Casa LH, Jalisco

Jalisco, Mexico
Design: Di Vece Arquitectos

The architectonic concept for this residential project is to propose a composition that is achieved by the proper manipulation of “contrasts in balance”; an architecture that is generated as a response to the particularities of the site, the adequate solution for the family programmatic needs, but most important, inspired by the profound motivation for the search of the supreme wellbeing of its inhabitants.

 

 

 

The supreme wellbeing of the inhabitant is achieved not only by the comfort derived from the adequate solution of the client´s needs, but also by achieving a composition that is subjugated by the search for balance and the adequate manipulation of contrast; contrast among the scales of the sequence of spaces that articulate around the central courtyard, contrast in the use of light and shadow that overlap within the space in order to maximize its relationship with the exterior and contextual settings, contrast in the use of the manmade and natural materials that are confronted with natural elements scattered around the interior spaces.

Furthermore, the sense of equilibrium is noticeable at first glance by the external presence of the house by the “contrast of quantity” that is achieved by its volumetric composition. The exterior has been articulated as a solid volume where accidental insertions and protrusions are only a reflection of the programmatic needs for the interior. The mass predominates over the void only to make apparent that the insertion of natural light and the search of views toward the natural settings and urban surroundings have to be maximized in order to attain maximum comfort for its inhabitants.

 

 

 

This is an architecture of light and shadow; It is a composition that makes the best out of the contrast generated by the clear and the dark, by the mass and void, by the inner view complemented by the external glance at the surroundings, this is an architecture that celebrates tension when generated between the elements of contrast.

Casa LH is shortlisted for the LEAF Awards 2011

Location: Jalisco is in central, western Mexico, between Mexico City and the Pacific Ocean

Casa LH, Jalisco images / information from Di Vece Y Asociados Arquitectos

LEAF Awards 2011 : Shortlisted Buildings + Architects

Kingdom Tower Jeddah

Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Architect: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

ADRIAN SMITH + GORDON GILL ARCHITECTURE DESIGNS KINGDOM TOWER, TO BE THE WORLD’S TALLEST BUILDING

CHICAGO, Aug. 2, 2011—Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is pleased to announce that it is designing Kingdom Tower, to be the world’s tallest building, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, near the Red Sea.

At over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) and a total construction area of 530,000 square meters (5.7 million square feet), Kingdom Tower will be the centerpiece and first construction phase of the Kingdom City development on a 5.3 million-square-meter site in north Jeddah. The tower’s height will be at least 173 meters (568 feet) taller than the world’s current tallest building, Dubai’s 828-meter-tall Burj Khalifa, which was designed by Adrian Smith while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Kingdom Tower will feature a Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, Class A office space, luxury condominiums and the world’s highest observatory.

 

Design development of the tower is under way, with construction to begin imminently. Foundation drawings are complete and the piling for the tower is currently being tendered. Kingdom Tower will cost approximately $1.2 billion to construct, while the cost of the entire Kingdom City project is anticipated to be $20 billion.

AS+GG is leading an interdisciplinary design team that also includes building services engineering consultants Environmental Systems Design, Inc. (ESD) and structural engineering consultants Thornton Tomasetti. The developer of Kingdom City, Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), selected the AS+GG scheme after a lengthy competition process in which SOM, Pickard Chilton, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Pelli Clarke Pelli and Foster + Partners also participated.

“Our vision for Kingdom Tower is one that represents the new spirit of Saudi Arabia,” said Smith, whose experience in supertall tower design at SOM also includes Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, Nanjing Greenland Financial Center in Nanjing, China, the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago and Pearl River Tower, now in the late stages of construction in Guangzhou, China. “This tower symbolizes the Kingdom as an important global business and cultural leader, and demonstrates the strength and creative vision of its people. It represents new growth and high-performance technology fused into one powerful iconic form.”

The project was announced today by His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, which is a partner in Jeddah Economic Company along with prominent Jeddah businessmen Samaual Bakhsh and Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly and Saudi Binladin Group (SBG). SBG is also the contractor for Kingdom Tower.

“Prince Alwaleed, Mr. Bakhsh, Mr. Sharbatly and I were impressed by the boldness and simplicity of the AS+GG design,” said Talal Al Maiman, Executive Director, Development and Domestic Investments, a Board member of Kingdom Holding Company and a board member of JEC. “Kingdom Tower’s height is remarkable, obviously, but the building’s iconic status will not depend solely on that aspect. Its form is brilliantly sculpted, making it quite simply one of the most beautiful buildings in the world of any height.”

