No need to put the Statue of Liberty on a pedestal—it has been on one for 125 years. But there is a need to upgrade both the pedestal and the statue itself so that they are compliant with current life-safety codes, says the owner, the U.S. Dept. of the Interior's National Park Service. And when it comes to the Statue of Liberty, even something as mundane sounding as a life-safety upgrade is anything but ordinary. During the $27.3-million renovation, the mandate from the park service is to protect the historic fabric of the monument, which is located on Liberty Island
Courtesy of the Council on Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat Most of the projected 20 tallest buildings in 2020 would be in Asia, says the tall buildings council. The Council on Tall Buildings & Urban Habitat is adding a new noun to its dictionary—a megatall—which it defines as a building 600 m or taller. As of 2020, there will likely be eight megatalls, says the council. That assumes, of course, that none of the megatalls on the drawing boards or under construction is canceled, mothballed or cut short.The projected 20 tallest buildings in 2020, just listed by the CTBUH, are
Related Links: Korea's Songdo IBD is Model for Sustainable, High-Tech Living Delivery of the future-tallest building in the Republic of Korea is a family affair—or the closest thing to it. Lotte Group, the owner-developer of the planned 555-meter Lotte World Tower in Seoul, is bringing back the master-builder model for its first supertower by keeping project management, construction management and general contracting under its own roof."This is the first time in the world this is happening" for supertower delivery, says Y K Kim, executive director of the CM division of South Korea's fourth-largest family-run conglomerate, or chaebol. Kim should know.
Related Links: Lotte, Koreas First Supertower, is an All-in-the-Family Affair U.Life. It sounds like a New Age movement. For developer Stanley C. Gale, the driving force behind the $35-billion Songdo International Business District, U.Life actually is a "new age movement" of sorts, except the "new age" is the digital age and the "movement" is variously called smart cities, intelligent urbanization or, in Gale's lexicon, ubiquitous life, or U.Life. If Gale has his way, everyone living and working in the 1,500-acre Songdo IBD will be linked through a common backbone of information and communications technology.The master-planned new town in Incheon, Republic
The inventors and original supplier of a popular shear-stud reinforcement for two-way flat slabs in concrete frames are up in arms over charges, based on recent research, that the American Concrete Institute's model code governing use of the studs is flawed. The researchers claim that, consequently, there is potential for premature failure due to punching shear at slab-column connections, especially under earthquake loads.A. Ghali, professor emeritus of civil engineering, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and the lead researcher for original studies on shear studs dating back to the 1970s, disagrees. Extensive testing shows that code-specified "equations and detailing for the
The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened to the public on Nov.11, 2011. The complex was completed on schedule, according to Bill Greek, senior vice president of Linbeck Group LLC, which led the joint venture that built the project. Construction of the 201,000-sq-ft museum—a collection of 10 linked buildings—was challenging, thanks to its setting over or alongside a stream in a blasted out ravine in Bentonville, Ark., and its two weirs, curved forms and cable-supported roofs, courtesy of architect Moshe Safdie. Work even required damming Crystal Spring. Though the museum is open to the public, the diverted creek has
Courtesy of Whole Water Systems LLC Utilities often do not allow constructed wetlands and other decentralized treatment systems. Courtesy of the Internatonal Living Future Institute Composting toilet systems are the most environmentally benign of the decentralized wastewater treatment systems studied in a recent report. For cities to be truly sustainable and resilient, wastewater treatment needs to be localized, not centralized, chorused landscape architects and others at the American Society of Landscape Architects' 2011 Annual Meeting & Expo, held on Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 in San Diego.“There is room for improvement in the modern approach to stormwater management,” said Jack
Courtesy of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Three of the museum buildings' roofs have glue-laminated arches supported on cables. Courtesy of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art The buildings are open, but the creek has yet to be filled with water. The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened to the public on Nov. 11, 2011. The complex was completed on schedule, according to Bill Greek, senior vice president of Linbeck Group LLC, which led the joint venture that built the project. Construction of the 201,000-sq-ft museum—a collection of 10 linked buildings—was challenging, thanks to its setting over and
PHOTO COURTESY OF Pacifica honolulu High-rise condo tower re-emerges from bankruptcy. Pacifica Honolulu, a 46-story project that was mothballed for more than a year after its first developer went bankrupt, opened as planned early this month. Last year, San Diego-based developer OliverMcMillan resurrected the $284-million project, first called Moana Vista. Ledcor Construction, working with Architects Hawaii Ltd., Gensler Architects and Baldridge Associates Structural Engineers, finished the job that was begun by the first general contractor, Hawaiian Dredging Construction, which lost its construction loan when the project was at the 27th floor.
Related Links: Online database of stalled projects Stalled Construction Projects and Financing In an effort to try to relieve some of the stress of the recession in construction, the American Institute of Architects is becoming an online matchmaker, of sorts. On Nov. 7, the AIA launched a stalled-projects online database intended to hook up developers, architects and other industry leaders with investors and funders to restart mothballed U.S. building projects. The find-a-business-partner initiative is designed to help architects and their clients find a solution to the “primary issue plaguing the design and construction industry—access to credit,” says the AIA.“The Match.com