stopping towers from inducing nausea by swaying too much at the top and the difficulty of getting enough elevators to service the buildings.

Second, there are not anymore only a handful of such constructions and additional proposed future projects make the media although their construction is rather unrealistic. It is not anymore only New York, Chicago and Kuala Lumpur that hold such prestigious buildings, but other cities some of us might not even be familiar with.

Now, the engineering is a different aspect. And this is the point where I personally completely disagree that it has lost the magic, fascination, and interest.
The goal is not anymore only to propose a project in that field that offers an even higher building. Rather the design, material of construction and also very important the use it offers to the environment have become a maybe even more important role.

I have been talking about Green Buildings (I think I will draw upon this topic again and again as it seems) and this is exactly what I am driving at with the posts earlier.

Green Buildings

If you have read my post below on the BoA Tower then you might already have an idea what a Green Building is.

They started emerging around 2004 on a larger scale. One example of an earlier Green Tower is the Swiss Re Tower in London. Besides being used as advertising item and having become a symbol of the city next to Big Ben and the Tower Bridge, people also refer to it as "London's 1st environmental skyscraper".

One important factor is the use of Natural Light. The Economist has actually written an article on Green Buildings in Dec. 2004, where they have pointed out possible savings, ranging from reduction in legal liability costs, increasing sales in a retail environment through natural light, and a substantial drop in absenteeism also due to the use of natural light in those kind of constructions.

Well, I have to do some more research and get to know more facts, but I have to run....More posts on this subject will follow, or simply post your commments on this!

SD Tower Mumbai, India

Here is a picture of the S D Towers of which I have been earlier talking about.



Height (struct.) 210 m 689 ft
Floors 60
Residential Tower









!! NEW POST ABOVE on almost 100 new towers in Mumbai !! (18 July, 2006)

Skyscrapers in India

!! NEW POST: LIST of almost 100 towers u/c in Mumbai !! Post 18 July, 2006.

(If necessary click on the blogtitle 'Skyscraper' to get all of the posts on one single page)
********************************************************************

If a company wanted to build a significant tall skyscraper it would probably have to find some space outside of the large cities. The main problem is the low floor space index. Of course it would be most lucrative to build a highrise in Mumbai, but space is there more of a premium than anywhere else.

Also skyscrapers put a heavy strain on the existing infrastructure, such as water, parking and fire fighting, just to mention a few of them. Hence, it is usually denied to construct such large buildings. Commercial high-rises are not allowed anyways, because of the mentioned reason that the infrastructure cannot support such constructions. Additionally, bureaucracy makes it impossible to have people moved to open up space.

Infrastructure upgrading is a must to make any proposed project possible. And indeed the legal battles against regulations that prevented development are moving successfully forward. One of them has given the Ok for the S D Towers and another makes it now possible for 100% FDI in construction projects.

A building above 72 feet is already classified as a high-rise. So there are some of those 'towers', but non of them is important enough to be well-known internationally.

The two tallest towers are TV towers. The Bombay TV Tower is a rather ugly steel construction without floors.


and the Pitampura TV Tower:


One source indicates that soon the S D Tower will be the tallest building of India, which supposed to be under construction. However, I have not found one single image.... It will be 252 meter high with 92 floors.

While the process of changing legal regulations and upgrading infrastructure moves along, although extremely slow, some experts expect that in around 5-7 years projects of real size will come about preconditioned that a solid foundation has been laid.

Wrong claims - Just a phenomenon to gain attention?

Well, the announcement has been made some time in June, 2000. So this project might have been called off in the meantime. But who announces those projects? Are they meant serious in the beginning? Or is it just to gain attention?

But then again there are also posts from December 2005 and even 2006 where this building is listed as soon possible tallest building of India, the "Center of India Tower at Katangi, India Tower".

One source from Dec. 08, 2005, claims that it will be also be a religious center of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Again, all this seems rather a hoax than anything else... Additionally, there are no specific engineering drawings nor construction details available online.

But one thing is for sure, it is completely impossible that this building will be one day the tallest building in the world... In Dubai the Burj Dubai [http://www.burjdubai.com/ ] is already in construction, which will hold the record in four categories with its ~800 meters: Highest structure, roof, antenna and occupied floor (recognized categories by the New York-based global authority "Council on Tall Building and Urban Habitat").