In addition to its status as an architectural landmark and economic symbol, Kingdom Tower will enjoy great cultural significance. “We envision Kingdom Tower as an iconic new marker of Jeddah’s historic importance as the traditional gateway to the holy city of Mecca,” Al Maiman said. He noted that the southeast leg of Kingdom Tower’s tripedal base is on a direct line with the Ka’ba in Mecca, Islam’s holiest site. AS+GG’s design for Kingdom Tower is both highly technological and distinctly organic. “With its slender, subtly asymmetrical massing, the tower evokes a bundle of leaves shooting up from the ground—a burst of new life that heralds more growth all around it,” Smith said.

The sleek, streamlined form of the tower was inspired by the folded fronds of young desert plant growth, Gordon Gill added. “The way the fronds sprout upward from the ground as a single form, then start separating from each other at the top, is an analogy of new growth fused with technology,” he said. “We’re thrilled to be working with His Highness and Jeddah Economic Company to help define this path for the Kingdom.”

While the design is contextual to Saudi Arabia, it also represents an evolution and a refinement of an architectural continuum of skyscraper design. The three-petal footprint is ideal for residential units, and the tapering wings produce an aerodynamic shape that helps reduce structural loading due to wind vortex shedding. The Kingdom Tower design embraces its architectural pedigree, taking full advantage of the proven design strategies and technological strategies of its lineage, refining and advancing them to achieve new heights.

The result is an elegant, cost-efficient and highly constructible design that is at once grounded in built tradition and aggressively forward-looking, taking advantage of new and innovative thinking about technology, building materials, life-cycle considerations and energy conservation. For example, the project will feature a high-performance exterior wall system that will minimize energy consumption by reducing thermal loads. In addition, each of Kingdom Tower’s three sides features a series of notches that create pockets of shadow that shield areas of the building from the sun and provide outdoor terraces with stunning views of Jeddah and the Red Sea.

The great height of Kingdom Tower necessitates one of the world’s most sophisticated elevator systems. The Kingdom Tower complex will contain 59 elevators, including 54 single-deck and five double-deck elevators, along with 12 escalators. Elevators serving the observatory will travel at a rate of 10 meters per second in both directions.

Another unique feature of the design is a sky terrace, roughly 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter, at level 157. It is an outdoor amenity space intended for use by the penthouse floor.

AS+GG also designed the master plan for the 23-hectare Kingdom Tower Waterfront District, which surrounds the tower and which will include residential and commercial buildings, a shopping mall, high-quality outdoor spaces and other amenities. The Waterfront District provides a cohesive and pedestrian-friendly setting for Kingdom Tower while creating a pleasant neighborhood experience along the Kingdom City lakefront.

The district encompasses a high-end shopping mall designed by AS+GG, plus additional development parcels that accommodate commercial and high-density residential uses, offices, two luxury hotels and high-quality open spaces, including the central Tower Plaza. A serene waterfront promenade connects Kingdom Tower, the various development parcels, the open space areas and the mall together. The result is an exciting mixed-use area that offers a concentrated and comprehensive experience including vibrant shopping, entertainment and open-space amenities. The Waterfront District also provides an array of connections to other areas within Kingdom City’s overall master plan, designed by HOK Architects.

 

 

About Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture is dedicated to the design of high-performance architecture in a wide range of typology and scale, from low- and mid-rise residential, commercial and cultural buildings to mixed-use supertall towers and new cities. The office uses a holistic, integrated design approach that explores symbiotic relationships with the natural environment. AS+GG is currently working on projects for clients in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Canada and the United States. The partnership was founded in 2006 by Adrian Smith, Gordon Gill and Robert Forest. For more information, please visit www.smithgill.com.

About Thornton Tomasetti

Thornton Tomasetti provides engineering services to clients worldwide on projects of all sizes and complexity. Thornton Tomasetti is responsible for the structural design of some of the world’s tallest buildings, including the Petronas Towers, Taipei 101, Ping An International Finance Center in China and Federation Tower in Russia. The firm is committed to creating the best structural solutions through technical ingenuity, pursuit of excellence and responsiveness to client needs. Thornton Tomasetti has offices across the United States and in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, please visit www.ThorntonTomasetti.com.

About Environmental Systems Design, Inc.

Environmental Systems Design, Inc. (ESD) has provided engineering design solutions on thousands of buildings in the United States and throughout the world. With over 220 engineering and design professionals, ESD is one of the largest consulting engineering firms in the Midwest. ESD offers consulting engineering design services in mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, LEED, sustainable design, commissioning, and technology. ESD supports a diverse range of markets including commercial, health and science, education, mission critical, residential, assembly, cultural, theaters, energy plants, transportation and international. For more information, please visit www.esdesign.com.

Mysterious World Landmarks

The world is filled with ancient monuments built by master craftsmen in order to honor everything from kings and presidents to religious figures. And although most of these landmarks have been carefully studied and researched by scientists and historians, some are simply so old, incomplete, or obscure that we still don’t know very much about why they were built or what purpose they served. The following are 10 world landmarks that, whether by intention or simply due to the passage of time, continue to baffle the people who study them.

