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Posts Tagged ‘Tower’

Building for Billionaires: Luxury Tower with Car Elevators

20 Dec

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Porsche Design Tower 1

If you’re rich enough to live in the Porsche Design Tower, you’re rich enough to have a mega-expensive car or two worth hauling up to your upper-floor penthouse each day in your very own car elevator. The 60-story oceanfront tower in Miami was designed for the mega-rich, with 132 suites offering 2-4 car garages on every level, with three car elevators available to residents as they arrive and depart.

Porsche Design Tower 2

Residents drive their cars out of the elevators and straight into their own glass-walled garages, giving them the ability to admire their expensive toys as they relax on their couches or enjoy a meal prepared by a team of personal chefs. The vehicles will be washed and maintained by an in-house concierge service.

Porsche Design Tower 3

Twenty-two billionaires (representing about 2% of the world’s richest people) have already secured units, though they won’t be able to move in until the tower is complete in 2016. Each residence includes a large balcony with a plunge pool and outdoor kitchen, and shared amenities include a spa, game room, movie theater and a ballroom with expansive ocean views.

Porsche Design Tower 4

The units cost between $ 4.8 million and $ 32.5 million each, with the whole building estimated to cost $ 214 million, the largest loan taken out for a commercial project since the recession.

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Building for Billionaires: Luxury Tower with Car Elevators

19 Dec

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Porsche Design Tower 1

If you’re rich enough to live in the Porsche Design Tower, you’re rich enough to have a mega-expensive car or two worth hauling up to your upper-floor penthouse each day in your very own car elevator. The 60-story oceanfront tower in Miami was designed for the mega-rich, with 132 suites offering 2-4 car garages on every level, with three car elevators available to residents as they arrive and depart.

Porsche Design Tower 2

Residents drive their cars out of the elevators and straight into their own glass-walled garages, giving them the ability to admire their expensive toys as they relax on their couches or enjoy a meal prepared by a team of personal chefs. The vehicles will be washed and maintained by an in-house concierge service.

Porsche Design Tower 3

Twenty-two billionaires (representing about 2% of the world’s richest people) have already secured units, though they won’t be able to move in until the tower is complete in 2016. Each residence includes a large balcony with a plunge pool and outdoor kitchen, and shared amenities include a spa, game room, movie theater and a ballroom with expansive ocean views.

Porsche Design Tower 4

The units cost between $ 4.8 million and $ 32.5 million each, with the whole building estimated to cost $ 214 million, the largest loan taken out for a commercial project since the recession.

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Crowdfunded Skyscraper: Record-Breaking Tower in Bogotá

18 Dec

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

crowdfunded skyscraper

With over $ 200 million from more than 3,500 supporters, the world’s largest crowdfunding campaign has generated the means to create the highest skyscraper in Columbia (and the first new one in 40 years).

crowd build columbia bogata

The communal nature of the stake puts both the property and power in the hands of the contributors, who in turn receive stake in the finished structure being built in downtown Bogotá. This approach, facilitated by the Prodigy Network, also distributes the risk of this bold venture between those with the motivation to see it made a reality – primarily locals and others with a vested interest in the city’s future.

crowd plaza rendering detail

The structure will address a lack of dense vertical growth in a city that has suffered from sprawl, on the one hand, and too-busy streets on the other. It aims to create a residential, commercial and institutional focal point in a location “where tourism, culture, education and shopping are all together, but also where traffic and congestion demand different means of development.”

crowd buildings top

Green strategies include advanced water collection systems with graywater reuse, green roof elements, advanced natural lighting optimization and supplemental passive heating and cooling systems.

More statistics on the finished project: “When complete the BD Bacatá will be 66-stories high and 1.2 million square feet. Development will include office and retail space, apartments and a hotel. The 364-room hotel, located in the tallest tower of the complex will be operated by Eurostars, and feature such amenities as a business center, restaurant, cafeteria, and full-service gym providing hotel guests with above-and-beyond service to ensure their experience will be worth remembering.”

