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Posts Tagged ‘Skyscrapers’

Imperial Pomp: Strange Post-Soviet Skyscrapers in Remote Russia

01 Jun

[ By SA Rogers in Culture & History & Travel. ]

Deep in the most remote reaches of the Soviet Union, strange skyscrapers glitter against the sky, made all the more out of place by their sleepy rural settings and lack of similarly scaled surroundings. Photographer Frank Herfort calls them ‘Imperial Pomp,’ monstrous and overly ostentatious structures that sprung up throughout the nation and the former Soviet Union in the decades since the collapse of the USSR. Traveling to places that might not otherwise draw many foreign visitors, Herfort captured the skyscrapers in all their strangely proportioned glamour for his photo book ‘Imperial Pomp – Post Soviet High-Rise.’

“After exploring Moscow’s structures I realized, that in all cities and former Soviet countries you can find such buildings,” says Herfort. “So I traveled to Vladivostok, to Blagoveshchensk on the Chinese border on River Amur, to Astana in Kazakhstan, to Baku in Azerbaijan, to Sochi and to St. Petersburg. And everywhere in between. I was always impressed by these huge constructions while driving through Moscow. Moscow doesn’t have a big skyline or big houses in the cityscape, and then I was even more impressed when suddenly there appeared one of these big new colored buildings. They are standing like single flowers cropped in the landscape.”

The German photographer notes that he feels like the buildings are “used to manipulate the humans and try to make them feel small.” He says the buildings rarely have infrastructure or real access built around them to invite the public to experience and interact with them, because they weren’t built with a care for anything other than showing off. That would certainly fit with the American perspective on Russia and its strongman fascination.

The buildings do feel like modern iterations of the strange Soviet-era monuments that still litter much of the former Soviet Union, though they’re nowhere near as creative and sculptural as the wondrous and bizarre relics of what used to be Yugoslavia.

Herfort’s book is out of stock at the publisher’s website, but a few copies are still available on Amazon, and you can see more of his work at his website.

[ By SA Rogers in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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Ouroborus Buildings: Artist Loops Infinite Skyscrapers Back on Themselves

13 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

unfinished design

What would architecture look like if it had no beginning or end, no ground floor as starting point nor rooftop terminus? Artist Vasco Mourao explores exactly that question in his series Ouroboros, so named after the mythical dragon/serpent forever eating its own tail.

spiral skyscraper

plywood drawing

The Barcelona-based artist (an architect by training) illustrates his impossible-sounding seems on curved and angular cuts of plywood shaped into loops.

looped architecture

detail image

His work indirectly addresses a key transition point in the history of architecture as well — a time when concrete, steel and glass were first combined to make taller structure possible but before the Modernists rendered these buildings sleek and simple.

circular cut

unfinished design

Like early skyscrapers (featuring stretched Gothic decor and wood-inspired details), his designs extrapolate conventional materials and decorative approaches skyward. Their aesthetic is also reminiscent of places like Kowloon Walled City, where densification drove particularly strange connections between different structures.

deep loop

work in progress

skateboard

Meanwhile, Mourao also draws other cityscapes on different surfaces as well, from large-scale surrealistic murals to the bottoms of skateboards, often reprising similar themes of infinity-evoking architecture.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Spiraling Skyscrapers: Rounding Up the World’s Tallest Twisting Towers

01 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

tallest towers

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, an organization responsible for world records in architecture, has announced its definitive list of the world’s highest twisting skyscrapers (either completed or under construction), many of which are truly stunning. The CTBUH “defines a ‘twisting’ building as one that progressively rotates its floor plates or its façade as it gains height. Usually, but not always, each plate is shaped similarly in plan and is turned on a shared axis a consistent number of degrees from the floor below.”

diamond tower

The Diamond Tower (above) being built in Dubai is perhaps the most impressive such spiral structure, its rotating floors extending out from a central spire and adding a dynamic visual layer. It is the second-tallest in the list.

shanghai tower

At 2073 feet, the Shanghai Tower by Gensler is the tallest to date (also the second-tallest tower in the world aside from its twist). The CTBUH reports that these approach to tall architecture is trending around the world. While any single reason would be speculative, one can assume that the variation from floor to floor is part of the appeal, both for internal occupants and in terms of the dynamic profiles this variety entails.

cayan towe

The third-tallest is the Cayan Tower in Dubai by SOM. “A stunning variety of textures, view angles, and ripple effects results from these manipulations, making these ‘twisters’ some of the world’s most iconic buildings – and in many cases, aerodynamic and energy-efficient. In this study, we rank the world’s 28 tallest twisting towers (either completed or under construction as of July 2016) and display selected variations on the theme.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

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Cities of Bone: Organic Future Skyscrapers Free of Concrete & Steel

06 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

building of bone

Our cities have grown up thanks to concrete and steel, but these materials are far from sustainable, leading architects and researchers to explore new (and old) materials, from wood to eggshell and even bone.