1. Stonehenge

Of all the world’s famous monuments, none has gained as much of a reputation for pure, simple mystery as Stonehenge. Stonehenge has been inspiring debate among scholars, scientists, and historians since the Middle Ages. Located in the English countryside, the landmark is believed to date back to 2500 BC, and consists of several mammoth pieces of rock arranged and piled on top of one another in what appears at first to be a random design. The site is surrounded by a small, circular ditch, and is flanked by burial mounds on all sides. Although the rock formations that still remain are undoubtedly impressive, it is thought that the modern version of Stonehenge is only a small remnant of a much larger monument that was damaged with the passing of time, and it is largely believed that the building process was so extensive that it could have lasted on and off for anywhere from 1500 to 7000 years.

2. The Great Sphinx of Giza

Sphinxes are massive stone statues that depict the body of a reclining lion with the head and face of a human. The figures are found all over the world in different forms, but they are most commonly linked with Egypt, which features the most famous example in the form of the Great Sphinx of Giza. Incredibly, the statue is carved out of one monolithic piece of rock, and at 240 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 66 feet tall, it is considered to be the biggest monument of its kind in the world. Historians largely accept the function of the Sphinx to have been that of a symbolic guardian, since the statues were strategically placed around important structures like temples, tombs, and pyramids. The Great Sphinx of Giza appears to be no different. It stands adjacent to the pyramid of the pharaoh Khafra, and most archeologists believe that it is his face that is depicted on that of the statue.

The Mystery
Despite its reputation as one of the most famous monuments of antiquity, there is still very little known about the Great Sphinx of Giza. Egyptologists might have a small understanding of why the statue was built, but when, how, and by who is still shrouded in mystery. The pharaoh Khafra is the main suspect, which would date the structure back to around 2500 BC, but other scientists have argued that evidence of water erosion of the statue suggests that it is much older and perhaps even predated the dynastic era of the Egyptians. This theory has few modern adherents, but if true it would mean the Great Sphinx of Giza is even more mysterious than previously believed.

3. The Georgia Guidestones

While most of the mysterious monuments on this list only became that way as centuries passed, the Georgia Guidestones, also known as American Stonehenge, are one landmark that was always intended to be an enigma. The monument, which consists of four monolithic slabs of granite that support a single capstone, was commissioned in 1979 by a man who went by the pseudonym of R.C. Christian. A local mason carefully crafted it so that one slot in the stones is aligned with the sun on the solstices and equinoxes, and one small hole is always pointed in the direction of the North Star. Most interesting, though, are the inscriptions on the slabs, which an accompanying plaque describes as “the guidestones to an Age of Reason.” In eight different languages, the slabs offer a strange ten-point plan to ensure peace on Earth that includes vague proclamations like “prize truth–beauty–love–seeking harmony with the infinite,” to very specific commands like “maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.” Comments like this one have made the Guidestones one of the most controversial landmarks in the United States, and they have long been protested and even vandalized by groups that would like to see them demolished.

The Mystery
For all their controversy, very little is known about who built the Guidestones or what their true purpose is. R.C. Christian claimed he represented an independent organization when he commissioned the landmark, but neither he nor his group has spoken up since its construction. Since the monument was built during the height of the Cold War, one popular theory about the group’s intentions is that the Guidestones were to serve as a primer for how to rebuild society in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.

4. The Easter Island Moai

One of the most iconic series of monuments in the Pacific islands is the Moai, a group of huge statues of exaggerated human figures that are found only on the small, isolated island of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. The Moai were carved sometime between 1250 and 1500 AD by the island’s earliest inhabitants, and are believed to depict the people’s ancestors, who in their culture were held in the same regard as deities. The Moai were chiseled and carved from tuff, a volcanic rock that is prevalent on the island, and they all feature the same characteristics of an oversized head, broad nose, and a mysterious, indecipherable facial expression. Scientists have determined that as many as 887 of the statues were originally carved, but years of infighting among the island’s clans led to many being destroyed. Today, only 394 are still standing, the largest of which is 30 feet tall and weighs over 70 tons.

The Mystery
While there is a fairly solid consensus on why the Moai were erected, how the islanders did it is still up for debate. The average Moai weighs several tons, and for years scientists were at a loss to describe how the monuments were transported from Rano Raraku, where most of them were constructed, to their various locations around the island. In recent years, the most popular theory is that the builders used wooden sleds and log rollers to move the Moai, an answer that would also explain how the once verdant island became almost totally barren due to deforestation.