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Dark Tower: Decay Inside Africa’s Tallest Apartment Complex

30 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

ponte apartment context

Before a long descent into darkness, the cylindrical Ponte City Apartments began life as a luxurious tribute to growth and wealth in Johannesburg , filled with envy-worthy units looking out in all directions. But after years of decline and false restarts, what direction is next for the highest residential skyscraper on the continent?

dark tower spire detail

ponte apartment trash

As remarked in the film above by Philip Bloom, the transformation of this iconic 54-story, mixed-use tower in South Africa has been astonishing. “It really was icon of decadence … wealth and exuberance” with three-story units and Jacuzzi tubs – a “premier location in the city” for people “making a lot of cash.” As part of an exodus from the city center, rapid changes took place.

dark tower up down

The center of the circular plan looked excellent in theory – a way for light to enter the back side of apartments looking into the core. There were even plans for an indoor ski slope to accompany the various shops and eateries on the lower levels.

dark interior core views

In practice, it slowly became a kind of black hole filled with three stories of detritus at the bottom and marked by unwashed walls all the way up. It also developed a reputation for defenestrations – accidents, suicides and otherwise.

dark building exterior view

Investors just before the global financial crisis began to re-envision and rehabilitate the structure, but the renovations stopped as abruptly as the market crashed, leaving an ambiguous future for this iconic structure.

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Dark Tower Decay Inside Africas Tallest Apartment Complex

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Converted Clock Tower: Ultimate Urban Loft with a View

11 Oct

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 1

At the top of a former cardboard box factory built in 1915, within a clock tower overlooking Brooklyn and Manhattan, is one of New York City’s most remarkable residences. The pinnacle of the Clocktower Building is a three-story penthouse measuring over 6,800 feet, with four 14-foot glass clocks – one on every wall of the top floor.

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 2

Converted CLocktower Penthouse 3

The clocks offer massive, unparalleled views of the city in all directions. Additional windows provide a look at the Manhattan Bridge to the Statue of Liberty from a soaking tub. Or, simply go on the sky roof cabana and enjoy it in the open air.

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 4

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 5

Transformed from its industrial past, the penthouse features a ceiling that extends from 16 to 50 feet in height, as well as a glass-enclosed, three-story elevator running up the center of the space. It entered the market in 2009 for $ 25 million – the most expensive apartment on record in Brooklyn by far – and has now been lowered to $ 18 million.

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 6

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 7

For a while, as it went unsold, the clock tower penthouse was put up for rent for a mere $ 50,000 per month. It’s also been offered up for various special events while it sits on the market, including a dinner for Esquire Magazine.

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Converted Clock Tower: Ultimate Urban Loft with a View

09 Oct

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 1

At the top of a former cardboard box factory built in 1915, within a clock tower overlooking Brooklyn and Manhattan, is one of New York City’s most remarkable residences. The pinnacle of the Clocktower Building is a three-story penthouse measuring over 6,800 feet, with four 14-foot glass clocks – one on every wall of the top floor.

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 2

Converted CLocktower Penthouse 3

The clocks offer massive, unparalleled views of the city in all directions. Additional windows provide a look at the Manhattan Bridge to the Statue of Liberty from a soaking tub. Or, simply go on the sky roof cabana and enjoy it in the open air.

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 4

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 5

Transformed from its industrial past, the penthouse features a ceiling that extends from 16 to 50 feet in height, as well as a glass-enclosed, three-story elevator running up the center of the space. It entered the market in 2009 for $ 25 million – the most expensive apartment on record in Brooklyn by far – and has now been lowered to $ 18 million.

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 6

Converted Clocktower Penthouse 7

For a while, as it went unsold, the clock tower penthouse was put up for rent for a mere $ 50,000 per month. It’s also been offered up for various special events while it sits on the market, including a dinner for Esquire Magazine.

