The Tallest Buildings in the World

Created by Skidmore Owings & Merrill (the same group behind New York City’s Freedom Tower), it will be a zero-energy building — and thanks to its massive array of solar panels up top actually feed back to the grid. Everything from air-conditioning to heating to lighting will be covered by clean, green energy — enough to cover the needs of the 5,000 people expected to work there.

“It’s unique cooling system will take cold water from the river Seine and pump it around the building - eliminating the need for a traditional air conditioner. The building will also utilize cutting edge insulation, reducing amount of electricity consumption per square meter of office space per year to 16 kilowatts, the lowest in the world for a building of its size.”

Cost are expected to be about 25%-30% above that of a comparable old school office structure.

BusinessWeek and Architectural Record announced the 2007 Architectural Awards.

The submissions are:

1. Award of Excellence - InterActiveCorp Headquarters - New York

Architect: Gehry Partners/Studios Architecture

2. Award of Excellence - Young Center For The Performing Arts - Toronto

Architect: Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects
3. Award of Excellence - U.S. Census Bureau Headquarters - Suitland Md.

Architect: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

4. Award of Excellence - Navy Federal Credit Union Heritage Oaks Center, Building One - Pensacola, Fla.

Architect: ASD

5. Citation for Excellence - Four Seasons Center For The Performing Arts - TorontoArchitect: Diamond & Schmitt Architects

6. Citation for Excellence - Hearst Tower - New York

Architect: Foster + Partners/Gensler

7. Citation for Excellence - Hubbell Lighting Headquarters - Greenville, S.C.

Architect: McMillan Smith & Partners Architects

8. Citation for Excellence - SJ Berwin - London

Architect: HOK
9. Citation for Excellence - San Diego Padres Ballpark/ Petco Park - San Diego

Architect: Antoine Predock Architect/HOK Sports

10. Citation for Excellence -Gardiner Museum - Toronto
Architect: Kuwabara Payne Mckenna Blumberg Architects

The Qatari government is close to buying most of London’s £400m Shard of Glass development, skyscraper that has not yet been built, Doha Time reported.

The 66-storey London Bridge Tower, otherwise known as the Shard of Glass, is built in south London this will become one of the tallest buildings in Europe.

Michael Schumacher, a veritable landmark in motor racing history, is to become an actual landmark.

To enable Schuey to continue to tower over the rest of the field, so to speak, a German company undertaking construction projects in the Gulf emirate of Dubai is building the Michael Schumacher Business Avenue. The construction project is to be highlighted by a 29-floor dual-purpose commercial/residential tower. The champion himself is expected to fly out to Dubai – where he already has his own island – to kick-start the project, which is expected to begin construction within the next three months.

Believe it or not, Schumacher won’t be the first German-speaking, former Ferrari-driving, multiple-world-championship-winning F1 driver to get a complex named after him in the Dubai development: the Niki Lauda Twin Towers are located nearby.

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Kuwait is building the world’s tallest tower at 1,001 meters in Madinat al Hareer, also known as the City of Silk. When completed, the Burj Mubarak al-Kabir will beat a residential tower undergoing construction in Dubai estimated to rise between 700 to 800 meters.
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The Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibtion Centre looks a lot like something out of Star Wars. Unlike the traditional high-rise building, the design for the Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre accommodates all primary functions, such as the convention centre, hotel rooms, apartments, offices and retail space in a giant sphere.

Don’t like the view? Wait a few minutes and it will change.

In skyscraper-crazy Dubai, tall isn’t enough. In a design to be unveiled today in the oil-rich emirate, David Fisher, an Italian-Israeli architect, has dreamed up a 68-story combination hotel, apartment and office tower where the floors would rotate 360 degrees. Each floor would rotate independently, creating a constantly changing architectural form.

Each story of the tower would be shaped like a doughnut and be attached to a center core housing elevators, emergency stairs and other utilities. Wind turbines placed in gaps between the doughnuts would generate electricity.

The doughnuts won’t rotate fast enough to give guests upset stomachs. A single rotation would take around 90 minutes. “It’s quite slow,” says Mr. Fisher.

The city’s planning board has endorsed a proposal for a twisting lakefront tower that would become the nation’s tallest building.

With Thursday’s approval from the Chicago Plan Commission, the design and site plan for the 2,000-foot Chicago Spire goes to the city zoning committee next week.

“This is a wonderful project, and everyone is very enthused,” said Constance Buscemi, spokeswoman for the city’s planning department.

Technorati Tags: Chicago, Fordham Spire, Tallest Building in the world

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The City of Guangzhou - host city to the 2010 Asian Games is also set to house one of the world’s tallest buildings. The new TV Tower will be one of the tallest buildings in the world - reaching 610m in height and is hoped will attract 10,000 visitors daily. The 610-metre-tall twisted, tapering tube is formed by the rotation between two ellipses which form a ‘waist’ in the centre of the building. All the giant building’s functional workings are hidden at the base and all infrastructural connections are met underground. This level supports other facilities as well, including a museum, dining facilities, commercial space and car parks. Slow-speed panoramic and enclosed high-speed double-decker lifts serve both entrance levels. Between 80-170m will consist of facilities like a 4D cinema, restaurants, coffee shops and outdoor gardens. At 170+ there will be an open-air staircase which spirals almost 200 metres higher. The building is set to be finished late 2009, in time for the games.

Dutch Information Based Architecture (IBA) is the prime contractor on this project.