News

The waterfalls meant to evoke memories of the Sept. 11 dead stand three stories high in a field in Brooklyn, spilling down into a pool. Four large American flags poke through the grass to mark off each corner of a World Trade Center tower footprint.

In reputation and marketability, Adrian Smith is Chicago's tallest architect. At age 65, Smith has reached a stature where he has nothing left to prove and little to fear. Yet, he's afraid that part of his legacy is being lost. For that, Smith blames his former employer, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, who he says is rewriting history. Smith said Skidmore is minimizing or erasing his credit as primary designer for the firm's supertall buildings around the world. He said they are doing it for competitive spite, calling it "deception by omission." It's creating high tension in high places.

The effects of the recession are passing for some industries, but not for the commercial real estate business, a panel of experts said Tuesday. Beach Co. President John Darby called the problems for the industry "looming" as millions of commercial loans nationwide become due for property owners who owe more than what their buildings or land are worth.

Georgia Institute of Technology issued the following Research & Economic news release: By Robert Nesmith A new Georgia Tech laboratory building designed to research energy efficiency will itself become a study in sustainability.

Construction of London 2012's Velodrome is surging ahead with preparations for lifting the 5,000m² cable net roof well underway. Andrea Klettner reports ahead of this month's big lifting operation. Ask anyone to think of the London 2012 Olympics and what image is most likely to spring to mind? The controversial logo, of course, the main stadium and most probably architect Zaha Hadid's wave-shaped Aquatics Centre. "Everything is being done so that cycling is at the heart of it. We spent a lot of time talking to British Cycling."Richard Arnold But nestled in the northern end of the park is the true gem of the games − the Velodrome. Not only is it the most sustainable building on the East London site, but it also demonstrates an ingenuity of engineering and design that is rare in the UK.

The American Institute of Architects issued the following news release: In an effort to provide members with greater access to cutting edge decision making tools for their practice, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced an agreement with TOTO USA, Inc., as part of the Strategic Partnership Program. This initiative will be limited to eight companies that closely align with the Institute's strategic initiatives and mission. These select companies will be able to demonstrate how their products and services can better support the more than 86,000 AIA members. The Strategic Partner Program is designed to provide unique collaborative opportunities and promotional rights with the AIA to a select group of industry leaders. The AIA and TOTO USA have agreed to partner in the areas of thought leadership that are demonstrated strengths of TOTO globally: innovation, technology, sustainable practices, and socially sustainable design (the confluence of Green and Universal designs). In addition to the turnkey benefits of the program, AIA staff will work with TOTO USA to develop new knowledge resources, education, and cutting-edge industry programs that will benefit AIA members.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 -- The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration issued the following press release: NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco and the University of California, Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry T. Yang broke ground today on the new 15,000-square foot Ocean Science Education Building on the east side of the UCSB campus. The project brings together the university's Marine Science Institute and NOAA's Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The Ocean Science Education Building will consist of new Channel Islands sanctuary headquarter offices and the Outreach Center for Teaching Ocean Science, a state-of-the-art educational facility.

THE Victoria and Albert Museum will open its Dundee outpost in a prime location on the city's waterfront, it was announced yesterday. The £47million museum will be located south of Craig Harbour on a new site built out into the River Tay.

While some cities make much of their "tallest" buildings, Hong Kong is being advised to do the opposite by using underground space to cater for the pressing demand for land from the growing population in the next 40 years. We may not have to live and work 30 metres underground. But we may commute and shop at depth to allow a less dense and greener environment on the surface, if a university's proposal to be submitted to the Development Bureau this month is realised. "Urban sites will no longer be available in the coming years. Without reclamation, we have to come up with an alternative," said Cheung Kwok-pun, a University of Hong Kong architecture professor who is leading a study sponsored by the university's development fund.

When the Burj Khalifa officially opened in Dubai on Monday, much of the world press noted the irony of the world's tallest building unveiled just weeks after the emirate's debt crash. But a look at the history of record-breaking skyscrapers and business cycles suggests otherwise -- the opening of every single "world's tallest" building in the past century has coincided with an economic downturn. One person who wasn't surprised by the economic woes greeting the dedication of the Burj Khalifa (renamed Monday from Burj Dubai in honor of the sheikh of Abu Dhabi, which recently threw Dubai a $10 billion lifeline) was Auburn University economist Mark Thornton.

