Burj al arab General information Status
Complete
Type
Hotel
Location
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Coordinates 25.141975°N 55.186147°ECoordinates: 25.141975 °N 55.186147°E Construction started
1994
Completed
1999
Opening
December 1999
Cost
USD $ 650 million
Architectural
322.0 m (1,056 ft)
Height Technical details Floor count
60
Lifts/elevators
18 Design and construction
Architect
Tom Wright of WKK Architects
Developer
Jumeirah
Structural engineer
Atkins Other information
Number of rooms
202
Site The beachfront area where Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel are located was previously called Chicago Beach. The hotel is located on an island of reclaimed land 280 meters offshore of the beach of the former Chicago Beach Hotel. The locale's name had its origins in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tankers on the site. The old name persisted after the old Hotel was demolished in 1997. Dubai Chicago Beach Hotel remained as the Public Project Name for the construction phase of Burj Al Arab Hotel until Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoumannounced the new name.
Design and construction Burj Al Arab was designed by architect Tom Wright of WKK Architects. The design and construction were managed by Canadian engineer Rick Gregory also of WS Atkins. Construction of the Island began in 1994. It was built to resemble the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. Two "wings" spread in a V to form a vast "mast", while the space between them is enclosed in a massive atrium. The architect Tom Wright. said "The client wanted a building that would become an iconic or symbolic statement for Dubai; this is very similar to Sydney with its Opera House, London withBig Ben, or Paris with the Eiffel Tower. It needed to be a building that would become synonymous with the name of the country." The architect and engineering consultant for the project was Atkins. Fletcher Construction from New Zealand was the lead joint venture partner in the initial stages of pre-construction and construction.[14] The hotel was built by South African construction contractor Murray & Roberts and Al Habtoor Engineering. The building opened in December 1999. There was a considerable controversy regarding the claim that the structure looks like a huge Christian cross.
Ryugyong hotel, north korea The Ryugyong Hotel has a height of 330 metres (1,080 ft), making it the most prominent feature of Pyongyang'sskyline and by far the tallest structure in North Korea. Construction of the Ryugyong was intended to be completed in time for the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students in June 1989; had this been achieved, it would have held the title of world's tallest hotel. The unfinished building was not surpassed in height by any new hotel until the 2009 completion of the spire atop the Rose Tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Ryugyong Hotel is currently the world's 49th tallest building (alongside the China World Trade Center Tower III) in terms of total height and has the 5th highest number of floors. The building consists of three wings, each measuring 100 metres (330 ft) long, 18 metres (59 ft) wide, and sloped at a 75-degree angle, which converge at a common point to form a pinnacle. The building is topped by a truncated cone40 metres (130 ft) wide, consisting of eight floors that are intended to rotate, topped by a further six static floors. The structure was originally intended to house five revolving restaurants, and either 3,000 or 7,665 guest rooms, according to different sources.[7][8] According to Orascom's Khaled Bichara in 2009, the Ryugyong will not be just a hotel, but rather a mixed-use development, including "revolving restaurant" facilities along with a "mixture of hotel accommodation, apartments and business facilities".