5. Sacsayhuaman

Not far from the famous Inca city of Machu Picchu lies Sacsayhuaman, a strange embankment of stone walls located just outside of Cuzco. The series of three walls was assembled from massive 200-ton blocks of rock and limestone, and they are arranged in a zigzag pattern along the hillside. The longest is roughly 1000 feet in length and each stands some fifteen feet tall. The monument is in astonishingly good condition for its age, especially considering the region’s propensity for earthquakes, but the tops of the walls are somewhat demolished, as the monument was plundered by the Spanish to build churches in Cuzco. The area surrounding the monument has been found to be the source of several underground catacombs called chincanas, which were supposedly used as connecting passageways to other Inca structures in the area.

The Mystery
Most scientists agree that Sacsayhuaman served as a kind of fortress of barrier wall, but this has been disputed. The strange shape and angles of the wall have led some speculate that it may have had a more symbolic function, one example being that the wall, when seen next to Cuzco from above, forms the shape of the head of a Cougar. Even more mysterious than the monument’s use, though, are the methods that were used in its construction. Like most Inca stone works, Sacsayhuaman was built with large stones that fit together so perfectly that not even a sheet of paper can be placed in the gaps between them. Just how the Incas managed such expert placements, or, for that matter, how they managed to transport and lift the heavy hunks of stone, is still not fully known.

6. Goseck Circle

One of the most mysterious landmarks in Germany is the Goseck Circle, a monument made out of earth, gravel, and wooden palisades that is regarded as the earliest example of a primitive “solar observatory.” The circle consists of a series of circular ditches surrounded by palisade walls (which have since been reconstructed) that house a raised mound of dirt in the center. The palisades have three openings, or gates, that point southeast, southwest, and north. It is believed that the monument was built around 4900 BC by Neolithic peoples, and that the three openings correspond to the direction from which the sun rises on the winter solstice.

The Mystery
The monument’s careful construction has led many scientists to believe that the Goseck Circle was built to serve as some kind of primitive solar or lunar calendar, but its exact use is still a source of debate. Evidence has shown that a so-called “solar cult” was widespread in ancient Europe. This has led to speculation that the Circle was used in some kind of ritual, perhaps even in conjunction with human sacrifice. This hypothesis has yet to be proven, but archeologists have uncovered several human bones, including a headless skeleton, just outside the palisade walls.

7. The Nazca Lines

The Nazca lines are a series of designs and pictographs carved into the ground in the Nazca Desert, a dry plateau located in Peru. They cover an area of some 50 miles, and were supposedly created between 200 BC and 700 AD by the Nazca Indians, who designed them by scraping away the copper colored rocks of the desert floor to expose the lighter-colored earth beneath. The lines have managed to remain intact for hundreds of years thanks to the region’s arid climate, which sees it receive little rain or wind throughout the year. Some of the lines span distances of 600 feet, and they depict everything from simple designs and shapes to characterizations of plants, insects, and animals.

The Mystery
Scientists know who made the Nazca Lines and how they did it, but they still don’t know why. The most popular and reasonable hypothesis is that the lines must have figured in the Nazca people’s religious beliefs, and that they made the designs as offerings to the gods, who would’ve been able to see them from the heavens. Still, other scientists argue that the lines are evidence of massive looms that the Nazcas used to make textiles, and one investigator has even made the preposterous claim that they are the remnants of ancient airfields used by a vanished, technologically advanced society.

8. The Yonaguni Monument

Of all the famous monuments in Japan, perhaps none is more perplexing than Yonaguni, an underwater rock formation that lies off the coast of the Ryuku Islands. It was discovered in 1987 by a group of divers who were there to observe Hammerhead sharks, and it immediately sparked a huge amount of debate in the Japanese scientific community. The monument is made up of a series of striking rock formations including massive platforms, carved steps, and huge stone pillars that lie at depths of 5-40 meters. There is a triangular formation that has become known as “the turtle” for its unique shape, as well as a long, straight wall that borders one of the larger platforms. The currents in the area are known for being particularly treacherous, but this has not stopped the Yonaguni monument from becoming one of the most popular diving locations in all of Japan.

The Mystery
The ongoing debate surrounding Yonaguni centers on one key subject: is the monument a natural phenomenon, or is it man-made? Scientists have long argued that millennia of strong currents and erosion have carved the formations out of the ocean floor, and they point to the fact that the monument is all one piece of solid rock as proof that it was not assembled by a builder. Others, though, point to the many straight edges, square corners and 90-degree angles of the formation as proof that it’s artificial. They often cite one formation in particular, a section of rock that resembles a crude carving of a human face, as evidence. If they are right, then an even more interesting mystery presents itself: who constructed the Yonaguni Monument, and for what purpose?

9. Newgrange

Considered to be the oldest and most famous prehistoric site in all of Ireland, Newgrange is a tomb that was built from earth, wood, clay, and stone around 3100 BC, some 1000 years before the construction of the pyramids in Egypt. It consists of a long passage that leads to a cross-shaped chamber that was apparently used as a tomb, as it contains stone basins filled with cremated remains. The most unique feature of Newgrange is its careful and sturdy design, which has helped the structure remain completely waterproof to this day. Most amazing of all, the entrance to the tomb was positioned relative to the sun in such a way that on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, the rays from the sun are channeled through the opening and down the nearly 60 foot passageway, where they illuminate the floor of the monument’s central room.

