Courtesy of BIG Museum's double-spiral form lets in daylight. The clock started ticking for Bjarke Ingels Group when Swiss watchmaker, Audemars Piguet, selected the design firm, called BIG, for a 2,400-sq-m watchmaking museum, called Maison des Fondateurs, in the Vallee de Joux.The intertwined, double-spiral-shaped pavilion, also an expansion of the Audemars Piguet facility, will contain a succession of galleries and three workshops.The roof and celing of the low-lying pavilion are cut from a single sheet of metal, clad in brass, that is continuous in plan but undulates in section to create a series of openings that allow in daylight and
Related Links: Demolition Contractors Ask for a Larger Role in Disaster Planning Engineers Surprised by Damage to Modern Buildings in Christchurch Instability From Soil Liquefaction Remains A Danger, Says Engineer Economists predict it will take some $35 billion and 50 to 100 years for New Zealand to recover from the February 2011 Canterbury earthquake, which killed 185 people and devastated Christchurch, the nation's second-largest city. To date, the New Zealand government has committed more than $13 billion to rebuilding the greater Christchurch area. Many projects—both public and private—are under development, including a convention center, a $45.9-million Bus Interchange, the redevelopment
Courtesy of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture If all goes as planned, the Kingdom Tower, which will be the future world's tallest building, will contain the world's most lightweight elevator system. Related Links: KONE's High-Rise Elevator System Called Breakthrough Technology Designers Apply Lessons from World's Tallest Tower to Improve Future 'Megatallest' KONE Corp. has won the contract for the vertical transportation in Kingdom Tower, a multi-use building that is planned for a record height of 1 kilometer. For the tower, under way near Jeddah, KONE plans to install its lightweight hoisting system, called UltraRope, which it introduced last year.If
Photo Courtesy of PERI The Willy Brandt Berlin Brandenburg Airport is two years behind schedule and could see costs escalate to nearly $4 billion. Related Links: Berlin's New $4B Airport About Ready To Debut When Did Germans Forget How To Build? Construction of Berlin's new airport, already two years behind schedule and at least $1.3 billion over budget, has hit yet another hurdle stemming from an alleged bribery scandal.When Netherlands-based design and engineering firm Arcadis in May received an employee report of a bribe attempt by a Berlin Brandenburg Airport official, it immediately reported it to authorities, says Jost Slooten,
Courtesy Potencial Engenharia After traveling on roads, the disassembled pieces rode on barges that took the unit up the Amazon River. Courtesy Potencial Engenharia The unit, which went on line in May, was reassembled in the Amazon Basin. Related Links: Booming Natural Gas Market Pressures Green Economy Tools of the Trade for Heavy Lifting and Hauling Contractors in charge of Petrobras’ fourth natural-gas processing unit in Brazil pulled off a feat of epic proportions: From a gas compound in Pojuca, the project team moved the unit through an intricate logistical operation that involved a 5,000-kilometer-long haul on roads and rivers
Related Links: South Africa's Sasol Moves on New Petrochemical Project in Louisiana Gas-Fired Projects Are Gaining Momentum Egypt’s Carbon Holdings Ltd. has signed a $600-million agreement with Abu Dhabi-based Drake & Scull International (DSI) for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of utilities and off-site facilities at the $6-billion Tahrir Petrochemical Project, 40 kilometers south of the city of Suez, at the head of the Suez Canal.DSI joins several other companies that already have secured contracts with Carbon Holdings for the construction of the petrochemicals complex, expected to break ground in 2015 following a financial close by the end of
Related Links: London Starts Plan To Fix Its Plumbing Link to U.K. National Audit Office report on Tideway Tunnel financing risks Europe's Largest Rail Project Ramps Up London's water utility invited international investors on June 10 to help finance, through a newly created special-purpose company, the estimated $7-billion tunnel program that will prevent polluted storm overflows from tainting the River Thames.Work on the 25-kilometer-long tunnel is due to start in 2016, subject to final government approvals that are expected this fall.Privately owned utility Thames Water already has short-listed construction bidders for three construction packages covering the whole project. It aims
Related Links: EPA's information on New Source Performance Standards for New Powerplants Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute List of CCS projects being planned, under developoment, or completed Two recent projects to capture and store carbon emissions from large coal-fired powerplants have had very different outcomes: One was completed this spring and is undergoing testing and commissioning; the other is months behind schedule and way over budget.The Boundary Dam project in Saskatchewan went up relatively smoothly, although there were challenges during the construction phase, says SaskPower President and CEO Robert Watson. But the Kemper County carbon capture and storage (CCS)
Photo Courtesy Black and Veatch Utilities, which based storage sites on national repository plan, are now adding capacity. Related Links: U.S. Nuclear Plants Provide Market Niche for Waste Disposal System Providers Cask Storage For Spent Fuel As the 21st century dawned, "nuclear renaissance" was a popular catchphrase. But current trends suggest that renaissance, if it occurs, will be in the market for engineers and contractors providing services to decommission nuclear powerplants and build storage for their spent fuel. In 2000, 104 power reactors were operating in the U.S., and new growth beckoned. In 2013, four of that fleet were retired,
RSS