General information Location Coordinates Construction started Topped-out Estimated completion
Pyongyang, North Korea 39°02′11″N 125°43′50″ECoordinates: 39°02′11″N 125°43′50″E 1987 1992 Unknown Height
Roof
330.02 metres (1,082.7 ft) Technical details
Floor count
105
Floor area
360,000 m2(3,900,000 sq ft) Design and construction
Type Location Coordinates
General information Commercial offices 920 SW Sixth Avenue Portland, Oregon 45.51727°N
Architect
Baikdoosan Architects & Engineers
Developer
Orascom Group
Main contractor
Baikdoosan Architects & Engineers (1987–1992) Orascom Construction Industries (2008–present)
122.67919°WCoordinates: 45.51727°N 122.67919°W Completed 1927 Height Roof 67.06 m (220.0 ft) Technical details Floor count 15 Floor area 21,442 m2 (230,800 sq ft) Design and construction Architect A.E. Doyle & Associates Public Service Building and Garage U.S. National Register of Historic Places Portland Historic Landmark[1] Architectural style Italianate Governing body Private NRHP Reference # 96000998 Added to NRHP September 12, 1996
portland public service
architectural details: The Public Service Building was the third of three similarly Italianate buildings built in Portland by the firm of prolific local architect A.E. Doyle. The project's primary designer, Charles K. Greene, worked on the other Italianate Doyle-commissioned buildings in Portland: the smaller Bank of California Building (1924) and the Pacific Building (1926).[6]Green initiated the design of this structure, but left Portland before the building was complete. Pietro Belluschi then completed the project.[6] The first three floors of the Public Service Building are faced with gray terra-cotta, and the upper floors in gray brick. The cornices and details are also terra-cotta. The building has a stylized wave motif that can be seen along its moldings. The original roof, like its sister buildings, was clad in red clay tile. Pietro Belluschi's touch can be seen in the building lobby, where he designed elevator doors that represented the utility company tenants. Taking advantage of its being the tallest building in town, the utility companies added neon signs atop the roof: "POWER", "HEAT", "GAS", and "LIGHT", each aimed in a cardinal direction.[6] At some point all four sides of this sign said "PACIFIC POWER". A.E. Doyle died in January 1928, only three weeks after the Public Service Building opened.[6]
Structural details: The north and south wings of the building were originally two stories tall, but were built up to their present height of 12 stories in 1957. Considered a skyscraper, once complete, the Public Service Building became the tallest building in Portland, holding that record until the 1960s. It was overtaken by the Hilton Portland Hotel in August 1962 when that building reached 229 feet (70 m).[5] The main power plant for the city was once located in the basement. The space is now used to house the city's main power feeds.[6]
Portland Building named one of "world's ugliest": Published: Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 9:40 AM We're not sure how to break this news to you, Portland Building, but the folks at Travel & Leisure magazine just aren't that into you. The magazine dreamed up a list of the ugliest buildings in the world and our very own Portland Building ranks among the top. Just how ugly is it? Let’s break out the government-building checklist. Small, boring windows? Check. Humdrum off-white masonry? Yes. Terracotta pilasters and shiny blue glass? That, too. The first three levels of the squat, 15-story municipal-services structure are covered in dark green tiles, adding to the bewildering gaudy-meets-tedious tone. The Ugly Truth: Michael Graves won a competition to design the building in 1982. Postmodernism was all the rage in the ’80s, which explains the randomly-stuck-on historical motifs. “Many buildings from that decade look fake,” says architect Stephen R. Connors, who has his own firm in Warwick, NY. Guess it could be worse. At least Portland isn't home to this building.
Seattle and North Korea are just two destinations that play host to earth’s most unseemly architectural monstrosities. From October 2009By Bunny Wong In downtown Portland, OR, stands an imposing 15-story edifice that’s one of the most hated buildings in America. The façade is an off-putting hodgepodge of faux classical columns, strange and useless decorative elements, and penitentiary-like small windows, with a depressing color scheme (throwing in some tacky blue glass for
good measure). ―It’s all gaudy imagery with no tie to the location,‖ says Jason Fifield, an associate at Ankrom Moisan Architects in Portland. The interior isn’t much better—it’s been described as dark and claustrophobic. Designed by famed architect Michael Graves, the Portland Building is an icon (for better or worse—mainly worse) of postmodernism, which was a major design trend in the 1980s, when the structure went up, but has since fallen from favor. And that’s a primary reason there’s not much enthusiasm for anything erected in that decade. But these aren’t the only buildings that spur resentment, and even rage, in those who set eyes on them. Professional and amateur critics alike disparage structures from many eras and in many countries. Of course, different people have different criteria for what makes a structure unappealing. ―The ugliest buildings are the anonymous ones,‖ says Christopher Bonanos, who edits architecture criticism at New York magazine. ―Even if an experimental, high-profile building doesn’t quite deliver, at least the architect is trying something. A boring building is a warehouse in the middle of New Jersey.‖ For Jason Fifield, what makes a building ugly ―is when the design isn’t generated by real reasons but rather by arbitrariness, just for the sake of creating an image.‖ To compile our list of the world’s ugliest structures, we consulted with architects and design experts as well as the general public. Pretty much everybody had something to say. For instance, there aren’t many admirers of the spherical houses on long pole ―stems‖ planted, like so many mushrooms, in the Netherlands. (The architect was given free rein courtesy of a Dutch subsidy for experimental housing.) Then there’s the midwestern corporate headquarters that takes the form of a huge picnic basket. Sure, it’s funny from the outside, but probably not for the employees of Longaberger, in Newark, OH, who have to go work in a hamper every day. Many designs around the world inspire love and hate in equal measure. A prime example would be the glass-and-metal pyramid I. M. Pei designed as a new entrance for the Louvre Museum in the 1990s. ―Your pyramid is magnificent,‖ protagonist Robert Langdon tells a Parisian official in The Da Vinci Code. ―A scar on the face ofParis,‖ the man retorts. The jury is still out on this kind of building. And to be sure, sometimes a design that’s disdained and misunderstood in its infancy eventually becomes a loved and admired attraction. ―In 1959, the Guggenheimhonestly looked like it had fallen in from Mars,‖ points out Bonanos. ―Of course, now New Yorkers love it.‖ Still, we doubt that any of the buildings on our list will find favor anytime soon.
