At first glimpse the Central markets development looks like a structure off a scene in the Matrix. But it’s surprisingly going to be built in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, an ex-soviet, landlocked oil rich country. Another ingenious design from architects Foster + Partners, Central markets would be a mini-city development with a staggered matrix of buildings designed to look like a three dimensional bar chart comprising of a retail/leisure podium and hotel cluster at its base and then a series of office and residential towers to its north.
Standing at a huge 382m (1273 feet) over 88-storeys, intricately designed Central markets would classify as a supertall, by. At the base of the development there are plans to build a “traditional” Kazakh market in the retail/leisure podium and a specially solar insulated winter garden the size of a football pitch with an adjusted temperature of 10C (50F) in the chilling Kazakh winters of -30C.
Continue reading ‘Central Markets Astana Kazakhstan (Abu Dhabi Plaza) - a Matrix Mini-city’
Although construction work on Hangzhou Bay Bridge was completed in June 2007, it is currently undergoing tests and evaluation and would not be open to traffic till August 2008, in time for the Beijing Olympics.
The 36 km S-shaped cable stayed bridge has six lanes in both directions and is currently the world’s longest trans-oceanic bridge. It cuts the length of the road trip between Shanghai & Ningbo (a busy port in Zhejiang) by 120 km.
Construction photos
Continue reading ‘Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the World’s Longest Trans-Oceanic Structure’
Thanks to Flickr users James E-R, galactic, SolarWind & mss2400 we’ve got our hands on a couple of the latest construction photos of the Trump Towers in Chicago at 401 N. Wabash Avenue in downtown Chicago, Illinois.
As at last Wednesday (12th March), level 66 (out of 92 levels) was poured in.
Construction which begun in 2005 is nearing its expected completion date of 2009 and would be expected to stand at a massive 415 metre (1,362 feet) making the multiple-use tower upon completion, the second tallest building in Chicago before the arrival of Chicago Spire in 2011.
Continue reading ‘Topping of the Trump Towers Chicago’
We do love our super-talls and this development for us is a real special - Los Faros de Panama, which means ‘Panama’s Lighthouses’ is to be a triple-tower, mixed-use super-tall Panamian development located in the Punta Pacífica area of Panama City.
Continue reading ‘Los Faros de Panama (Panama’s Lighthouses)’
This is just a quick update on the massive Burj Dubai development, showing a happy band of construction workers as they reached the world record height of 601 meters - No champagne, we see - can’t imagine why.
As the tower has continued to grow, it is becoming the dominant landmark on the Dubai skyline, this is a selection of photos taken at the end of February - beginning of March. They are taken from a variety of positions around the city and already the major feature is the Burj Dubai skyscraper.
Continue reading ‘Burj Dubai Photo Update’
Hardly do we get this confused about a project. The project in question is The Landmark in Abu Dhabi (UAE), which apparently, belongs to Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (under Abu Dhabi’s Department of the President Affairs).
The Pelli Clarke Pelli designed 80+ storey building would be Abu Dhabi’s tallest spanning over 1,100 feet (335.28m).
Apart from the main contractors changing from Bauer Intl to Al Habtoor engineering, we have not been able to get our hands on rendered images of its side or back but can confirm (from the pictures below) that contruction has begun & gone above ground level already.
If you would like to track this project, we suggest you check out Al Habtoor Engineering’s official website.
The Team
Here is the team:
Construction photos:
The National Center for the Performing Arts was completed recently in Beijing, China. Designed by architect Paul Andreu, the first concert was held there December 2007.
The exterior of the theater is a titanium accented glass dome that is completely surrounded by a man-made lake. It is said to look like an egg floating on water. It was designed as an iconic feature, something that would be immediately recognizable, like the Sydney Opera House.
Continue reading ‘The National Grand Theater Beijing, China’
At first glimpse the Central markets development looks like a structure off a scene in the Matrix. But it’s surprisingly going to be built in Astana, capital of Kazakhstan, an ex-soviet, landlocked oil rich country. Another ingenious design from architects Foster + Partners, Central markets would be a mini-city development with a staggered matrix of buildings designed to look like a three dimensional bar chart comprising of a retail/leisure podium and hotel cluster at its base and then a series of office and residential towers to its north.