Pakistan, Jan. 08 -- An Australian company has described the epic task of cleaning the windows of the world's biggest skyscraper, using squeegees, buckets - and $7.3 million of high-tech equipment.Dale Harding, general manager of Cox Gomyl, said the firm designed and installed the Burj Khalifa's unique window-cleaning carousels, which were in action ahead of its official opening which took place on Monday.Twelve machines weighing 13 tonnes carry up to 36 cleaners, who use ordinary soapy water to wash down the Burj's 24,830 reflective windows in a process that takes three months, top to bottom."It's the same as an average shop front cleaner would use - there's nothing complex about it at all," Harding said.The cleaners stand on the specially designed machines, which emerge from cavities in the skyscraper and track along rails skirting around its curved towers.He said the company had been working overtime to get the Burj gleaming for the opening ceremony."It's an enormous challenge. The architects had some fairly high expectations," Harding said."It's an iconic building with high exposure.

Dubai's transit authority said Thursday work on its partially completed metro system is on schedule and contractors are being paid, seeking to quiet questions about the fate of one of the most visible big-ticket projects in this cash-strapped emirate.

AMMAN, Jordan _ Mahmoud Tamimi's friends call it the ''Dubai syndrome'' _ the insatiable longing for a city he loves but was forced to leave. Back in Dubai, the 31-year-old had a good job, nice apartment and a $3,700 monthly salary, dozens of times what he'd ever made before. Then, early last year, the Jordanian of Palestinian origin was laid off as Dubai's economy plunged. With his residency permit tied to his job, he couldn't stay. He now squeezes into a two-bedroom apartment with his wife, daughter and seven other family members in a poor neighbourhood of Jordan's capital, vainly looking for work. Dubai's downfall is not only hurting the city-state and the financiers who bet big on its promises.

URS Corporation (NYSE:URS) today announced that it has been awarded one of 42 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts to provide a range of environmental, engineering and construction services at bases worldwide for the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment (AFCEE) under the Worldwide Environmental Restoration and Construction (WERC09) contract. The WERC09 program ceiling is $3 billion for the combined companies. Task orders under the program are expected to be issued to qualified contractors over a five-year period.

Northern Ireland's capital city could become a haven for skyscrapers if a new policy currently in early stages gets approval The policy, currently in development by the Department of Environment, will look at preventing 'ad hoc' decisions on tall buildings by planning officers.

Corus360, an Atlanta-based technology consulting and solutions company, announced the completion of their anticipated LEED Gold certified data center this week. The data center, located on the bottom floor of the company's 30,000-square-foot office building at 130 Technology Parkway in Norcross, Ga., is the first of its kind in the state.

Size isn't everything. Peter Malkin wouldn't trade the view from the Empire State Building, of which the Greenwich resident is principal owner, for all the sand in the desert. And that includes the panorama from the top of the Burj Khalifa, which shattered the record for the world's tallest building with its opening Monday in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai. Soaring above the desert metropolis, the Dubai skyscraper measures in at just under 2,717 feet in height, nearly twice that of the Big Apple icon owned and operated by Malkin.

Dubai opened the world's tallest skyscraper Monday, and in a surprise move renamed the gleaming glass-and-metal tower Burj Khalifa in a nod to the leader of neighboring Abu Dhabi the oil-rich sheikdom which came to its rescue during the financial meltdown. A lavish presentation witnessed by Dubai's ruler and thousands of onlookers at the base of the tower said the building was 828 meters, or 2717 feet, tall. Dubai is opening the tower in the midst of a deep financial crisis. Its oil rich neighbor Abu Dhabi has pumped billions of dollars in bailout funds into the emirate as it struggles to pay its debts. Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the ruler of Abu Dhabi and serves as the president of the United Arab Emirates, the federation of seven small emirates, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

FULL TEXT In 2010, San Francisco will finally embark on a grand overhaul of its downtown. The project could eventually result in a half-dozen new skyscrapers, including a 1,200-foot tower whose gracefully tapered top would add a defining element to the upwardly mobile skyline.