Record height Tallest in the world from 1889 to 1930[I] General information Observation tower, Radio broadcasting tower Location Paris, France Coordinates 48°51′29.6″N 2°17′40.2″ECoordinates : 48°51′29.6″N 2°17′40.2″E Construction started 1887 Type
Completed
1889
Opening
31 March 1889
Owner
City of Paris, France
Management
Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) Height
Antenna spire
324.00 m (1,063 ft)
Roof
300.65 m (986 ft)
Top floor
273.00 m (896 ft) Technical details
Floor count
3
Lifts/elevators
9 Design and construction
Architect
Stephen Sauvestre
Structural engineer
Maurice Koechlin, Émile Nouguier
Main contractor
Compagnie des Etablissements Eiffel
EFFIEL TOWER, PARIS
The "Artists Protest" The projected tower had been a subject of some controversy, attracting criticism both from those who did not believe that it was feasible and also from those who objected on artistic grounds. Their objections were an expression of a longstanding debate about the relationship between architecture and engineering. This came to a head as work began at the Champ de Mars: A "Committee of Three Hundred" (one member for each metre of the tower's height) was formed, led by the prominent architect Charles Garnier and including some of the most important figures of the French arts establishment, including Adolphe Bouguereau, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod and Jules Massenet: a petition was sent to Charles Alphand, the Minister of Works and Commissioner for the Exposition, and was published by Le Temps.[15] "We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection…of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower … To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years…we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal" Gustave Eiffel responded to these criticisms by comparing his tower to the Egyptian Pyramids: "My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man. Will it not also be grandiose in its way ? And why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris ?"[16] These criticisms were also masterfully dealt with by Édouard Lockroy in a letter of support written to Alphand, ironically[17] saying "Judging by the stately swell of the rhythms, the beauty of the metaphors, the elegance of its delicate and precise style, one can tell that…this protest is the result of collaboration of the most famous writers and poets of our time", and going on to point out that the protest was irrelevant since the project had been decided upon months before and was already under construction. Indeed, Garnier had been a member of the Tower Commission that had assessed the various proposals, and had raised no objection. Eiffel was similarly unworried, pointing out to a journalist that it was premature to judge the effect of the tower solely on the basis of the drawings, that the Champ de Mars was distant enough from the monuments mentioned in the protest for there to be little risk of the tower overwhelming them, and putting the aesthetic argument for the Tower: "Do not the laws of natural forces always conform to the secret laws of harmony?"[18] Some of the protestors were to change their minds when the tower was built: others remained unconvinced. Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the tower's restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible. [19] Today, the Tower is widely considered to be a striking piece ofstructural art.
stratford residence, philippines General information
Status
Under construction
Type
Residential and commercial
Location
Kalayaan Avenue, Barangay Poblacion,Makati City, Metro Manila,Philippines
Construction started
2009
Completed
2015
Owner
Picar Development Height
Roof
312 meters
Floor count
74 aboveground, 9 underground
Floor area
3,504.65 square meters
Technical details
Design and construction Architect
Jose Pedro Recio
Developer
Picar Development
The Stratford Residences is a high-rise residential and commercial building that will rise in Makati City, Philippines. It is being developed by Picar Development, Inc., the development arm and real estate subsidiary of the AMA Group of Companies owned by Ambassador Amable R. Aguiluz V. [1] In 2009, BCI Asia, an expert in construction market information, named The Stratford Residences as one of the best designs for its distinct curvilinear and accordionlike design.[1][2] The Stratford Residences was also in an exhibit at the viewing deck of the Eiffel Tower as a proud Philippine icon and one of the tallest buildings in the world.[3] The building will have 74 storeys. Upon its targeted completion in 2015, [6] it will become the tallest residential building in the country.
