The world's first revolving, pre-fabricated tower is to be built in Dubai by Italian architect David Fisher with a development value of about $3 billion (Dh11 billion).
The 80-storey Dynamic Tower will be 420 metres tall and located on Shaikh Zayed Road.
"The tools used today in real estate are so primitive. From 1889, steel was used to construct the Eiffel tower and then reinforced concrete was used in 1905. We are still building similar to how the Egyptians built the Pyramids," Fisher told Gulf News before the launch in New York.
The area of the Dynamic Tower will be around 1.2 million square feet.
Fisher said there would be a central core in the tower for lifts. There will even be lifts especially for cars, so it will be possible to drive to apartments.
Each floor of the 80-storey skyscraper will spin around a central core
These are the designs for the world’s first revolving skyscraper, the latest eccentric proposal for the Dubai skyline.
The 80-storey Rotating Tower, brainchild of Florence-based architect David Fisher, would offer residents an ever-shifting view of the Persian Gulf as the floors spin round a central core.
A few superior penthouses would be fitted with voice activation technology, allowing inhabitants to control movement. Other floors would be choreographed to create a constantly-changing silhouette.
Wind turbines, installed between every floor, would power the building.
Despite admitting he has never built a skyscraper before, Fisher claims his designs will revolutionise construction of tall buildings.
10 Amazing new buildings in China
With the Olympics just less than one year to go, China is on a building-spree in Beijing and Shanghai. They have invited a number of leading overseas architects to do the designs - with some controversial, but impressive results.
1. Beijing National Stadium
The Beijing National Stadium is the home for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games athletics and opening and closing ceremonies. It has been dubbed the ‘Bird’s Nest’ by local residents.
2. National Swimming Center
The National Swimming Center was built along environmentally friendly lines inline with the goals of the Beijing Olympics. The exterior is made from teflon, with solar energy being used to heat the pools. Pool water which is normally dumped as waste, will be re-used. Rainwater will be stored in tanks to fill the pools.
3. Beijing International Airport
The new terminal of the Beijing International Airport will make it one of the biggest in the world covering over 1 million square meters. In terms of passenger numbers, it will soon be in the top ten airports of the world, handling 43 million passengers a year initially and 55 million by 2015.
4. National Grand Theater
The new National Grand Theater built not far from Beijing’s historic Forbidden City, had been likened to a huge shimmering UFO. It is a 490,485 square-foot glass and titanium building that was built to be kept lower than the nearby National People’s Congress. It was designed by French architect Paul Andreu, known for Paris’s Terminal 2E building which collapsed and killed four people.
5. CCTV building Beijing
The CCTV building with two towers leaning inwards has redefined thinking as to how skyscrapers can be built.
6. The Commune Building Beijing
The Commune is built alongside the Great Wall of China. It comprises of 12 buildings designed by Asia’s leading architects with a budget of $1 million for each house. It is currently being run as a hotel.
7. Shanghai World Financial Center
Located on former marshland, in the futuristic Pudong, Shanghai, the new skyscraper will become the world’s tallest building with 101 floors.
8. Linked Hybrid, Beijing
The Linked Hybrid building will house 2,500 Beijing residents in a mammoth 700 apartments. It will have the world’s largest geothermal heating and cooling systems, with water being pumped up from 100 meters below the earth.
9. Dongtan Eco City , Dongtan
The complex will house 50,000 people and will be targeted for completion by the 2010 Shanghai Expo. It will be built along eco-friendly lines in terms of water usage, waste and renewable energy.
10. Donghai Bridge, Shanghai/Yangshan Island
One of the world’s longest bridges crossing the sea, the Donghai Bridge connects Shanghai to Yangshan Island. It was built to the tune of $1.2 billion.
The Burj al-Arab (Arabic: برج العرب, "Tower of the Arabs") is a luxury hotel in Dubai, the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates, and was briefly marketed as "the world's first seven-star hotel". It was designed by Tom Wright of WS Atkins PLC. At 321 metres (1,053 ft), it is the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel. It stands on an artificial island 280 metres (919 ft) out from Jumeirah beach, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. It is an iconic structure, designed to symbolize Dubai's urban transformation and to mimic the shape of an Arab dhow.
Freedom of the Seas is the largest luxury cruise ship in the world, owned by Royal Caribbean.