The Mystery
Archeologists know Newgrange was used as a tomb, but why and for who still remains a mystery. The painstaking design needed to guarantee that the yearly solstice event occurs suggests that the site was held in high regard, but other than the obvious hypothesis that the sun featured prominently in the mythology of the builders, scientists are at a loss to describe the true reason for Newgrange’s construction.

10. The Cahokia Mounds

Cahokia is the name given to an Indian settlement that exists outside of Collinsville, Illinois. Archeologists estimate that the city was founded sometime around 650 AD, and its complex network of burial grounds and sophisticated landscaping prove that it was once a thriving community. It has been estimated that at its peak the city was home to as many as 40,000 people, which would have made it the most populous settlement in America prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The most notable aspect of Cahokia today are the 80 mounds of earth, some as high as 100 feet, which dot the 2,200-acre site. These helped create a network of plazas throughout the city, and it is believed that important buildings, like the home of the settlement’s chief, were built on top of them. The site also features a series of wooden posts that archeologists have dubbed “woodhenge.” The posts are said to mark the solstices and equinoxes, and supposedly figured prominently in the community’s astronomical mythology.

The Mystery
Although scientists are constantly discovering new information about the Cohokia community, the biggest mystery that remains is which modern Indian tribe is descended from the residents of the ancient city, as well as just what it was that caused them to abandon their settlement.

7 Design Ideas Bathroom

Pink Bathroom
I was always dreaming to have bright and girlish bathroom.
Pink bathroom design looks stylish and modern.
What can you do to have such a bath?
 
If currently you have the bathroom painted in one color – then it’s even better.

Buy such items in pink color: flowers or vases, towels and carpet.

These small design remodeling will make your bathroom look better than ever!

Pink Bathroom Design

Calm Bathroom
Water drops os the main idea that is used to make such a light bathroom design.

What should you do to have similar fresh style?

Buy mirrors shaped as shown on the photo below, then you should also buy any bathroom accessories made of glass.

Glass is transparent and looks like water.

And lastly, decorate with white and blue colors: towels, flowers, lamps, etc.

Calm bathroom design in water style

Gorgeous Bathroom
How would you feel relaxing in this bathroom?
I personally like brighter colors but this dark blue bathroom looks gorgeous.

Business people that love to work and relax would like such bathroom design.

So,  if you want to have such bathroom, then it’s very easy to DIY.

You should have dark blue or green walls.

Decorate the bathroom with the mirror.

Add big plants and not just 1 or 2, but the more plants you would have – the better.

The bathroom with dark blue walls and mirrored bath

Light Bathroom
Sunny, positive and bright bathroom is for people who adore life and are very sensative.

Tip 1 – add a plant but with unique look.

Tip 2 – funny and not useful but very sunny item – the transparent vase with brigh stones or leaves.

You can even use such vase as a storage for small items that you use in the bath.

Bathroom designed for sunny people

Bamboo Bathroom
White color combines with natural colors – blue as a water and green as nature.

This is the simplest way to decorate the white room.

You just need to choose 2 natural colors and buy accessories for the bathroom with these colors.

Bathroom with bamboo and carpet with natural colors

Children Bathroom

I am impressed with the colors and decoration of this bathroom.

did you notice the the bathroom is in the floor?!

I love it!

Unique idea that is given in this photo is a paining.

You should have a photo or any art item to hang in the wall of your beautilful bathroom.

what else can you learn from this desing?

Right, Curtains.

Curtains in the bathroom add a sense of resting in the room, but not just cleaning your body.

Unique bathroom with the bath in the floor and curtains

Lavendar Bathroom
I can’t imagine who could design such a bathroom for the queen or a princess.

Don’t you think it’s gorgeous?

Color, accessories, flowers – all details in this design look harmonised.

Watch and learn. Good luck in designing!

The lavender bathroom designed for queens and princesses

Burj Khalifa ~ Dubai

By Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

The completion of the world’s tallest skyscraper raises intriguing questions about the significance of this gleaming, spiraling form.

Burj Khalifa is surrounded by a 27-acre park.The complex overlooks the Dubai Lake & Fountain & the Old Town Island

Iconic skyscrapers, especially those that strive for the fleeting title of “world’s tallest building,” are rarely the progeny of cold logic. Their backers invariably are motivated by ambition and ego. The architect does not control whether or where such behemoths are built. He or she can only ensure that they are proud and soaring things, not Frankenstein-esque, XXL-size monstrosities. Such is the considerable achievement of Adrian Smith, FAIA, and his former colleagues at the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in the gargantuan yet persuasive Burj Khalifa, which rises half a mile above the desert in the once-unstoppable, now-humbled Persian Gulf playground of Dubai.

