The World Skyscraper/Unique Structure Projects Thread

Recently a thread about the rotating skyscraper being built in Dubai sparked this idea. The modern age has brought us unprecidented engineering feats, some of which, would have been difficult to produce mere decades ago. I will be updating this thread periodically with noteworthy buildings/structures. Feel free to add or discuss eye-catching world projects which are already built, under construction, or just on the drawing board.

Dynamic Tower:

Height: 420 meters (1,378 ft)
Floors: 80
Location: Dubai

A proposed mixed-use "rotating skyscraper," being developed by Dynamic Architecture.

The Dynamic Tower offers infinite design possibilities, as each floor rotates independently at different speeds, resulting in a unique and ever evolving shape that introduces a fourth dimension to architecture, Time.

The Dynamic Tower is environmentally friendly, with the ability to generate electricity for itself as well as other buildings nearby making it the first building designed to be self-powered, it achieves this feat with wind turbines fitted between each rotating floor. An 80-story building will have up to 79 wind turbines, making it a true green power plant.

Another unprecidented and fascinating aspect of the Dynamic Tower is it will be the world's first prefabricated skyscraper. 90% of the tower will not be built at the construction site in Dubai. This will decrease the overall cost by 23% and allow the tower to be built in a mere 18 months!

After reading of the Dubai project I was also shocked to see how large the apartment units will be. They will range in size from 124 square meters (1,330 square feet) to luxury villas of 1,200 square meters (12,900 square feet)... Wow.

ATS Threads:

Rotating Skyscraper Planned For Dubai
Rotating SkyScraper
Building in motion planned for Dubai

External Links:

wikipedia
cnn.com
telegraph.uk

CCTV Headquarters:

Height: 234 meters (755 ft)
Floors: 51
Location: Beijing

CCTV (China Central Television) Headquarters is currently under construction in Beijing. The building's entire structure and facade will be completed in time for the Beijing Olympics.

Its engineering is so complex that the designers say such a building couldn't have been built a few years ago. That's because it took immense computing power to ensure that the design could withstand huge pressures in the earthquake-prone capital. Some 10,000 tons of steel were used in its construction.

An awe-inspiring piece of architecture, but with an $800 million price tag, many Chinese feel it's too costly and lacks Chinese features. Proponents of the design claim the Eiffel Tower and Sydney Opera House were also heavily criticized when they were built. The CCTV building was designed by a Dutch architect named Rem Koolhaas. Being in such a building could be quite interesting...

The architects have built huge glass panels in the floor of the cantilevered cross section of the building, so that visitors can get the woozy sensation of walking above nothing but air.

External Links:

yahoo news
cctv.com
wikipedia


[edit on 22-7-2008 by Scramjet76]

They are all beautiful buildings. I don't think they know what they want to build, for height or for eye appeal. Some want a little of both. I think there will be another race to see who can build the highest. I would like to see buildings that will be more self sufficient.

reply to post by MBF

I would like to see buildings that will be more self sufficient.

Well that's what the Dynamic Tower is... a "green skyscraper."

The rotation takes up to 3 hours, and gets power from photovoltaic solar cells and 79 wind turbines, one located between each floor. The system is meant to create enough energy to power the entire tower and still have juice to spare for some surrounding buildings.

gizmodo.com

Also, earlier I mentioned the size of the units..

They will range in size from 124 square meters (1,330 square feet) to luxury villas of 1,200 square meters (12,900 square feet)... Wow.

Here is the floor plan from one of the luxury units (top ten floors in the building). Yes you are seeing this right. Your car is taken to the 75th floor (or whatever floor your on) via elevator.



Other technological amenities will include a voice activated control systems, built in phone system, an indoor swimming pool, and any other special desire (all custom made).

Originally posted by Scramjet76
Here is the floor plan from one of the luxury units (top ten floors in the building). Yes you are seeing this right. Your car is taken to the 75th floor (or whatever floor your on) via elevator.

Other technological amenities will include a voice activated control systems, built in phone system, an indoor swimming pool, and any other special desire (all custom made).

However self-sufficient that building may be, looking at that floorplan makes me think one thing:
HUGE CARBON FOOTPRINT

No-one in the World needs so much opulence. This functions only as medicine for a damaged soul.

I look at these new skyscrapers as a step in the right direction for the future.

The CEO's of Solar Corporations are gonna have to live somewhere.

