Related Links: Tensioning Eases Stress on a 13-Story Sustainability Showcase TMG Partners Tipping Mar Plant Construction Co. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Earthquake Protection Systems In a back-to-the-future scenario, the structural engineer for the seismic retrofit of a 1962 steel moment-resisting frame in earthquake-prone San Francisco fashioned the office building's high-tech lateral system after an ancient Japanese pagoda. The building's 14-story pivoting spine—equivalent to a pagoda's wooden "shinbashira"—turned into a $4-million-plus silver lining to a recession-related hiatus for the $110-million gut renovation and expansion of 680 Folsom Street.Instead of a tree trunk pivoting in a well in the ground, the ultra-modern
Rendering Courtesy of SOM Plan for brownfield site along Lake Michigan calls for 700 buildings. Related Links: Chicago Lakeside Development Argonne National Laboratory Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Computer scientists are teaming up with planners, developers and big data tools to inform decisions about megadevelopments. The goal of one fledgling effort is to develop a prototype computational framework that would be instrumental in planning the infrastructure for the future 600-acre Chicago Lakeside Development, a minicity sited on a former U.S. Steel complex on Lake Michigan, 10 miles south of downtown."Planners don't want to rely on intuition or hope. They want to
Rendering Courtesy of Millennium Partners; A Los Angeles group is trying to stop a city-approved $650-million high-rise development, claiming the site is dangerously close toor possibly on top ofthe active Hollywood fault. Photo Courtesy of Benchmark Contractors BLVD 6200 is already under construction on or near active splays of the Hollywood fault. Related Links: Millennium Hollywood Official Website Stop the Millennium Hollywood Project Organization Website Los Angeles city planners are so eager to redevelop the iconic Hollywood district that, according to a recent lawsuit, they approved a $650-million development that sits dangerously close to—or possibly on top of—the active Hollywood
Courtesy of Snohetta for the Golden State Warriors Snohetta remains the lead design firm for the San Francisco arena-on-a-pier but Manica Architecture has been added to the team. San Francisco’s Golden State Warriors basketball team is in the final stages of selecting an architect of record for its planned arena-on-a-pier. The team recently brought in Manica Architecture, Kansas City, Mo., to work on the "bones" of the arena and related buildings, says P.J. Johnston, a team spokesman.Architect AECOM completed its first phase of design work in the spring and is still on the project but only as a strategic advisor
Related Links: Showcase Soccer Stadium in Brazilian Capital Goes for Stylish Sustainability 49ers Use 'Integrated Bridging Design-Build' To Speed Stadium Construction Before the new $60-million San Jose Earthquakes Stadium can shake with more than 18,000 soccer fans, the construction team must finish removing all the underground World War II tank parts and factory components that were left behind by the site's previous occupants.Once used to build Bradley infantry vehicles in the 1940s, the land for the new stadium came with no as-built blueprints, says Dave Kaval, president of the San Jose Earthquakes. As a result, crews led by Milpitas, Calif.-based
Rendering Courtesy of Broad Group At 838 meters, Sky City would be the world's tallest building. Photo Copyright tobyphillipsphotography Broad Group Chairman Zhang Yue (right) gave a presentation on Sky City at the 2013 London conference of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Video by Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Full video of Zhang Yue's presentation to CTBUH's London conference in June 2013. Related Links: CTBUH's Antony Wood's Report on His Visit to Broad Group World's Tallest Building Halted Over Missing Permit (Global Times, 7-26-13) Broad Sustainable Building Website (english version) On July 20, a groundbreaking
Mike Current says he almost had a nervous breakdown in anticipation of the first lift of the site-preassembled, glass-enclosed pedestrian bridges that link CityCenterDC's 11-story office buildings across a 24-ft-wide alley.
The conventional reinforced-concrete frames of the six 11-story buildings that stand in place of the razed Washington, D.C., convention center don't hold a candle to the innovative space truss that supported the old exhibit hall's clear-span roof.
London's 224-meter-tall "Cheesegrater" building has climbed into the city's skyline over the past months, quickly becoming a new landmark in a city with quirky building names.
Photo by Nural Alam, ADPC The eight-story reinforced-concrete building near Dhaka had three illegal floors and a fourth on the way; further, it was built for a commercial occupancy but used as a factory. A rapid structural assessment of the fatal collapse of an eight-story reinforced-concrete building near Dhaka, Bangladesh, uncovered major flaws in the building’s construction and multiple causes for the April 24 disaster. The building in Savar had been turned into a garment factory. To date, there have been more than 700 fatalities. The death toll is expected to rise to 1,000.The tragedy has triggered a review of