Stainless-steel spandrel panels and vertical fins articulate the gleaming glass-and-aluminum curtain wall of the tower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the staggering height of 2,717 feet (easily more than two Empire State Buildings), this shimmering, spiraling mixed-use tower inevitably raises the question: When is big too big? To some, this giant of giants — its spire alone is more than 700 feet tall — clearly overshoots the mark. Shortly after its spectacular January 4 opening ceremonies, critics pegged it the Hummer of skyscrapers. “Purely a vanity project,” said the German urban planner Albert Speer, Jr., in Spiegel. “Completely unsustainable,” jibed Britain’s Guardian. Pundits also ridiculed the tower’s abrupt name change — from Burj Dubai (Arabic for “Dubai Tower”) to Burj Khalifa in honor of Sheik Khalifa-bin-Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, who bailed Dubai out of its 2009 debt crisis. In the Great Recession, when sustainability supposedly has supplanted spectacle as architecture’s guiding principle, the bling of the Burj Khalifa offers a convenient target for those eager to consign the pre-Crash Age of Excess to the ash heap of history.

The swirling park designed by SWA Group at the base of the Burj Khalifa echoes the tower’s curves and supplies water features and planting for the hot, humid climate. The mix of plants (irrigated by graywater) includes date palms, olive trees, and the Hymenocallis (spider lily) that inspired the Burj’s design.

But it would be shortsighted to conflate the messy circumstances surrounding the Burj Khalifa’s completion with the tower’s exhilarating and surprisingly refined architecture. And such a dismissal would ignore previous supertall sagas. When the now-beloved Empire State Building opened in 1931, so few of its floors were rented out that it was labeled “the Empty State Building.” Building booms and busts come and go, as do the temporary wearers of the world’s-tallest-building crown. What matters, in the long haul, is the artistry that separates skyscrapers that are merely yardstick-tall from those that make of their tallness a smashing aesthetic virtue. And the Burj Khalifa easily meets — and exceeds — and exceeds — that standard, soaring in both height and design quality above Dubai’s often-ludicrous collection of architectural cartoons.

The residential entry pavilion contains a large sculpture by Jaume Plense, titled World Voices, comprising 196 cymbals and representing the number of countries in the world. The structure of bronze-and-brass alloy, plated with gold, rises from a pond that echoes the leaf-shaped form of the pavilion.

The $1.5 billion skyscraper marks the first time since Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza that the world’s tallest building has been found in the Middle East. It also represents a great leap forward in height, rising higher than the previous record-holder, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, by more than 1,000 feet. Yet the tower is more than a mere feat of engineering, the product of mad scientists striving to achieve a listing at guinessworldrecords.com. The secret to its success is its integration of architecture and engineering, long a staple of the SOM Chicago office, responsible for five of the world’s current 10 tallest buildings.

The upper level of the entrance pavilion for the corporate suites has a sculptural ceiling of English sycamore to give it an organic lift.

To be sure, the tower is no paragon of sustainability. But a little perspective is in order. When the tower’s developer, the state-backed Emaar Properties, rounded up the usual supertall suspects — including SOM, Kohn Pedersen Fox, and Pelli Clarke Pelli — for an invited competition in 2002, green was not on its agenda; “Big” was. At that time, architects and the culture at large had yet to embrace sustainability as they have today. It is perhaps unfair to judge a building birthed in one era by the standards of another, just as it is unrealistic to insist on passive solar cooling in a climate where summer temperatures hit 120 degrees Fahrenheit and even the bus shelters are air-conditioned. The Burj beats the heat with double-paned glass walls that combine a low-E outer layer with a reflective inner layer. Besides, by promoting urban density, the skyscraper has attributes of conceptual green rather than literal green.

The escalator leads to a lower-level entrance for the offices that connects to parking for cars. Glass is held in a suspended cable-net structure.

Located a few miles inland from the azure waters of the Persian Gulf, the tower is the undisputed centerpiece of a 500-acre, master-planned city-within-a-city that has improbably risen on what was desert just six years ago. Its nearly occupied 160 floors house a chic Armani hotel, floor upon floor of sold-out but mostly unoccupied condominiums, an already-popular observatory, and still-under-construction boutique offices. Huddled around the tower, like Lilliputians to its Gulliver, are various residential and hotel towers, the sprawling Dubai Mall, and a new “old town” of traditional, Islamic-themed town houses and hotels. While the juxtaposition of heights may seem bizarre, Emaar shrewdly calculated that the presence of the world’s tallest building would give the area cachet and allow the company to charge higher prices for units with prized “Burj views.” Such a strategy paid off — at least until Dubai’s real estate market collapsed in 2009.

