-
Tech NewsChicago Might Plug Its Giant Hell Pit With a Highway-Straddling Skyscraper
You remember the hell pit, don’t you? That giant abandoned hole punched in the Chicago landscape? Here’s a plan to make that hole a lot less holey. The 110-foot wide, 76-foot deep hole was dug with the best intentions. It was supposed to house the tallest tower in the Western Hemisphere, Santiago Calatrava’s Chicago Spire. … Continued
-
Tech News
Apparently It’s Possible to Live in an Apartment With Too Good of a View
A building boom of supertalls in New York City is resulting in some of the highest residential units in the world—we’re talking apartments that are at a dizzying 90 stories and higher. So where does that leave the people who live in the former-tallest residential buildings? Don’t worry, they’re just fine in their 80th floor … Continued
-
Tech News
How NYC’s Super Skinny Skyscrapers Stack Up Next to the World’s Tallest Buildings
Over the last two decades, a new type of building has invaded New York City: The super skinny supertall known as a “super-slender.” This new generation of skyscrapers range from 50 to 100 stories, are almost uniformly filled with luxury housing—and some are wedged into the city with astoundingly tiny 45-feet-wide footprints. An update of … Continued
-
Tech News
Brooklyn Is Actually Going to Build This Awesome Megascraper
Can we pause for just a minute to commend the fine people of Brooklyn for approving such a good-looking building as the new tallest structure in their fair borough? Truth be told, I did not think this day would come. I even said as much when plans for this skyscraper were first announced. I didn’t … Continued
-
Tech News
The Best Solution to Stop Skyscrapers From Casting Shadows on Central Park
Upper Manhattan-dwelling New Yorkers have been complaining for years that supertalls are going to ruin the views from their beloved Central Park. Here’s a very good solution: lower the elevation of the park. The annual eVolo Skyscraper Competition consistently delivers some of the wackiest concepts for tall buildings we’ve ever seen. I particularly love the … Continued
-
Tech NewsWatch How Terrifyingly High LA’s Skyslide Will Be
Last Saturday, Los Angeles was treated to the dramatic arrival of the Skyslide, a 45-foot glass tube that will soon allow civilization’s braver souls to peacefully glide along the exterior of the city’s US Bank Tower—1,000 feet in the air. After being trucked to downtown LA from the fabricator in nearby Orange County, the Skyslide … Continued
-
Tech News
How Building Expensive New Housing Actually Helps Create More Affordable Cities
Applying the term “housing crisis” to the fact that people increasingly cannot afford to live in many American cities makes it seem like a vast, unfixable problem. But the solution is actually easy: Build more housing. A lot more housing. As soon as possible. But what kind of housing? Several new studies point to a … Continued
-
Tech News
This Super-Futuristic Skyscraper for Brooklyn Will Probably Never Get Built
An awesome-looking 73-story tower planned for downtown Brooklyn could add hundreds of apartments to a city that desperately needs more housing. Too bad the proposal will likely be denied. The concept for the supertall, which is designed by SHoP Architects, was first reported by New York Yimby back in November, followed by the first waves … Continued
-
Tech NewsThis Twisting Manhattan Tower Will Have a Park on Every Floor
When you think of supertalls you probably think of pricey real estate—not leafy parks in the sky. A new 1000-foot tower going up in Manhattan provides a more interesting take: Hanging gardens that twirl down the exterior of the building like a giant green exclamation point marking the end of the High Line. The 65-story … Continued
-
Tech News
The US Will Investigate Who Is Actually Buying Up All Its Luxury Real Estate
Who really lives in all those awful luxury skyscrapers going up all over the US? Increasingly: No one. Now the government is going after the shady, secret deals that are gobbling up the most expensive real estate in most big cities—and destroying the housing market. According to the New York Times, the Treasury Department will … Continued
-
Tech NewsWhen Will Dubai Fix Its Burning Skyscraper Problem?
Watching a 63-story Dubai hotel explode into flames on New Year’s Eve and smolder well into New Year’s Day, you might’ve been wondering the same thing I was: Why do so many of Dubai’s skyscrapers catch fire? And how terrifying is it that this city can’t seem to stop this from happening? A horrific time-lapse … Continued
-
Tech NewsThis NYC Skyscraper Design Is Like the Chrysler Building Went to Burning Man and I Love It
The crop of new skyscrapers going up on 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan are very tall, whisper thin, and—yawn—rather boring. This idea for a supertall on the same street is a throbbing EDM antidote to the architectural elevator music that’s taking over New York City. The proposal that takes design audacity to new heights is … Continued
-
Tech News
Here’s Where the Tallest Observation Decks In the World Will Be in 2020
A crop of new skyscrapers are coming due over the next five years–and with them, nine new observation decks that will be taller than any others ever built. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat recently released a study about observation decks that looks at how they’ve evolved over the last 120 years of … Continued
-
Tech News
Nordstrom Tower Boosts Its Roof Height to Become the Tallest Building in the Western Hemisphere
Here’s the latest update for the new tallest-building contender in the US: Nordstrom Tower, the superskinny supertall under construction in Midtown Manhattan, apparently no longer aspires to have the tallest spire in the US. But it just increased its roof height, meaning it will now tower above the current-tallest roof on the Willis Tower. According … Continued
-
Tech News
Sneaky Nordstrom Tower Adds 71 Feet to Be the Actual Tallest US Building
Last time we checked in with the Nordstrom Tower, a superskinny supertall going up in Midtown Manhattan, a sneaky spire had been added to make it a hair taller than the US’s tallest spire at the World Trade Center. Now, new documents show another stealth move: The actual roof height will be taller than previously … Continued
-
Tech News
These Buildings Point to the Future of Cities
Most “best-of” lists for buildings focus on superlatives: tallest, prettiest, most expensive. For the past 50 days, The Guardian has taken a slightly different approach by compiling a stellar lineup of 50 great buildings in 50 different cities. The series serves as both a crash course in architectural history and comprehensive survey of where contemporary … Continued
-
Tech News
Get High On The 18 Tallest Observation Decks—But It’ll Cost Ya
The World Trade Center’s 107th floor observation deck opened last week with some pretty stunning viewsof New York City. But does it really provide the best viewing experience among the clouds? The Skyscraper Museum took a global survey of the best observatories and ranked the best views from the top. As part of the exhibitionTen … Continued
-
Tech NewsHow Much Do Skyscrapers Actually Move?
The night Hurricane Alicia struck Houston in the summer of 1983, shattering high-rise windows downtown and stacking sailboats in the marina, there were two engineers waiting on the top floor of the Allied Bank Plaza. The 71-story emerald glass tower—since renamed, and renamed again—had just opened that year. In August, its top floor was still … Continued
Emily Badger -
Tech News
How Engineers Are Building Skyscrapers That Seem Physically Impossible
Stephen DeSimone, president of DeSimone Consulting Engineers in New York, is engineering a new kind of skyscraper. He’s working on structures unlike anything else in the world: Supertall buildings with unusually small footprints. A huge building boom is underway along a few blocks of Midtown Manhattan. A perfect storm of economic circumstances are producing very … Continued
-
Tech News
Here’s What a Supertall New York Skyline Will Look Like In 2030
It has been a month of supertall news to top them all, with the World Trade Center’s record-breaking 1,776-foot height possibly getting scooped by a surprise spire in Midtown Manhattan. Now a new rendering from Visualhouse posted at New York Yimby gives an idea of how dramatically the New York City skyline will change just … Continued