Steel and concrete account for 10% of global carbon emissions, polluting close to as much as the entire transportation industry. Bioengineer Doctor Michelle Oyen of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering builds structures in her lab from artificial bone and eggshell. These can be used for medical implants, but could also scaled up to create low-carbon building materials.

ossuary

Funded in part by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Oyen’s creations are composites of proteins and minerals, the former providing toughness and fracture resistance and the latter lending stiffness and hardness to the mix. These currently come from natural (animal) sources, but she is investigating whether a “non-animal-derived or even synthetic protein or polymer could be used instead of natural collagen.”

0758-11

In theory, her biomimetic creations could even become self-healing, in the same vein as concrete designed to repair itself. For the construction industry to adopt such radical new technologies at scale remains one of the biggest challenges for future organic and semi-organic materials – for decades, building codes have been framed around the use of concrete and steel.

Cities and skyscrapers of today already represent a good first step to long-term sustainability, packing lots of people into dense areas and vertical structures requiring less land. Still, a shift to renewable, organic and reusable materials would make them more future-proof and environmentally friendly.

wood skyscrapers

Wood is another natural building material gaining increased attention from the built environment community, a renewable resource that is strong, durable and recyclable. “Future cities may not look a whole lot different – you may not know immediately if you are in a timber, steel or concrete building,” says Doctor Michael Ramage from the Cambridge Department of Architecture.

wood skyscraper design

And “cities might be a whole lot quieter, as most timber buildings are built off site, and then just assembled on site, and use roughly a fifth as much truck traffic as equivalent concrete buildings. In other words, what needs to be delivered in five trucks for a concrete building can be delivered in one truck for a timber building. That’s an incredible advantage, for cost, for environment, for traffic and for cyclists” (Bone Church image by Davis Staedtler and Ossuary by jockrutherford).

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Space Age 3D Furniture: Skyscrapers & Rockets Support Stellar Tables

19 Jun

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

curved wave table

Furniture designer and sculptor Stelios Mousarris has added a new twist to his latest 3D-printed creation, taking a leap from sweeping cityscapes to impromptu launch platforms with a spaceship-supported glass coffee table.

rocket lift table

rocket slice

The Cyprus-based creator has “been collecting toys and action figures and anything nostalgic from my childhood until this day,” and wanted to recreate that sense of carefree creativity and imagination in this latest piece, turning toy-style rockets into the centerpiece of a clever table design.

rocket table top

rocket side table

The table’s creation “combines various techniques from lathe to 3D printing, resin casting and traditional hand carved elements” while “each of the individual rockets remain unattached to the glass, allowing the user to generate their own desired structure and configuration. The table is designed to tap into the playful minds of nostalgic adults and children alike.”

wave coffee table

wood table detail

wave table side

wave city table

wave wrapping city

In his previous works, Mousarris has taken an inception-style approach to wrapping cities, turning their inverted grounds into the supports for coffee and dining tables (using raw wood or added glass to top them off, respectively). The meticulously-detailed buildings become a layer of urban decor, allowing the rest of the materials to remain minimalist in their expression.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

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Sci-Fi Skyscrapers: 14 Futuristic Visions for Vertical Cities

10 Dec

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

Screen Shot 2015-12-09 at 9.03.30 AM

As the global population grows and the world’s largest metropolises evolve into mega-cities, skyscrapers stretching higher than ever before could hold our transit hubs, parking garages, parks, museums and even food production systems. Some of these concept designs seem feasible for the near future while others could serve as the settings for science fiction.

Light Park Floating Skyscraper

This concept for a floating skyscraper takes a similar tack, reacting to the infrastructure problems caused by rapid, unchecked urbanization by literally having no earthly footprint at all. The Light Park features a helium-filled cap and solar-powered propellers keeping it looming over Beijing like a ghost ship, and it contains parks, sports fields, green houses, restaurants and other public facilities.

Alternative Car Park Tower

towers car park 2

With all of its spiraling open levels, this parking garage tower envisioned for Hong Kong seems chaotic and unstructured, but it’s actually a well-thought-out automatic system that automatically sweeps cars from the ground floor to parking spots surrounding a central atrium.

Flex Towers for NYC

towers flex 2

An overflowing, overpopulated New York City could be in dire need of new technology to meet energy needs by the year 2040, as designer Paolo Venturella imagines with his ‘Flex Tower.’ This moving skyscraper tilts and rotates itself to follow the sun to perfectly position its envelope of solar panels at all times of the day.