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Penthouse Mountain: Stone Villa Tops Chinese Condo Tower

13 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

mountain on condo tower

Over six years, one dedicated man has constructed his dream house, complete with boulders, trees, gardens, pools and ponds. It is the kind of luxury home you might expect expect to set into the side of an actual mountain … rather than perched atop an urban apartment building.

mountaintop penthouse on roof

The Daily Mail  reports that Chinese eccentric Zhang Lin slowly assembled this structure in Beijing despite disruptions and dangers caused to those residents below, apparently without planning permission and in defiance of zoning laws (not to mention common sense). The many tons of material required were hauled up the building, then transformed into a faux mountaintop. In turn, the industrious top-floor owner tucked his unique private penthouse retreat into the resulting rock face.

mountain rock condo sprawl

A number of residents have complained about the noise from construction, and one has experienced flooding, either from fake mountain pools and ponds above their place, broken drainage due to displaced infrastructure, or perhaps both.

mountain condo in context

Meanwhile, the penthouse – originally slated to be a small shack added to the top – has sprawled in all kinds of creative and (to those below, at least) unexpected ways. There are various outdoor decks, viewing platforms and winding paths that make their way through and around the stone mountaintop and its outgrowths of greenery.

mountain shaped carved apartment

And what comes next? Well, no one in the city has stopped the project so far, but as complaints mount from other residents, and as the weight loaded on the roof grows, one has to wonder what will happen first: government intervention or a tragic structural collapse.

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Secret Speakeasy: Abandoned Water Tower Nightclub in NYC

20 Jun

[ By WebUrbanist in Culture & Cuisine & Global. ]

secret water tower bar

New York has a long history of hidden and illicit venues – one that did not stop when prohibition was lifted. There is the innocuous pizza shop where dialing the right number in their phone booth lets you through a secret door into the pub. Or the various hole-in-the-wall places where you add your number to a wait list and hope for a call. And then this, the now-defunct bar inside an abandoned water tower in Chelsea.

secret speakeasy new york

Per the New York Times (images by Benjamin Norman), “The Night Heron was an invitation-only nightclub held illegally in a water tower atop a vacant building in Chelsea.” Guests had to make their way through a deserted building, then climb up a ladder to reach their destination.

secret hidden room bar

All-nighters were common for this bustling little sweet spot, with last guests being let in as late as three in the morning. Live music reverberated within the wooden slats of the tightly-packed circular interior, with bottles of whisky reinforcing the retro (albeit a bit hipster) vibe of the whole affair. Alas, all good things must come to an end – particularly when they are a little less than legal in the first place.

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Ground, Up! Curved Green Sky Gardens Wrap Tower Hotel

06 Jun

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

sky garden upper levels

The best of both worlds: guests at this hotel get to enjoy skyscraper-high views and still experience layers of intensive greenery on virtually all levels.

sky garden ground up

A series of sleek towers rises up from an organic base that provides shelter and visual interest on the lower levels. These curvilinear forms support an interstitial outdoor floor, and can also be found far above, stretched between the towers at upper levels, serving as platforms for lush greenery.

sky garden concrete cloud

A grid of circular concrete columns pierces the various levels, rising up to support the towers. These provide for the structural needs of the building, but also serve as a transitional design element to bridge the heavier free-form concrete clouds below and the lighter frame-and-cladding rectangles above.

sky garden terrace level

The design by WOHA is meant to be a landmark for its city “Most of Singapore’s recent architecture – especially in and around the city centre – is nothing more than generic and can be seen anywhere in the world, regardless of climate and culture.

sky garden plans details

The concept is about balance, as is the architectural result: “An equilibrium point of architectural anonymity has been derived from a number of factors. Finally the city has a uniquely expressive urban landmark that reinterprets and reinvigorates its location”

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Take Five! – The Coffee Tower

24 Nov

I’m answering your questions from vlog #1 and #2. 1. Are you in Egypt? No, I’m currently studying in Canada. 2. What are those things stacked up back there? They’re coffee cups. 3. What do you use to make your videos? I borrowed my friends’ camera (Nikon D90 for 1st vlog and Nikon D7000 for the 2nd one) and I edited the videos using Windows Live Movie Maker. 4. When are you going to post your next vlog? It depends. I don’t think I can do it routinely. 5. Are you trying to emulate someone else? Yes, I emulate the Prophet. 6. Where can I get the t-shirt? I bought it from a friend who’s selling the shirt for Libya relief effort. NOTE: I NO LONGER SELL THE SHIRTS. THANK YOU FOR THOSE WHO BOUGHT THEM! Outro song: www.youtube.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

 
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