This cruise ship weighs 160,000 tons, it is 1,112 feet long, 184 feet wide and it has 15 passenger decks holding 3,634 guests double-occupancy. Freedom of the Seas towers 208 feet tall, approximately the same height as two of the Statue of Liberty, placed head to toe.A brand new featureis the H2O Zone, or the “sprayground” which has colorful fiberglass sculptures shooting jets of water, geysers shooting from the ground and water cannons. There’s even a lazy river and waterfall inside! At night, this area, with the integration of an incredible lighting system, will be transformed into a sculpture garden. Royal Caribbean says, “there’s nothing like the H2O Zone on any other cruise ship today.Another first-ever feature is a dedicated sports pool located in the main pool area. One of the two pools of the Freedom of the Seas is used almost exclusively for athletic pool games, ranging from basketball and volleyball to synchronized swimming. Other times, it will have designated lanes for lap swimming. The second pool is just for relaxing. At night, passengers can see this area transformed into an open-air nightclub with a large dance floor between the two pools.
Located at the heart of this largest cruise ship, the Royal Promenade is a 445-foot-long shopping, dining and entertainment boulevard that spans the length of an entire football field. At night, the Promenade hosts street parades, put on by select staff, commencing from a revolutionary new descending bridge amidst a fanfare of music, lasers and lights. Guests can also enjoy relaxed reading at the 3,600-volume Book Nook.
Guests can find their 15 seconds of fame at the On Air Club, Freedom of the Seas’ karaoke venue with state-of-the-art theatrical lighting, video cameras, flat screen TVs and even a "green screen" for aspiring music stars to record their own music video.
For professional entertainment, the Art Deco-style Arcadia Theatre (1,350 guests) features three shows: Marquee, a medley of performances, the musical Now You See It! magic show, and Once Upon a Time, a narrative piece combining the Brothers Grimm’s fairytales.
(Pics below->luxury-fantasy-Mind blowing)
For now, Freedom of the Seas is the largest cruise ship in the world, but how long will this title last? Well, time will tell !!
world's longest suspension bridge-The Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge
The Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge (明石海峡大橋, Akashi Kaikyō Ō-hashi?), also known as Pearl Bridge in Japan was completed in 1998 and is the world's longest suspension bridge (measured by the length of the centre span of 1,991 metres/6,532 feet). It links the city of Kobe on the mainland of Honshū to Iwaya on Awaji Island by crossing the busy Akashi Strait. It carries the part of the Honshū-Shikoku Highway.
The bridge is one of the key links of the Honshū-Shikoku Bridge Project, which created three routes across the Inland Sea.
World's longest, 36-km sea bridge opens in east China
China opened the world's longest sea bridge, spanning 22-miles across Hangzhou Bay, linking Shanghai and Ningbo, an industrial city. The previous record holder was the 20.2-mile long Donghai bridge, which links Shanghai and a port by the name of Yangshan.
So what will the bridge accomplish? The vice-president of an electric company based in Ningbo said it best: "I think it will be easier for our company to recruit high-calibre employees, who always prefer working in small cities like Cixi but living in big cities like Shanghai. They can leave Shanghai for Cixi in the morning and go back in the afternoon. It's only 1.5 hours' drive." Aside from the living in big cities part, that sounds a lot like America. Granted, the bridge will reduce the driving distance between the two cities by 75 miles, but it will clearly enable increased sprawl, congestion and car-ownership. But hey, given development patterns in the U.S. over the last 50 years, who are we to judge?
Amazingly, the gargantuan project was completed in under five years, and is supposedly designed to last 100 years. One wonders whether a different sort of infrastructure project--such as a high-speed rail line--would have been a better long-term investment for the country. Then again, in China, as in most countries around the world, the near-term is nearly all that matters. It's just that in China the scale of everything--the mistakes and the successes--are orders of magnitude greater than they are anywhere else in the world.
Burj Dubai
Burj Dubai (Arabic: برج دبي "Dubai Tower") is a skyscraper under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the tallest man-made structure on Earth. Construction began on September 21, 2004, and it is expected to be completed and ready for occupation in September 2009.[1]
The building is part of the 2 km² (0.8 sq mi) development called 'Downtown Dubai' and is located at the "First Interchange" (aka "Defence Roundabout") along Sheikh Zayed Road at Doha Street. The tower's architect is Adrian Smith[4] who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) until 2006.[5] SOM is the architecture and engineering firm in charge of the project.[4] The primary builders are Samsung Engineering & Construction and Besix along with Arabtec.[6] Turner Construction Company was chosen as the construction manager.[7]
The total budget for the Burj Dubai project is about US$4.1 billion and for the entire new 'Downtown Dubai', US$20 billion. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, the CEO of Emaar Properties, speaking at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 8th World Congress, said that the price of office space at Burj Dubai had reached $4,000 per sq ft and that the Armani Residences, also in Burj Dubai, were selling for $3,500 per sq ft.