The Tall Tower by Project Hieroglyph

Sci-fi author Neal Stephenson, known for cyberpunk classics like ‘Snow Crash’ and ‘Quicksilver,’ has teamed up with the Center for Science and Imagination to design an incredible 12.4-mile-tall tower capable of launching rockets into space. 24 times the height of the Burj Khalifa, which is currently the world’s tallest building, Tall Tower would scrape the bottom of the stratosphere.

Twin Taiwan Towers

towers taiwan 2

towers taiwan 3

Tangled with lush greenery, these tall, narrow twin towers stretch up to an observatory and sky park looking down over Taiwan. The base is inhabited by a set of museums focusing on the nation’s past, present and future, while the stems contain four different kinds of hanging gardens as well as high-end residences.

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Sci Fi Skyscrapers 15 Futuristic Visions For Vertical Cities

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Istanbul Demolishing 3 Skyscrapers to Preserve City Skyline

10 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

istanbul city skyline

After a huge and lengthy legal battle fought on various fronts by developers, municipalities and the Council of State, the Turkish government has ordered the partial destruction or total demolition of multiple buildings said to threaten the historic architectural heritage of Istanbul (above image via Gokorg).

istanbul historic skyline

When speaking of skylines, one generally thinks of of the towers that define them – but the courts have ruled that modern-day Istanbul (not Constantinople) is not allowed to reach for new heights, or even maintain its currently-constructed ones. Adding pressure to the mix, Unesco has threatened to revoke the city’s status as a World Heritage Site, in part due to rampant urban development (additional images by Moyan Brenn).

istanbul night view

At the heart of this particular legal issue are views of a series of structures long central to the civic identity of Istanbul, including the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace and Blue Mosque, all of which are now being overshadowed by three new structures standing dozens of stories tall. These new threats to the existing sihuoette are part of Onalti Dokuz complex, a residential development already largely finished.

istanbul city streets

Detractors are celebrating the victory, which started with legal attacks beginning last year. From Dezeen and the Turkish newspaper Todays Zaman, “two legal cases were launched against the development – one seeking cancellation of the permits for the construction of the building and another to shut down the construction and destroy parts of the buildings that had already been completed.”

istanbul sunet

istanbul distant hills

The government has rejected appeals by the developers and city, and it remains unclear who will pay for the cost of the necessary size reductions the buildings in question must now undergo. It is easy to see why critics would feel threatened by these and other new developments, but at some point one has to wonder: who has the right to suppress urban growth, and where do we draw the line between preservation and urbanization?

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Juxtapositions: Luxury Skyscrapers in Seas of Blue Shanties

12 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

skyscraper next to squatters

In some cities the slums run vertical while the rich build mansions on the precious ground, but in Mumbai, India, high-rise housing is considered premium real estate while the poor cobble together shelters below.

scryscraper slum backdrop mumbai

Alicja Dobrucka is the Polish photographer behind this photo series titled Life on a New High. Many of the photos were shot from a sufficiently high elevation to capture tall buildings on the backdrop of the surrounding urban landscape.

skyscraper foreground shelter view

The residential towers stand in stark contrast to the sprawling ad hoc homes below, topped with a kind of (unfortunately) iconic patchwork of blue tarps.

skyscraper urban luxury tower

Thousands of mid-rise-and-higher structures have been or are being built in Mumbai, often without regard for any overarching city plan. Some (like the famous one above) house single families on multiple floors, often with space for dozens of servants (in this case, reportedly, as many as 200).

skyscraper no urban planning

skyscraper new construction india

skyscraper being built mumbai

Dobrucka also calls attention to the marketing slogans used to promote these structures. These catchy phrases are as seemingly out of touch with a their surroundings as the European-style architectural follies they are attached to: “You don’t just invite friends over, you invite awe”, ”Ask yourself, how much envy can you endure? Neither wealth nor influence will bring them back again”, ”If your tastes match with the President of France, we have just the right home for you”, ”Other homes have works of art. Yours is one” and “Rooftop pool. Rooftop Jacuzzi. Rooftop lawn. As for the moon consider it complimentary”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Sky Bridges: 14 Aerial Structures that Span Skyscrapers

16 Sep

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

Skybridges Main

Soaring above the city streets, spanning towering skyscrapers or simply providing links between buildings at lower heights, skybridges often host gardens, observation decks and even swimming pools. More than just indoor bridges, they’re spaces from which to take in views of cities around the world, from Singapore to Copenhagen.

Marina Bay Sands Skypark, Singapore

Skybridges Marina Bay Sands 1

Over 650 feet above the streets, a sky park stretches between the towers of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore, offering one of the world’s most spectacular infinity pools, which seems to pour over into the cityscape. The two-acre skylark also includes a garden, jogging paths, spas and ‘floating’ crystal pavilions. It’s cantilevered 230 feet at one end, twice the length of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

Copenhagen Harbor LM Project

Skybridges Copenhagen LM 1

Skybridges Copenhagen LM 2

Designed as a gateway to the city of Copenhagen, Steven Holl’s Harbor LM project features a skybridge between two skyscrapers hovering over the water. The skybridge features prow-like public deck looking out onto the harbor, painted in bright orange and yellow to reflect off the surface of the water at night.

