The first project in our series is the ‘Beijing Great Wheel’
In a bid to boost tourism in China, construction has begun for the soon to-be ‘tallest & largest observation Ferris wheel’ in the world. The Ferris named, ‘Beijing Great Wheel’ is to be located in eastern Beijing’s Chaoyang Park, venue for beach volleyball in the Beijing 2008 Olympics and would stand at a soaring 680 feet (207 metres) dwarfing the London Eye which is about 135 metres (443 feet) and the Singapore flyer which towers at 165 metres (541 feet).
Beijing wheel is expected have 48 air-conditioned capsules with each capsule having the capacity of carrying 40 passengers.
Continue reading ‘Beijing’s Great Observation Wheel’
Although Dubai appears to be the focal point of global construction at the moment, there appears to be a lack of attention on China’s construction boom that has been fuelled by its burgeoning economy and the upcoming summer Olympic games taking place in its capital Beijing.
This week would be our Chinese Construction week as we attempt to cover some of China’s most impressive structures (both completed & under construction) and some of China’s most creative architects that are now beginning to rise to global prominence.
FiftyTwoDegrees, the ‘bent’ 86 metre (282 feet) high-rise office building designed by Dutch architects Mecanoo has become the striking centrepiece of the Nijmwegen International Business Park in the Netherlands.
Whilst its upper sections are a conventional right angled tower design, its lower floors have a uniquely designed wider inclined base.
FiftyTwoDegrees tower spans over 20,000sqm (65,617 sq. feet) of office space, with lots of contemporary communal open space.
Continue reading ‘The ‘bent’ FiftyTwoDegrees Tower’
How does a building earn the name “the Marilyn Monroe building”, well it has to be curvy for starters and then rotate 360 degrees from top to bottom. This is exactly what the Beijing based design maestro Yansong Ma, founder of architectural design firm MAD Studio did.
It is one of five residential towers in the Absolute condo community development in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Standing at 167m, the 56 storey high-rise would be the tallest building in Mississauga, and the tallest multi-storey building in Ontario outside of Toronto.
It is the winner of the international design competition of the Absolute Towers that received over 90 submissions from 70 countries around the world.
Continue reading ‘The Curvy ‘Monroe’ 360 degree Tower’
This video is the proposed showcase of ‘Moscow City’ – the Moscow International Business Centre.
Moscow International Business Centre (MIBC) is an ambitious regeneration project in the Presnenskaya Embankment area in the heart of Moscow’s Kremlin.
The master plan of MIBC was conceived by the Russian government as far back in 1992 with an intention to convert Presnenskaya, an old urban area with old factories and industrial complexes toEastern Europe’s central business hub.
The management company of the project, CITY Joint Stock Company (CITTY JSC), a joint venture between the Russian government and private investors claim that it is currently Russia’s and Europe’s largest investment and construction project.
We recently covered the construction completion of one of the towers - Naberezhnaya Tower. We have to say it is a very ambitious engineering project with 15 distinct developments spread across 30 plots on an enormous 100ha site. The estimated project cost is $12 billion with a completion date slated for 2010.
We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on this one and cover more of it’s developments in future posts.
We came across this ingenious development; via the Raising the Roof property blog. Regatta Jakarta is a nautical themed design conceived by the renowned Atkins-design studio. It is a mixed-use development situated in Pantai Mutiara Canal Estate on the shores of the Java Sea.
The centrepiece of the Regatta is its iconic 160 metre high, arch-shaped five-star hotel tower that represents a ‘lighthouse’ or ‘beacon’ surrounded by 10 residential apartment towers which each representing ships sailing around this ‘beacon’, hence the name ‘Regatta’ was coined.
Continue reading ‘Regatta - Jakarta’s Nautical Icon’
This is yet another architectural marvel from the Middle East that is surprisingly not from Dubai but from the city of Manama on the island of Bahrain.
Bahrain World Trade Centre, another ingenious design from the Bristol based architects, Atkins, is a 240 metre structure comprising of two identical 50-storey, sail-shaped commercial office towers overlooking the Arabian Gulf. Its conspicuously striking features are its three 29 metre diameter horizontal-axis wind turbines that are supported by three 30 metre bridges spanning between the two towers.
Continue reading ‘Bahrain World Trade Centre: taking Sustainable Architecture to Another Level’
