SKY CITY - Truly Vertical Living

Believe it or not, this month the construction for the first sky city in the world should start in the Hunan province, China - to be precise in its capital city Changsha!

This is an extremely massive project in the history of skyscraper construction:
it will not only be the officially first sky city building, but also the new TBW, with a total height of 838 m and 220 floors - it is said that the original plan was to build a 666 m tall skyscraper, but the local government wanted to go for the TBW, surpassing Burj Khalifa's 828 meters.
It will belong to the sustainable buildings (setting a mark in China), it shall be built in only 90 days (!) *, it will comprise hotels, multiple schools, a hospital, gardens, ... you name it ...., and over 100 high-speed elevators.

At the same time there have been many doubts regarding several points including safety standards, time to finish, and even if it might be only a marketing ploy of the builders, the Broad Group.

However, China has announced a multitude of astonishing high rise projects, including a 2 km tall super skyscraper - lets stay tuned on that one!



* this is possible through prefabricating 95% of the building before any single excavation starts on the construction site. Just remember that Burj Khalifa's construction took more than 5 years (21 Sep 2004 - 1 Oct 2009, officially opened 4 Jan 2010). The goal is to achieve costs of $1'500/m2 - compared to Burj Khalifa's $4'500/m2.

Past 100 Yrs tallest buildings - in chronology

CITY HALL IN PHILADELPHIA (incl. statue)

167 meters
1901-1907 tallest building



SINGER BUILDING NYC

187 meters
1908




METROPOLITAN LIFE TOWER NYC

213 meters
1909 - 1912



WOOLWORTH BUILDING NYC

241 meters
1913-1929



CHRYSLER BUILDING NYC

319 meters
1930




EMPIRE STATE BUILDING NYC

381 meters
1931 - 1971





WORLD TRADE CENTER NYC

417 meters
1972 - 1973




WILLIS TOWER
(formerly known as SEARS TOWER)
Chicago

442 meters
1974 - 1997




PETRONAS TOWERS
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

452 meters
1998 - 2003





TAIPEI 101
Taiwan

508 meters
2004 - 2009




BURJ CHALIFA

828 meters
2010 - ?

BURJ CHALIFA formerly known as BURJ DUBAI

The opening ceremony with fireworks and other tam-tam was certainly a much expected event. However, Dubai's Sheikh His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum proclaimed that the tower shall no longer be named Burj Dubai, but much shall much rather be known from now on as BURJ CHALIFA, which is the name of the ruler of the neighboring emirate Abu Dhabi: Sheikh CHALIFA bin Said Al Nahjan.

Construction had already begun 2004 and with a delay the tower has been now inaugurated today instead of 2008. Among other attractions the Burj Chalifa incorporates a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani.

The temperature difference between ground floor and peak, can be over 8C.




The Burj Chalifa's height has now been officially been made public:

828 meters.

12'000 ppl will be living and working in this one single building - if all of the space will be inhabited/rented out/ or sold. According to Emaar properties approx 90% of office space and appartments are already sold...



The Burj Chalifa will be visible from a distance of almost 100 km.

Burj Dubai - Grand Opening

HELLO!

after almost 2.5 years I'm returning to my WORLDSKYSCRAPERS blog. Obviously and unfortunately the visits to my page have disappeared over time :(

Oddly my new post is actually a reference to the building depicted in my very first post in 2006:

the Burj Dubai. And this is no coincidence, because: tomorrow,

4 January 2010,

is the grand opening of this great building. Despite the financial turmoil in the region, one can expect a quite large event. But realistically, the Burj will probably remain for now the last finished mega project...

Although the opening is just around the corner, last construction works are being made still on the exterior...

NYC Skyline

Well, what do you think about that? We all know that Mayor Mike wants to add 1 million trees to the city, transform an old gras-overgrown subway aqueduct track in the lower east side into a park (sorry, can't remember the name and exact location, pls google yourself...), change the water quality of the east river such that we can go for a swim there, solve air polution problems, introduce congestions tolls to drive into manhatten when leaving the FDR, building f i n a l l y a second line parallel to the green line (is this now the 3rd or even 4th attempt in nyc history!?) - but after all, the skyline will change as well, such that one day (the pic is thinking of 2016) we might not be able to recognize it anymore as we do today...

BURJ AL-TAQA: Green Building in the UAE

Dubai is the Mekka of new skyscrapers. While the overheating of the real estate market in 'TO-BUY' has already been rumored for a while, one new skyscraper sets a new direction. It is not only about design and hight, but much rather about its technology setting a new corner stone in the development of green buildings. The Burj al-Taqa in Dubai is being designed so that it generates all of its energy through renewable means such as wind turbines and solar panels. On top of the tower will be a 200 foot turbine that harnesses the power of the wind, and an array of solar panels on the roof and a series of islands that stretches over 161,459 square feet. The tower will also feature a massive solar shield to protect it from the sun, and vacuum glazed glass that will reduce the amount of heat absorbed from the extreme temperatures (up to 50 degrees C / 122 degrees F), presumably meaning less reliance on traditional air conditioning. Talking of air conditioning, the main system for cooling the air inside the tower uses a convection system which pulls in cold air at the ground level, and sucks it up out of the top of the tower. The air conditioning will use seawater, and underground cooling units lower the temperature inside to 18 degrees C / 64.4 degrees F. This building may be a technological beacon for environmentally friendly skyscrapers, but as somebody has pointed out earlier, new building designs don't do much to solve the inefficiency of older buildings in cities. Although that doesn't mean we can't imagine what it'd be like to work and live in a sea of glass and metal without feeling slightly bad about it.

SHENZHEN STOCK X-CHANGE

Rem Koolhaas' Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has won the competition for the new stock exchange in Shenzhen. With its 250 meters the tower will have a floating base that offers beneath a covered public plaza. It is planned that vertical digital banners will stream down financial information.

AL SHARQ TOWER - Dubai

Being part of a total of $1.2 billion construction investment project the Al Sharq Tower will be a luxury resident tower with 100 floors and a hight of 360 meters.
Construction is planned to start in April 2007 and should be finished by 2010.

Skyscrapers for SWITZERLAND - Wrapped Tree or "Bau 1"

Switzerland will soon be proud owner of a real skyscraper. With 163m and an investment of CHF 550 million the Roche (the pharmaceutical company) tower is planned to be finished in 2011. It will be the highest building in whole Switzerland.

Architects are Herzog & de Meuron. What is quite interesting about the architecture is that the building will offer different faces depending from which side it is observed from, due to its unique design.

[as discussed in earlier blogs and comment, Switzerland does not have any real skyscrapers yet, except the Swiss Prime Tower, which is being built right now]

Roche's "Bau 1" in Basel

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]