buildings

18 Stories

Award-Winning Building Is Being Demolished
Award-Winning Building Has
Become a 'White Elephant'
in case you missed it

Award-Winning Building Has Become a 'White Elephant'

UK's Centenary Building isn't even 30, but 'aging infrastructure' necessitates demolition, per school

(Newser) - In 1996, the then-new Centenary Building on the campus of Salford University won an esteemed architectural award as Britain's best new building, with judges calling it "a dynamic, modern, and sophisticated exercise in steel, glass, and concrete." Now, less than 30 years later, the empty structure has...

Tiny Dots on Chicago's High-Rise Windows Make a 'Huge Difference'

Avian advocates are working to stop birds from fatally smashing into the city's tall buildings

(Newser) - With a neon-green net in hand, Annette Prince briskly walks a downtown Chicago plaza at dawn, looking left and right as she goes. It's not long before she spots a tiny yellow bird sitting on the concrete. It doesn't fly away, and she quickly nets the bird, gently...

The World Is About to Get a Second 'Sphere'

Structure in UAE capital Abu Dhabi will be the second of its kind, after one built in Las Vegas

(Newser) - The world's second Sphere will be built in the capital of the United Arab Emirates after the opening of the first in Las Vegas. Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism and Sphere Entertainment Co. announced the plan late Tuesday to bring a Sphere to the Middle East....

On Island of Crete, an 'Extremely Interesting' Find

Archaeologists unearth 4K-year-old building from Minoan civilization; airport project may be disrupted

(Newser) - A big, round, 4,000-year-old stone building discovered on a Crete hilltop is puzzling archaeologists and threatening to disrupt a major airport project on the Greek tourist island. Greece's Culture Ministry said Tuesday the structure is a "unique and extremely interesting find" from Crete's Minoan civilization, famous...

Another of Italy's 'Leaning' Towers May Be in Trouble

Garisenda Tower in Bologna, Italy, is now at 'great risk of falling,' city officials say

(Newser) - There's been no dire update of late on the Leaning Tower of Pisa's vertical challenges , so we're guessing it's still standing strong, but one of Italy's other leaning towers seems to now be in a more precarious position than it was just over a month...

Leaning Lighthouse Could Fall Within Days

Ships banned from German port of Bremen

(Newser) - The world has another leaning tower, which unlike the relatively stable tower in Pisa, will soon tilt an inch too far. An iconic lighthouse at the northern German port of Bremen has tilted sideways and could soon topple over entirely, per the AP . Public broadcaster Radio Bremen quoted the head...

Sinking Millennium Tower Just Can't Catch a Break
Planned Fix for Sinking
Tower Hits Big Snag
in case you missed it

Planned Fix for Sinking Tower Hits Big Snag

Roadblock to $100M effort to reverse tilt of San Francisco's Millennium Tower: underground wall

(Newser) - San Francisco has been struggling for years with its Millennium Tower , an architectural fiasco that has seen the building slowly leaning and sinking into the ground below it. Now, the expensive plan to fix it may be in jeopardy, with reports that an underground shoring wall is now a wrench...

World's Skinniest Skyscraper Now Towers Over Manhattan

The Steinway Tower is completed, stands at 1,427 feet

(Newser) - Construction is now complete on New York City's Steinway Tower, which might be a ho-hum update save for one detail: It's the skinniest skyscraper in the world, with a height-to-width ratio of 24:1. (The next closest looks to have a ratio of 20:1 .) The tower...

Architect Who 'Aspired for the Sky' Dies at 92
Architect Who 'Aspired
for the Sky' Dies at 92
obituary

Architect Who 'Aspired for the Sky' Dies at 92

(Newser) - Architect César Pelli, renowned for designing some of the world's tallest buildings, has died, his firm said. He was 92. Pelli, an Argentine-American whose work ranged from skyscrapers in Malaysia and New York to an arena in Tulsa, Oklahoma, died Friday at his home in New Haven, Connecticut,...

Behold, the World's 'Best' Building

 Behold, the World's 
 'Best' Building 
in case you missed it

Behold, the World's 'Best' Building

31 six-story blocks make up Singapore's Interlace

(Newser) - If the best view from your apartment is into your neighbors' living room, prepare to be envious of the residents of Singapore's the Interlace —the winner of the World Building of the Year at the eighth annual World Architecture Festival. Designed by Netherlands-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture and...

Office Temperatures Are 'Sexist'
 Office Temperatures 
 Are 'Sexist' 
study says

Office Temperatures Are 'Sexist'

Temperatures are based on the male metabolism, study says

(Newser) - A man and woman work in the same room all day long. One is perfectly comfortable while the other is freezing her tush off. Sound strange? Nope, it's just daily life in offices, according to a new study that says our average building temperature is outdated and favors the...

Skyscrapers Soared Their Way to a Record 2014

97 buildings reach beyond some 650 feet

(Newser) - Last year was a special one for skyscrapers: Ninety-seven new buildings were 200 meters (about 656 feet) or taller, a survey finds. That's a new record, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat , which conducted the study; the previous record, in 2011, was 81. For the...

California OKs Nation's Greenest Building Code

New rules on plumbing, waste go into effect next year

(Newser) - A California commission has approved rules designed to make the state's new buildings some of the greenest in the country. The building code, known as Calgreen, requires among other things that builders use high-tech plumbing, recycle half their overall waste, and use low-pollutant paints and floorings. The rules go into...

Goodbye, Sears Tower; Hello, Willis Tower

Iconic skyscraper gets rebranded with new lease

(Newser) - Sears Tower is to be rechristened Willis Tower in accordance with a new lease signed by insurance firm Willis Group Holdings, the Chicago Tribune reports. The company plans to move some 500 associates into multiple floors. It says its $14.50-per-square-foot move means big real-estate savings, and the name change...

Architect: Crunch Will Topple 'Wow Factor' Buildings

Architect believes financial meltdown will cause building 'mood shift'

(Newser) - Attention-seeking skyscraper projects are likely to be early victims of the financial crisis, architect David Chipperfield predicts in a Bloomberg interview. "Wow-factor" buildings like London's "Shard of Glass" have proliferated during years when there's been plenty of money around, but a shift in mood is likely to...

Behold, the Worst Building Ever
Behold, the Worst Building Ever

Behold, the Worst Building Ever

105-story Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang draws Esquire 's scorn

(Newser) - The Ryugyong Hotel in downtown Pyongyang is surely one of the worst architectural failures in history, Eva Hagberg writes in Esquire: Not only has the 105-story building—which sucked up an estimated 2% of North Korea’s annual GDP from 1987 to '92—never opened, but the pyramidal “hotel...

Best New Buildings of 2007
Best New Buildings of 2007

Best New Buildings of 2007

BusinessWeek profiles the top 10

(Newser) - Looks weren't all that mattered to BusinessWeek and Architectural Record in choosing their 2007 architectural awards. "Contribution to business" was important, too. Their top picks:
  1. InterActive Corp. Headquarters, New York—Gehry Partners
  2. Young Center for the Performing Arts, Toronto—Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects
  3. US Census Bureau Headquarters, Suitland,
...

Dubai Tower is World's Tallest
Dubai Tower is World's Tallest

Dubai Tower is World's Tallest

$1B skyscraper at 1,680 feet; final height will be over 2,200 with 160 floors and 56 elevators

(Newser) - An unfinished skyscraper in Dubai is now scraping the sky at 1,680 feet, surpassing Tawain's Taipei 101 as the world's tallest building. The Burj Dubai, which began construction in September 2004, will cost $1B and consist of more than 160 floors and 56 elevators when completed in 2008.

18 Stories