In the upper floors for the corporate suites, walls are lined with dark Wenge wood.

Taking note of the Burj’s superskinny, supertall silhouette, many critics have wrongly averred that the tower was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s unbuilt Mile-High Illinois scheme of 1956. In fact, as Smith and SOM have made clear, the actual forerunners were the suavely curved, three-pronged Lake Point Tower in Chicago of 1968, designed by Schipporeit & Heinrich, which has shallow floor plates to keep residents close to prized views; and another three-lobed, residential high-rise, SOM’s Tower Palace III in Seoul, South Korea, completed in 2004. Such was the formal genesis of the Y-shaped Burj, whose organic forms subtly echo in plan the onion domes and pointed arches prevalent in Islamic architecture. In tandem, SOM’s chief structural engineer, William Baker, designed a wind-resistant “buttressed core” of concrete that, at the 156th floor, gives way to an internal steel structure that carries the mostly unoccupied spire to the summit.

This innovative structural solution allows the Burj to be remarkably tall and remarkably thin, with one-third less square footage than the steel-framed Willis (originally Sears) Tower even though it almost doubles Willis’s height. As at Willis, floor plates simply drop off as the tower sets back, letting columns run continuously and avoiding costly structural transfers. Yet in lieu of Willis’s boxy Miesian geometry, the setbacks whir upward in a dynamic, counterclockwise spiral. By sheathing the faceted, sculptural mass in a luminous, light-catching skin, accentuated with fin-shaped stainless-steel mullions, Smith creates a dazzling skyline object that mounts rhythmically to a thrilling climax. This skyscraper looks like a skyscraper, its elegant, exultant verticality providing Dubai’s random clumps of high-rises with an unmistakable center of the tent.

The tower’s extraordinary height, Smith insists, was not his — or his client’s — aim, but an outgrowth of his desire to prevent the tower from appearing stubby, as it did in earlier, shorter schemes. “I just wanted the proportions to be right,” said Smith, who left SOM in 2006 to start his own firm, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. “That was the singular motivation for reaching to that height — not a number.”

The tower is equally persuasive at ground level, achieving Smith’s aim that it approximate the effect of a vertical stalagmite that grows naturally out of the earth. Footlike extensions of its Y-shaped floors step down nimbly to the surrounding plaza. Lacking an immediate context, Smith built one in the form of wedge-shaped low-rise annexes (an office building and a health club) that belly up to the Burj and shape relatively intimate spaces around it. Pedestrians approaching the tower encounter lozenge-shaped entrance pavilions outfitted with precisely detailed, cable-supported double walls. The pavilions have the added benefit of deflecting downdrafts that could knock visitors off their feet.

Upstairs, the benefits of the tower’s structural parti are readily apparent. By dispensing with closely spaced perimeter columns and deep floor plates, the buttressed core opens the interior to million-dollar views of the Gulf, Dubai’s skyline, and the surrounding desert. While the “At the Top” observatory on the 124th floor is not truly at the tower’s top, as its name implies, it is still a splendid lookout point. From bottom to top, SOM’s interiors team wisely employed soothing, understated finishes, creating oases of calm that sharply contrast with Dubai’s visual cacophony.

For all the design skill, the question looms: Is the skyscraper nothing more than beautiful folly? Undeterred by the Burj’s empty spaces, Emaar reports that the tower’s Armani Hotel is recording “strong occupancy levels,” that the observatory is on target to attract 1.2 million visitors in its first 12 months of operation, that owners are starting to occupy the condos, and that the transfer of offices to owners will begin this summer. Nonetheless, due to Dubai’s sharp decline in real estate prices, some Burj condo owners are renting out apartments rather than flipping them.

For his part, Smith argues that the Burj is not the last blast of the age of spectacle, but a harbinger of the future, as developing countries follow its prototype of the mega-scale, master-planned community anchored by an iconic tower. With Saudi Arabia contemplating a kilometer-high skyscraper, and other developing countries getting set to join the supertall race, time may well prove him right — just as it did the backers of the Depression-era giant that eventually became synonymous with the exuberance of New York City and the resilience of America.

Project Specifications

Exterior cladding: Far East Group, Al Abbar Aluminum & Glass (metal/glass curtainwall); Waagner Biro AG (cable wall pavilions); UNIMIX Concrete Supplies (concrete)

Glazing: Guardian Industries (glass); Dow Corning (silicone)

Doors: Al Abbar (entrances); Task Industrial, UAE (metal doors); Fino International FTZ, Depa Dubai, Hee Hoon Design Group (wood doors); Marshfield Door, USA; Eggers Doors, USA (fire-control doors)

Hardware: Dorma (locksets, hinges); Dorma, Samuel Heath (closers); Dorma (exit devices); CHMI (pulls); Ogro, Olivari, Manital (levers)