Taipei 101
Taipei 101 (traditional Chinese: 臺北101 or 台北101; simplified Chinese: 台北101; pinyin: Táiběi Yīlíngyī; Wade-Giles: T'ai-pei I-ling-i) is a 101-floor landmark skyscraper located in Taipei, Taiwan. The building, designed by C.Y. Lee & Partners[2][3] and constructed primarily by KTRT Joint Venture[4] and Samsung Engineering & Construction[5], is the world's tallest completed skyscraper. Taipei 101 received the Emporis Skyscraper Award in 2004. It has been hailed as one of the Seven New Wonders of the World (Newsweek magazine, 2006) and Seven Wonders of Engineering (Discovery Channel, 2005)[6].
The building stands as an icon of Taipei and Taiwan as a whole. The building contains 101 floors above ground and 5 floors underground. Its postmodern style combines tradition and modernity in ways that appear simultaneously Asian and international. Its safety features enable it to withstand typhoons and earthquakes. A multi-level shopping mall adjoining the tower houses hundreds of fashionable stores, restaurants and clubs. Fireworks launched from Taipei 101 feature prominently in international New Year's Eve broadcasts, and the landmark appears frequently in films, television shows, print publications, anime media, games, and other elements of popular culture.
The name of the tower reflects its location in Taipei's international business district (101 mailing code) as well as its floor count. (See also "Symbolism" below.) The number is pronounced in English simply as One Oh One and in Mandarin and other local languages by the equivalent.
Taipei 101 is owned by the Taipei Financial Center Corporation and managed by the International division of Urban Retail Properties Corporation based in Chicago USA. The name originally planned for the building, Taipei World Financial Center, was derived from the name of the owner. The original name in Chinese was literally, Taipei International Financial Center (traditional Chinese: 臺北國際金融中心; pinyin: Táiběi Guójì Jīnróng Zhōngxīn).
Taipei 101 was overtaken in height on July 21, 2007 by the Burj Dubai in Dubai, UAE, upon the completion of that building's 141st floor.[7] The title of "world's tallest building" still rests with Taipei 101, though, as international architectural standards define a "building" as a structure capable of being fully occupied. The Burj Dubai is on course to claim the title once its construction is finished, expected in September 2009. 
Petronas Twin Towers
Petronas Twin Towers (also known as the Petronas Towers or Twin Towers), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were the world's tallest buildings, before being surpassed by the Taipei 101. However, the towers are still the tallest twin buildings in the world. Tower 2 was built by the South Korean multinational Samsung Engineering & Construction and Tower 1 by Hazama Corporation of Japan[1]. They were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004 if measured from the level of the main entrance to the structural top, the original height reference used by the US-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat from 1969 (three additional height categories were introduced as the tower neared completion in 1996).
The Sears Tower
The Sears Tower is a skyscraper in Chicago, Illinois. It has been the tallest building in the United States since 1973, surpassing the World Trade Center, which itself had surpassed the Empire State Building only a year earlier. Commissioned by Sears, Roebuck and Company, it was designed by chief architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill.
Construction commenced in August 1970 and the building reached its originally anticipated maximum height on May 3, 1973. When completed, the Sears Tower had overtaken the roof of the World Trade Center in New York City as the world's tallest building. The tower has 108 stories as counted by standard methods, though the building owners count the main roof as 109 and the mechanical penthouse roof as 110. The distance to the roof is 1,451 feet (442 m), measured from the east entrance.[4]
In February 1982, two television antennas were added to the structure, increasing its total height to 1,705 feet (520 m). The western antenna was later extended to 1,730 feet (527 m)[5] on June 5, 2000 to improve reception of local NBC station WMAQ-TV.
Black bands appear on the tower around the 29th–32nd, 64th–65th, 88th–89th, and 104th–109th floors. These are louvers which allow ventilation for service equipment and obscure the structure's belt trusses which Sears Roebuck did not want to be visible as on the John Hancock Center.
The building's official address is 233 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606.
On August 12, 2007, the Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates was reported by its developers to have surpassed the Sears Tower in all height categories
The Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the nickname for the state of New York. It stood as the world's tallest building for more than forty years, from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower was completed in 1972.[citation needed] Following the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City.
