Arranha-céus: The Latest Architecture and News

Architect Carlos Zapata has unveiled a new, mixed-use residential tower in Quito, Ecuador. Located on the northern edge of La Carolina Park, the design has become one of the city’s tallest buildings. The 24-story tower is defined by a three-story opening at its midpoint that creates an communal pool and lounge area, as well as a series of vertical gardens. The new tower was made to embrace Quito’s open sky and striking views of the Andes mountains.

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The 462-meter-high Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg, Russia has been awarded the Emporis Skyscraper Award. Designed by GORPROJECT and RMJM, it is the fourteenth tallest building in the world. As the northernmost supertall skyscraper, the building regulates extreme temperatures through a double skin façade. The winner was chosen by an international jury from over 700 skyscrapers completed in 2019 with a minimum height of 100 meters.

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Foster + Partners have begun construction on Avenida Cordoba 120, a new 35-story office tower in Buenos Aires. Sited between the traditional city center and the main entrance to the Puerto Madero harbor area, the project is designed to become a landmark building along the city's skyline. Balancing structure and nature, the tower is made to create a new standard for office design in Argentina and the larger region.

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The Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) have named five finalists for the International Highrise Award (IHP) 2020. Selected from 31 nominated highrises in 14 countries, the projects include towers by Zaha Hadid Architects, BIG, SOM, OMA and Heatherwick Studio. The IHA is considered the world's most important architecture award for high-rise buildings.

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Taiwan's One More residential tower by Spatial Practice has been captured through a series of new photographs by Kris Provoost. The 100 meter tall concrete tower is composed of 53 two-bedroom units with open kitchen and living room views toward the nearby park. The design was made to break from the monotony of the neighboring typical residential typology with simple bands that vary in height.

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Foster + Partners has revealed visuals for its Pitt Street OSD and metro station design in Sydney, Australia. Stretching out underground across an entire city block, the over station development in the center of the city puts in place a 39-story office building and “creates a vibrant mixed-use hub offering flexible space with an elevated lobby and retail plaza in the heart of Sydney’s retail, dining, and entertainment precinct”.

Herzog & de Meuron have created a new design for a supertall skyscraper in Toronto. If built as planned, the project would rise to 1,063 feet and become the tallest residential building in Canada. Working together with project architect Quadrangle, the team was commissioned by Dutch real estate development companies Kroonenberg Geoep and ProWinko to design the new landmark for Toronto.

Did you know that World Migratory Bird Day is celebrated in the second week of May?

Every year around this date, festivals, educational events, exhibitions, and excursions are organized to celebrate and raise awareness about the conservation of migratory birds. These species have seen their habitats transformed during the last few decades in part because of human action: designers and real estate agents have built and nurtured an urban imaginary dominated by glass structures as a symbol of power and progress. Before proceeding with the conquest of the sky, it is worth considering some materials that are more friendly to the species with which we cohabitate.

Photographer Paul Clemence has shared with us a series of new photographs of a nearly completed 130 William development by Adjaye Associates. The firm’s first residential tower in the USA, topping out in the spring of last year at 800 feet, is located in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, New York.

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The annual Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's (CTBUH) Tall + Urban Innovation Conference explores and celebrates the very best in innovative tall buildings, urban spaces, building technologies, and construction practices from around the world. Incorporating what was previously known as the CTBUH Annual Awards event, this conference sees the owner/developers, design, and engineer teams for 50+ Awarded projects present in front of an international audience and live juries for winning distinctions across several award categories. Hot topics in the building industry will also be explored through presentations in project rooms.

Developers Cbus and Nielson Properties have released a shortlist for the design of a $600 million office tower in Brisbane’s North Quay. Four local and international architectural teams have been selected to create proposals for the commercial tower that will accommodate 50,000 square meters of office space. The developers aim to establish an innovative workplace of the future that will represent the new world of work.

Designer Honglin Li has created a proposal for a waste-to-energy skyscraper in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Called FILTRATION, the project was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2019 eVolo Skyscraper Competition. The modular, prefabricated megastructure contains several Material Recovery Facilities and Water Treatment Plants to recycle the floating garbage and clean seawater while taking on the world energy crisis.

As an entry to the 2019 Evolo Skyscraper Competition, JCPOA Tower was designed to combine cryptocurrency mining with a water park. Created by Ilia Attarpour, Dadbeh Mohebbi Gilani, and Ramtin Taherian, the project considered the US economic sanctions on Iran and the geopolitical crisis around the country's currency devaluation and near economic collapse. The designers proposed a cryptocurrency mining tower under the cover of its secondary water park function. The skyscraper explores how sanctions can be manipulated as a way out of crisis.

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odD+ Architects have designed a residential tower with exterior gardens in Ecuador. Inspired by the architecture of classical cloisters in downtown Quito, the tower reinterprets the courtyard through the building facade. The exposed building face is meant to reconnect residents to the surrounding old town fabric. Dubbed Common Garden, the project frames unique views of the city through 12 floors of gardens and arcades.

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MAD Architects have revealed a new vision for New York City skyscrapers with a sinuous slender tower near the Empire State Building. Dubbed ‘East 34th’, the project was designed with a dark-colored glass facade that was made to fade into the atmosphere. Located adjacent to one of New York's most iconic structures, the project rethinks the city's rectilinear towers and sharp edges to create a new form for the Manhattan high-rise.

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Rafael Viñoly's 125 Greenwich Street skyscraper in downtown Manhattan has topped out. The 912-foot-tall luxury condominium skyscraper was designed as a slender structure with exposed concrete columns. Rising 88 storys, the project includes a curved glass façade to enhance the panoramic views of the Hudson River, the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center Complex, and the New York City skyline.

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Precht has designed a timber skyscraper concept that combines modular housing with vertical farming. The concept was created by Penda co-founder Chris Precht and his wife Fei to reconnect people in cities with agriculture. In their proposal, the modular housing units would be built so that residents can produce their own food. Dubbed the Farmhouse, the concept aims to create more sustainable ways of living as city dwellers are increasingly losing touch with food production.

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A new mixed-use tower by Sydney-based practice Koichi Takada Architects has been designed for downtown Los Angeles. With the potential to rise as high as 63 stories, the project was inspired by California’s redwood trees and Marilyn Monroe’s iconic wind-swept skirt. Dubbed Sky Trees, the project will include clustered towers clad in timber mullions that transformed into free-flowing wooden awnings at the base of the project.