Score another small victory for more-constructible high-rises, especially in seismic zones. Results of recent load tests on a "sandwich" shear-wall assembly, designed to simplify and speed construction of core shear walls surrounded by steel frames, are equal to or better than anticipated, say researchers.The sandwich, called a dual-plate composite shear wall because its steel- plate walls are filled with lightly reinforced concrete, is not for use only in seismic zones. "It is a great system for multihazard mitigation because it is good for seismic, wind and gravity loads as well as blast resistance," says Ron Klemencic, president of Seattle-based structural
Photo by Lou-Anne Daoust-Filiatrault/MCEER In August, UniQ opened its first building designed to resist earthquakesa two-story classroom building. The structural engineer for the project had attended the UniQ-UB/MCEER seminars on seismic-resistant design. Courtesy of Shelter2Home The manufactured housing system, fabricated in Haiti and built by local workers, is designed to resist both hurricane-force winds and earthquakes. Related Links: Haiti's Iron Market Rebuilding Haiti Impoverished Haiti May Be Stuck in Seismic Safetys Past An old Chinese proverb sums up several projects that mark the dawn of seismic-resistant design and construction in earthquake-devastated Haiti: "If you give a person a fish, you
Stanley C. Gale's grandfather made waves by moving east from New York City and building summer homes along Long Island Sound. Nine decades later, his grandson is making even bigger waves by moving even farther east to create the world's largest private development.
Workers got to the finish line early for 80% of the "Reflecting Absence" plaza of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, just in time for the 10th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Digby R. Christian plans to take a three-week vacation in his native England after his Sutter Medical Center, Castro Valley, team hands over its $320-million hospital in early July.
A decade ago, Jack P. Moehle got a bee in his bonnet about the sorry state of the approvals process for performance-based seismic design of tall buildings.
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
