Sunday, November 11, 2007

Chicago Spire @ foundation

Chicago's buildings are known for innovative and revolutionary designs. The Chicago Spire will complement this pattern, and standing at 2,000 feet (610 m), will further transform the already changing Chicago skyline. Crane parts and construction equipment arrived at the site on June 25, 2007. The following day Shelbourne Development officially announced the first construction contract.


Plans for the tower include 1,193 condominiums with each of the building's 150 stories rotating exactly 2.44 degrees from the one below for a total 360 degree rotation. For supplemental structural support, each floor would be surrounded by cantilevered corners and four concave sides. Similar to the Sears Tower and John Hancock Center skydecks, the Chicago Spire will house a community room at the top floor offering residents a view of four states. The soaring four story lobby of the skyscraper will have translucent glass walls and be framed by arching, steel reinforced concrete vaults. The building has been labeled as a giant "drill bit" by the public and others in the media have likened it to a "tall twisting tree" and a "blade of grass".

Facts:

Location: Chicago, Illinois
Groundbreaking: June 25, 2007
Estimated completion: 2011
Opening: 2011
Use: Residential

Roof: 2,000 feet (609.6 m), world’s tallest exclusively residential building and the tallest building in the western world
Floor count: 150
Floor area 3,000,000 square feet (278,709 sq. m)
Lobby footprint is 15,220 sq. ft (1,413.98sqm)
Base-to-height ratio approaches one to ten, making The Chicago Spire the most slender supertall building in the world
Number of apartments: 1,193
World’s longest elevator run at 1,864 feet (568.14m)
Elevators will transport all residents from the ground floor directly to their floor
Average wait time for an elevator is 32.5 seconds
17 elevators (14 passenger elevators in four banks, three freight/fire elevators)
All 1,193 residences are designed by Santiago Calatrava; no two units are alike
Prices will range from $750,000 USD to $40,000,000 USD

Architect: Santiago Calatrava, Perkins and Will
Structural Engineer: Thornton Tomasetti
Mechanical/Electrical Engineers: Cosentini

Contractor: Case Foundation
Developer: Shelbourne Development

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Russia Tower @ foundation

Moscow City Tower, currently under construction in the Moscow International Business Center, will become the tallest skyscraper in Europe and the second tallest in the world, after the Burj Dubai which is scheduled to open in 2009 at an estimated height of 818 m (2,684 ft). On 18 September 2007, the building's cornerstone was laid by Mayor Yuri Luzhkov in an official ceremony. The 612-meter pyramidal building designed by famous architect Sir Norman Foster. The 130-story tower will house residential space, offices and a major congress center, a hotel and an entertainment complex with an observation platform on the top seven floors.




Some figures

Location: Moscow International Business Center
Height above ground level: roof at 612 meters (2,008 ft)
Floors: 118
Elevators: 101
Underground parking: 3,680 automobiles
Floor area: 520,000 m² (5,597,233.4 sq ft) of which 38% (200,000 m² (2,152,782.1 sq ft)) will be located underground.
Cost: ~ $2 billion (1.4 billion euros)

Groundbreaking ceremony: 18 September 2007
Completion: 2012

Architect: Foster + Partners



September 21, 2004

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Burj Dubai @ 586 m

Burj Dubai it's now standing at 586 m (1922ft) and since September 12 it's the tallest freestanding structure, surpassing the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada. At it's completion it will be the world's tallest structure, title now hold by KVLY-TV Mast in North Dakota, United States.

Here are some pictures of the progress, enjoy!


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Time line of events:

September 21, 2004 Construction begins

February 2007 Burj Dubai surpasses the Sears Tower as the building with the most floors (110)

July 21, 2007 Burj Dubai becomes the tallest building surpassing Taipei 101 which stands at a height of 509.2 m (1,671 ft).

August 12, 2007 Burj Dubai surpassed the height of the Sears' Tower antenna which stands at a height of 527.3 m (1,730 ft).

September 3, 2007 Burj Dubai becomes the second-tallest freestanding structure, surpassing the 540 m (1,772 ft) Ostankino Tower in Moscow, Russia.

September 12, 2007 At 555.3 m (1,822 ft), Burj Dubai becomes the world's tallest freestanding structure, surpassing the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada.

Last two milestones:

To surpass the 628.8 m (2,063 ft) height of the KVLY-TV Mast in North Dakota, United States to become the world's tallest structure

To pass the Warsaw radio mast in GÄ…bin, Poland (646.4 m (2,121 ft) until it collapsed in 1991) to become the world's tallest structure of any type ever built.

Diagram

Source