Every couple of months, when non-Iraqi representatives of the design team, mostly from the U.S., visit the site of the $100-million Al-Menaa Sports Complex in a suburb of Basra, they move in and out of the war-torn nation with as much secrecy as possible. All travel plans and meeting locations are kept confidential. They alert only one construction executive to the trip. While there, they have armed guards escorting them at all times. Instead of a construction fence, a precast-concrete security wall surrounds the site."We even have to be careful about how we send e-mails about travel to the site,"
Related Links: Maglev Moves From Trains to Tranes Opening Up Mechanical Spaces (requires login) One of the top medical institutions in the Middle East, the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is adding 176,515 square meters of medical space and 167,225 sq m of landscaped underground parking. A central challenge to the job is to keep the buildings cool in the hot desert climate.Desert construction is no walk in the park. Riyadh's temperatures can range from -2° C in winter to 44° C in summer. Warm weather lasts from May 14 to September 27, with
Courtesy of Hirsch Bedner Associates No one sleeps at Antilia, a $1-billion residence built for India's richest man, because it violates the tenets of Vastu Shastra, an ancient version of feng shui. Courtesy of Hirsch Bedner Associates The ballroom is one of many spaces used by the family during the day. The 27-story "house" has 168 parking spaces, nine elevators, three helipads, a health spa, a 50-seat theater and more. A lavishly decked-out 27-story residence in the heart of South Mumbai—built for India's richest man and the ninth wealthiest person in the world—is swathed in secrecy. All are mum about
Photo Courtesy of In-Press With the last few sections of structural steel recently erected, the U.K.'s tallest building, London's Shard, stands at its 310-meter height. With the last few sections of structural steel recently erected, the U.K.'s tallest building, London's Shard, stands at its 310-meter height. Some 500 tonnes of steel in some 800 pieces went into forming the spire, which will receive over 500 panes of glass cladding.Steel subcontractor Severfield-Reeve Structures Ltd. began erecting the skyscraper's 12,500-tonne main frame around two years ago. Columns and composite floors form the lower 40 levels; concrete columns and post-tensioned slabs complete the
Rendering courtesy KSP Jurgen Engel Architekten The mosques minaret will ascend 265 m into the sky, making it the tallest minaret on any mosque in the world. Rendering courtesy KSP Jurgen Engel Architekten The mosques prayer hall, shaped like a cube with regular rows of pillars, will be able to accommodate 35,000 worshippers at any one time. Algeria is set to begin construction of what is expected to be, after worship centers in the Saudi Arabia holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the world’s third-largest mosque. In February, China’s state-controlled China State Construction Engineering Corp. signed a $1.3-billion construction contract
Related Links: Disappearing Act is a 'Whalebone' of a Feat Creek Replica at City Creek is so Real, it Even has Fish For Shelley R. Clark, a structural engineer for the world's most complicated retractable skylight, frustration became the mother of invention. But ultimately, it took her firm Magnusson Klemencic Associates only 15 minutes to turn
India’s leading real estate developer, a major U.S. builder and a London-based hedge fund have formed a joint venture to build integrated residential commercial projects worth $25 billion over the next 20 years throughout the emerging nation.The venture's key partners are India's Sahara Prime City Ltd., investment firm Acropolis Capital Group and Turner International, the international subsidiary of Turner Construction Co., New York City. With an initial investment of $100 million, the Mumbai-based company will operate under the name Sahara Turner Construction Ltd. Sahara Group holds a 63% stake.In its first five-year program, the venture says it will build new
After tortured beginnings that included a false start followed by a protracted design competition during which the eventual winner "gambled" $2 million, a shroud of secrecy has enveloped the planned 1-kilometer-tall Kingdom Tower, to be sited north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Of the 12 stadiums for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, at least six are on track to complete construction within the coming year. Here is a slide show that provides a brief look at how the work for the world’s premier football event is progressing and a summary of some of the challenges facing the contractors.
AP/Wideworld The death toll stands at 17, but authorities say five people remain missing. Google Maps/ENR Art Dept. The collapse of the Liberty Building, shown in orange, impacted surrounding structures. The deadly collapse of three buildings in the historic center of Rio de Janeiro has launched a series of inquiries into the cause of the accident as officials continue to search for the bodies of victims.The 20-story Liberty Building on Avenida 13 de Maio, located near Cinelandia Square in central Rio, fell at about 8:30 p.m. on Jan. 25. The debris crushed the nearby 10-story Columbus Building as well as
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