Bahrain World Trade Center

Skybridges Bahrain WTC

Three skybridges studded with wind turbines connect the two towers of the Bahrain World Trade Center, a 50-floor complex soaring 787 feet into the air. The turbines provide 11%-15% of the towers’ total power consumption, and operate 50% of the time on an average day.

Linked Hybrid, Beijing

Skybridges Linked Hybrid

Designed as an ‘open city within a city’ oriented around pedestrians, the Linked Hybrid complex in Beijing by Steven Holl architects is a complex of shops, offices, pubic roof gardens, residential towers, restaurants, schools and more, all connected to green spaces. A multi-functional series of skybridges connects the various structures from the 12th to the 18th floors, offering access to the pools, a fitness room, a cafe, a gallery and an auditorium as well as views of the city. Say the architects, “We hope the public sky-loop and the base-loop will constantly generate random relationships. They will function as social condensers resulting in a special experience of city life to both residents and visitors.”

Velo Towers YIBD

Skybridges Velo Towers 1

Skybridges Velo 2

Two skyscrapers made up of stacked and rotated volumes are connected near the apex by a 30-story-high skybridge in this project in Seoul, Korea by New York-based Asymptote Architecture. The Velo Tower skybridge includes both a protected indoor viewing platform connecting the towers, and an outdoor recreation spot with gardens and fountains.

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Sky Bridges 14 Aerial Structures That Span Skyscrapers

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Future Architecture: 7 Surreal Award-Winning Skyscrapers

09 Apr

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

skyscrapers futuristic

The first skyscrapers were impossible drawings at the times they were imagined, yet today glass towers that scale to the skies are everyday structures. On land, by sea, in the air (or in one case: outer space), these entries are daring and visionary, defying convention, technology and at times even gravity.

skyscraper polar umbrella project

First, the winner of the 2013 Evolo Skyscraper Competition, the Polar Umbrella (by Derek Pirozzi), a buoyant skyscraper that protects and regenerates the polar ice caps. The umbrella helps shade the ice below it, which is, in turn, rebuilt via water frozen by energy generated “through an osmotic (salinity gradient power) power facility housed within the building’s core.”

skyscraper first place award

It can much more than just a remote outpost: “Through its desalinization and power facilities, this arctic skyscraper becomes a floating metropolis equipped with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) research laboratories, renewable power stations, dormitory-style housing units, eco-tourist attractions, and ecological habitats for wildlife.”

skyscraper flying light park

From the sea we shift our sights to the sky, where a high-flying design (third-place winner) aims to supplement dense cities with much-needed recreational and green space. Capped with a helium balloon and supported by solar-powered propellers, Light Park (by Ting Xu and Yiming Chen) is a floating skyscraper.

skyscraper sky park diagrams

Lofted greenery helps clean the air above urban centers, and the plan balances program and structure: “Programmatic platforms that host parks, sports fields, green houses, restaurants, and other uses are suspended from the top of the structure by reinforced steel cables; the platforms fan in different directions around the spherical vessel to balance its weight. These slabs are also staggered to allow for maximum exposure to sunlight on each level.”

skyscraper space gravity grid

Before we get to a few back on the ground, we have covered sea, sky and the next step? Space. That’s where the Stratosphere Network of Skyscrapers comes in – a bold idea by a Chinese team to create a skyscraper grid in space. The Buckminster-Fuller-worthy hex network of globe-spanning architectural infrastructure is mind-boggling in its implications. Independently, these incredible towers are impossible to support, but as a network, they reinforce one another, and are mutually suspended above the Earth.

skyscraper futuristic network diagrams

If is a tall order in practice, but a brilliant concept in theory: “In this case the network of buildings and bridges connected to each other, covering the entire circumference of the earth, will no longer need structural ground support and can be suspended in the air by the effect of the earth gravity. The elevated bridges and buildings that relate the grid can reach any height with out worrying about overturning, earth-quakes, floods and any other natural disasters.”

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Future Architecture 7 Surreal Award Winning Skyscrapers

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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360Photography

Posts Tagged ‘Skyscrapers’

Imperial Pomp: Strange Post-Soviet Skyscrapers in Remote Russia

Ouroborus Buildings: Artist Loops Infinite Skyscrapers Back on Themselves

Spiraling Skyscrapers: Rounding Up the World’s Tallest Twisting Towers

Cities of Bone: Organic Future Skyscrapers Free of Concrete & Steel

Space Age 3D Furniture: Skyscrapers & Rockets Support Stellar Tables