The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate.[6] It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.[4][7][8] In 2007, it was ranked number one on the List of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA. The building is owned and managed by W&H Properties
Commerzbank Tower
Commerzbank Tower is a skyscraper located in the city centre of Frankfurt, Germany. After it was completed in 1997 it ranked as the tallest building in Europe until 2005 when it was surpassed by the Triumph-Palace in Moscow. The tower is only two metres taller than the MesseTurm which is also located in Frankfurt. The MesseTurm was the tallest building in Europe before the construction of the Commerzbank Tower.
With a height of 259 metres (850 ft), 56 stories, it provides 121,000 m² (1.3 million square feet) of office space for the Commerzbank headquarters, including winter gardens and natural lighting and air circulation. The signal light on top of the tower gives the tower a total height of 300.1 metres (985 ft).
In its immediate neighbourhood are other high-rise buildings including the Eurotower (home of the European Central Bank), the Maintower, the Silver Tower, the Japan Center and the Gallileo skyscraper. The area is commonly known as Bankenviertel (banking district or financial district).
It was designed by Foster & Partners, with Arup and Krebs & Kiefer (structural engineering), J. Roger Preston with P&A Petterson Ahrens (mechanical engineering), Schad & Hölzel (electrical engineering). Construction of the building began in 1994 and took three years to complete.
The building is illuminated at night by a yellow light scheme which was designed by Thomas Ende who was allowed to display this sequence as a result of a competition.
30 St Mary Axe
30 St Mary Axe is a building in London's main financial district, the City of London. It is widely known by the nickname "The Gherkin", and occasionally as a variant on The Swiss Re Tower, after its previous owner and principal occupier. It is 180 metres (591 ft) tall, making it the second-tallest building in the City of London, after Tower 42, and the fifth-tallest in London as a whole. The building's name is its address — St Mary Axe being the street it is on.
The building was designed by Pritzker Prize-winner Lord Foster and ex-partner Ken Shuttleworth and Arup engineers, and was constructed by Skanska of Sweden between 2001 and 2004.
HSB Turning Torso
HSB Turning Torso is a skyscraper in Malmö, Sweden, located on the Swedish side of the Öresund strait. It was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 feet) with 54 stories. Upon completion, it was the tallest building in Scandinavia, the tallest residential building in the EU and the second tallest residential building in Europe, after the 264-metre-high Triumph-Palace in Moscow.
The 86 metre high Kronprinsen was the tallest building in Malmö before Turning Torso.
The design is based on a sculpture by Santiago Calatrava called Twisting Torso. It uses nine segments of five-story pentagons that twist as it rises; the topmost segment is twisted ninety degrees clockwise with respect to the ground floor. Each floor consists of an irregular pentagonal shape rotating around the vertical core, which is supported by an exterior steel framework. The two bottom segments are intended as office space. Segments three to nine house 149 luxury apartments.
The Twisting Torso sculpture is a white marble piece based on the form of a twisting human being. Johnny Örbäck, former CEO of the Turning Torso contractor and Board Chairman of the Malmö branch of the co-operative housing association HSB, saw the sculpture in 1999 and contacted Calatrava to ask him to design a building using the same concept. Construction started in the summer of 2001.
One reason for the building of Turning Torso was to re-establish a recognizable skyline for Malmö since the removal of the Kockums Crane in 2002, which was located less than a kilometre from Turning Torso. The local politicians deemed it important for the inhabitants to have a symbol for Malmö — Kockumskranen, which was a large crane that had been used for shipbuilding and somewhat symbolised the city's blue collar
Ranking criteria and its alternatives
Emporis ranks the buildings by highest architectural structural element, which means:[1]
* height of spire, statues (or any other architecturally integral element) count towards the height of the building
* height of antenna, flagpole (or other detail not classified as architecturally integral element) does not count towards the height of the building
* roof height is only relevant if no higher architecturally integral element is present
This naturally hurts the rankings of buildings without spires, or with antennas instead of spires. The most famous such discrepancy is that Malaysian Petronas Towers (with spire on top) is ranked higher than the US Sears Tower (with antenna on top) despite having lower roof and lower highest point (of spire/antenna).
Alternative lists of high buildings are maintained by nongovernmental US organization Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. These lists, first defined and compiled in 1996 as a response to the dispute as to whether the Petronas Towers or the Sears Tower was taller, rank buildings in four categories: height of structural or architectural top; height of highest occupied floor; height to the top of roof; height to top of any part of the building. Currently Taipei 101 tops all categories except highest point, where the Sears Tower is highest.
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