Burj Dubai:

Height: 818 meters (2,684 ft)
Floors: 162
Location: Dubai

The Burj Dubai is a supertall skyscraper still under construction in Dubai. Although not yet completed it is already the tallest man-made structure on Earth. The tower is designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merril, who also designed the Sears Tower in Chicago.

During the design process engineers rotated the building 120 degrees from its conceptual layout to solidify the structure from prevailing wind forces. To withstand extreme Middle Eastern heat, the exterior cladding is made of reflective glazing, and aluminum and textured stainless steel panels with vertical tubular fins. Special mixes of concrete are made to withstand the enormous pressures from the massive weight of the tower.

The Burj Dubai will feature the fastest elevators in the world which will travel at 18 meters/second or 40 miles/hour. An observation deck will occupy the 124th floor, while the highest residential floor will be at level 109. The tower itself will cost over $4 billion US to build and will be visible from up to 95 km (59 miles) away!

An engineering marvel or an over extravagant home for the elite? Perhaps a little of both. Could the same not have been said about the Empire State Building in the 1930s though?

A couple of recent pics of the Burj Dubai:




A comparison between the Burj Dubai and the Empire State building:



ATS Threads:

Burj Dubai: The world's tallest building in 2009
Dubai claims tallest free-standing structure

External Links:

burjdubai.com
skyscraperpage.com
wikipedia

reply to post by Scramjet76


Awesome thread dude!Ill be keeping an eye on here.
Dubai is out of control at the moment its fast becoming that everything there is supposed to be one of the wonders of the world for modern times.

Thank you Azador. I will get back to the developments in Dubai. There is an insane amount of money and some extraordinary engineering going on there. Right now I'm going to turn to...

Residence Antilia:

Height: 173 meters (568 ft)
Floors: 27
Location: Mumbai

If you were one of the world's richest people what would your "dream home" look like? Mukesh Ambani is the richest person in India and the fifth richest in the world. He is currently building his dream home which will be a green skyscraper called Antilia. The home will be the world's tallest and most expensive single residence- valued at $2 billion. It will also feature the world's tallest "living wall" and garden. Although the tower only has 27 floors, it will be 173 meters tall, giving it the virtual height of a 50 storey tower. This means that the floors will have ceilings significantly higher than the (3 meter) average for residential high-rises. Nearly 600 staffers will work fulltime in the extravagant residence.

SIX FLOORS FOR PARKING

The first six floors — which have come up — will be reserved for parking alone, and that too for cars belonging only to Mukesh’s family. Space for a total of 168 ‘imported’ cars has been earmarked here.

FLOOR FOR CAR MAINTENANCE

Sources said the Ambanis would prefer to have all their cars serviced and maintained at an in-house service centre. This centre will be set up on the seventh floor.

ENTERTAINMENT FLOOR

The eighth floor will have an entertainment centre comprising a mini-theatre with a seating capacity of 50.

BALCONIES WITH GARDENS

The rooftop of the mini-theatre will serve as a garden, and immediately above that, three more balconies with terrace gardens will be independent floors.

THE ‘HEALTH’ FLOORS

While the ninth floor will a ‘refuge’ floor — meant to be used for rescue in emergencies — two floors above that will be set aside for ‘health.’ One of these will have facilities for athletics and a swimming pool, while the other will have a health club complete with the latest gym equipment.

FOR GUESTS

There will be a two-storeyed glass-fronted apartment for the Ambani family’s guests above the health floors. One more refuge floor and one floor for mechanical works will be built on top of these apartments.

FAMILY

The four floors at the top, that will provide a view of the Arabian Sea and a superb view of the city’s skyline, will be for Mukesh, his wife Neeta, their three children and Mukesh’s mother Kokilaben.

AIR SPACE FLOOR

According to the plan, two floors above the family’s residence will be set aside as maintenance areas, and on top of that will be an “air space floor,” which will act as a control room for helicopters landing on the helipad above.

HELIPAD

The plan states that three helipads are to be built on the terrace.

Residence Antilia is currently under construction (pic from 6/2008). You can see the "W" looking structure in the picture to get an idea of how complete the building is at this time.



Here is a drawing of the tower labeling its different sections.



External Links:

indianskyscraperblog
skyscrapercity.com
wikidpedia

Update.......

Shanghai Center:

height: 632 meters (2073 ft)
floors: 127
location: Shanghai

I found the Shanghai Center to be noteworthy for this growing list of amazing feats of engineering.