Design: In 2009, BCI Asia awarded The Stratford Residences the Best Design award for its distinct curvilinear design. But according to Aguiluz, its "folded facade is not just for aesthetics, it helps in capturing and maximizing the presence of natural and artificial light."[2] The model units have been designed by Ivy and Cynthia Almario, and "feature neutral hints of steel gray, slate and white, the pad’s premium fixtures, structured proportions and minimalistic design elements convey a functional yet contemporary space..."[4] In order to meet the cement requirement of such a tall building, 12,000 pounds per square inch (psi) of high-strength cement will be used, which is four times than the standard 3,000 psi cement requirement.[1] The building has also been designed to be able to withstand earthquakes. [1] The residents will have 24-hour concierge service, remote-controlled lighting system, Wi-Fi access on all floors,[2]security control systems, as well as energy, ventilation and communication technology features.[4] The first three floors of the condominium will be allotted for commercial establishments. It will also have nine underground floors for its parking area, which will have the capacity of 700 cars.[2] In 2012, Picar Development broke ground for the Swiss hotel chain, Movenpick Hotels and Resorts. [5] It will have 305 European-contemporary designed hotel rooms and 320 residential apartments.[8]
PBCom Tower Status Type Location
Coordinates
General information Complete Office 6795 Ayala Avenue corner V.A. Rufino Street, Salcedo Village,Makati City, Philippines 14°33′29.90″N 121°1′9.51″E
Construction started Opening Cost Owner Antenna spire Roof Floor count Floor area Lifts/elevators Architect Developer Structural engineer Main contractor
Coordinates: 14°33′29.90″N 121°1′9.51″E 1998 2000 US$74,000,000 [1] Philippine Bank of Communications Height 259 m (849.7 ft) 241 m (790.7 ft) Technical details 52 aboveground, 7 belowground 119,905 m2 (1,291,000 sq ft)[1][2] 17 Design and construction Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP; GF & Partners Architects[3] Philippine Bank of Communications & Filinvest Development Corporation Aromin & Sy + Associates, Inc.[4] Samsung Construction Company Philippines, Inc.
pb com tower, Philippines
design and construction: PBCom Tower was designed by local architectural firm GF & Partners Architects, in cooperation with international architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, LLP;[3] and structural design was provided by local engineering company Aromin & Sy + Associates.[4] Project and construction management services was provided by I.A. Campbell & Associates, a Philippine-based project management company,[1] while construction works was done by Samsung Engineering & Construction's local branch Samsung Construction Company Philippines, Inc. Samsung is known as the builder of the world's tallest buildings, including the Petronas Twin Towers, Taipei 101, and the Burj Khalifa.[9] Besides these companies, other members of the design team include Edgett Williams Consulting Group (Elevator Design), Golder Associates, Inc. (Seismic Study); Fisher, Marantz, Rentro, Stone (Lighting consultant); Shel Milson & Wilke (Acoustic Analysis); CDC Limited (Curtain Wall design); Control Risks, Inc. (Security System design); N.B.F. Water & Wastewater Services (Sanitary System design); DCCD Engineering Corp. (Electrical Systems design); R.J. Calpo & Partners (Mechanical Systems design); and Radian Technology, Inc. (Fire Protection System design). [10] Its exterior double-glazed, unitized curtain walls in aluminum frames, together with a monumental lighting effect, create a facade that reflects a fusion of art and function. Its interiors are an elegant interplay of glass, natural stone and metal. A landscaped garden in stepped podium also adds to the natural effect of the building's design. The building also utilizes tinted insulated vision glass in full height for the curtain walls to seal off heat and noise [10] The offices spaces feature high ceiling headroom to enhance cozy working atmosphere; perimeter columns to provide flexibility in interior space planning; provision for raised access floor or underslab ducts; and having continuous wide panels in full height glazing allow magnificent views while providing ample natural light into the offices.[10]