Planning models for the Lujiazui financial district dating back to 1993 show plans for three supertall skyscrapers all next to each other.[7] Two have already been built; the Jin Mao Building was completed in 1998, and the Shanghai World Financial Center in 2008.

I had no idea they had this in the works since 1993. I had always thought the Jin Mao Tower, named after their deputy commander of the People's Liberation Army Navy, was a one hit single. My take on the Shanghai World Financial Center was just China's way with keeping up with the skyscraper race. Seems they have been planning these three supertall skyscrapers being close to eachother from the beginning.

There is more though. I have noticed a couple of threads on ATS regarding the building boom in Dubai UAE. That isn't the only boom going on though. Don't forget about the economic giant known as China..

This year alone, Shanghai will complete towers with more space for living and working than there is in all the office buildings in New York City.

That will happen in a city that already has 4,000 skyscrapers, almost double the number in New York. And there are designs to build 1,000 more by the end of this decade.

Who said NYC was the center of the universe? The construction of the Shanghai Center will give Shanghai bragging rights to the tallest "big three" in the world.

Shanghai Center 632 meters
Shanghai World Financial Center 492 meters
Jin Mao Tower 420 meters

To give you a comparison... the World Trade Towers (from 911) were two buildings, each around 420 meters in height.


Here is a rendering of what the three will look like together when complete.

external links:

wikipedia
skyscraperpage.com
Int'l Herald Tribune

Donald trump has been very outspoken about all this...

He says that American litigation has stopped our development and I agree

Trump was going to put a 26 story tower on my corner here in phx... and the people all protested and voted it down... wouldn't let him go above 16

and he said in Dubai they beg me to add 20-30 stories and question if they offer me enough.

It's a shame... because this si the future and Americans for some reason don't wish to embrace it

Vertical Farming alone would solve a good % of the worlds ills, but no one here will sponsor it.

Not saying the USA has to be first at everything

But, not enjoying being left in the dust

By projects like THIS:





The Mile High Tower

Saudi Arabia

a City to itself

Considering the supposed Terrorists were all Saudis, doesn't this kind of get your goat?

reply to post by mopusvindictus


Hey thanks for the reply mopus.

Yeah Trump wanted to put something up here in Seattle too. It got mixed reactions and I think the trump group still scouting for realestate.

Yeah all those oil rich countries have the money to splurge on state of the art high-rises. I was aware of the Al-Burj and the Mubarak Tower, not of the mile one though. That will be a hell of an engineering feat. Seems like the US is dropping out... If our economy rebounds eventually you could see us jump back into the race. They are currently building a 2000 ft one in Chicago.

My favorite.

The Lilypad

One of these is the Lilypad which is a prototype of auto-sufficient amphibious city and it was designed by architect Vincent Callebaut. The Lilypad project is actually a floating ecopolis that will provide housing for a large crowd of climate refugees therefore will be the solution in case of worldwide ecological crisis.

reply to post by Jazzyguy


Argh Jazz your links aren't working...

reply to post by Scramjet76

The links seem to be working for me, Scramjet. I'll give you another.

Gizmodo



Archinect

reply to post by Jazzyguy


Wow thanks for sharing that's totally amazing!

Since ATS is conspiracy orientated it begs the question if atlantis was a giant version of this architects dream?

reply to post by Scramjet76

Maybe. If Atlantis is such a thing it'll be a lot easier to identify, since it'll be very distinguishable from the natural area that surrounds it.


Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid

The Shimizu TRY 2004 Mega-City Pyramid is a proposed project for construction of a massive pyramid over Tokyo Bay in Japan. The structure would be 12 times higher than the Great Pyramid at Giza, and would house 750,000 people. If built, it will be the largest man-made structure on Earth. The structure would be 2,004 meters (6,575 feet) high and would answer Tokyo's increasing lack of space. The proposed structure is so large that it cannot be built with currently available materials, due to their weight. The design relies on the future availability of super-strong lightweight materials based on carbon nanotubes.

Pictures from Euroarcology







I don't know the exact height (whether wikipedia got it right), but it's easily the tallest building in the world. The very last picture is the pyramid getting pummeled by a tsunami in a computer animation. An exaggeration I guess, a tsunami can't be that high, unless it's from a meteor impacting earth.

reply to post by Jazzyguy


Awesome stuff Jazz!

I'm so excited to see the kinds of projects which will come from carbon nanotubes.

Nano skyscrapers may precede space elevator..