Interior finishes: Hunter Douglas, Decoustics, Armstrong, Armani Hotel (acoustical ceilings); STO (suspension grid); Dorma (demountable partitions); Imperial Woodworking, Fino International, Depa Dubai, Hee Hon Design Group (cabinetwork and custom woodwork); Jotun Paint, Sherwin-Williams, Benjamin Moore, Dupont (paints and stains); Wolf Gordon, Knoll Textiles, Carnegie, Maharam, Valley Forge (wallcoverings); TABU Spa / Berti Pavimentui Legno (paneling); Abet Laminati (plastic laminate); Formica (solid surfacing); Italian Automotive Texture Paints (special surfacing)

Floor and wall tile: Royal Mosa, Dal Tile, Sicis, Glacier, Fino International, London Grey, Kerman Grey, ERAMOSA; Mannington Commercial (resilient flooring); Hokanson, Tai Ping, Interface, Shaw Floors (carpet); Campolonghi Group, Tre Emme (natural stone); Lopark, Margaritelli (wood flooring); Fritz Kohl, Tabu (veneer); Figla (glass floors); Excelsior, Eden Design (metal flooring)

Furnishings: Halcon, Knoll, Haworth, Interna Contract, Moroso, Cassina, Poltrona Frau, Zographos, Interior Crafts, Arper, Cherner Chair, Holly Hunt, Armani Casa; Calvin Fabrics, J Robert Scott, Larsen, Gretchen, Bellinger (fabrics); Edelman Leather, Cortina, Pollaro Custom Furniture, Richard Schultz, Mechoshade

Lighting: Zonca; Lucent Lighting, Erco, DAL, Oldham Lighting, B-K Lighting, Dynalite, Tectronics, Philips, Holly Hunt, Armani Casa

Conveyance: Otis

Plumbing: Dornbracht, Durvait, Hansgrohe

Armani Hotel:
Interior Designer: Giorgio Armani; Wilson Associates

Design Architect:
SOM – George Efstathiou, FAIA,
Partner-in-Charge; Bill Baker,
Structural Engineer; Adrian Smith, FAIA,
Consulting Design Partner; Ray J. Clark; Eric Tomich; Stan Korista; Edward Thompson AIA; Peter Weismantle, AIA; Gregory L. Smith AIA; Heather K. Poell AIA; Lawrence Novak; James Pawlikowski; Luke Leung; Gil Di Lorio; Joseph Jamal; Nancy Abshire, AIA; Kenneth Turner, AIA; Peter Freiberg, AIA; Gabriel Wong, AIA B. Eunjung Cho; Bradley Young; Miguel Gonzalez; Michael Filar; Scott Kadlec; Bridgett Baker Thomas; Ishac Koussa; Katey Knott; Mohamed Sheriff; Scott Cherney; Dennis Milam; Kenneth Maruyama; David Scott; Nada Andric, Associate Director for Interiors; Daniel Bell, Associate, Site Team

Aqua - Chicago, Illinois

By Studio Gang
Studio Gang sets new heights for the Chicago skyscraper.

Chicago’s skyscrapers may be famous for their technical achievements and functional expression, but they are often short on pizzazz. Now, Studio Gang has designed Aqua—a Niemeyeresque apartment and hotel tower whose architectonic facade of sensuously swerving, white concrete balconies jumps out from among its stolid brethren. Enabled by client Jim Loewenberg of the Magellan Development Group, Jeanne Gang, principal of Studio Gang, conceived the 82-story tower on a podium as part Loewenberg’s Lakeshore East, a 28-acre mixed-used development on the former Illinois Central Railroad yards edging Lake Michigan.

In addition to the water views on the east, this soigné antidote to Chicago’s straitlaced Modernism looks south to Millennium Park and the Art Institute of Chicago and north to the Chicago River, with the Hancock Center in the distance. Along the river, Aqua’s curvilinear architectural precursor—the cylindrical twin towers of Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City (1964)—can be glimpsed from many balconies. While Goldberg’s scheme integrates the plan with the envelope, wedge-shaped rooms came with the price of admission. Since not all prospective occupants enjoy fitting furniture into irregularly shaped spaces, Gang’s decision to wrap a rippling carapace around a rectilinear poured-in-place concrete frame at Aqua makes sense in terms of construction and marketing. For her part, Gang contends that the building’s orthogonal core reflects Chicago’s grid.

Naturally, the question arises about how a female architect with a 37-person firm, known for smaller-scale community centers and houses, got to design a 1.9- million-square-foot tower, which cost $300 million in construction. Loewenberg, an MIT-trained architect as well as developer, met Gang at a dinner in Chicago following a lecture by Frank Gehry. Since Loewenberg had already enlisted the usual ranking Chicago architects to design portions of his development, including Skidmore, Owings & Merrill as master planners, he claims he was ready for a “young architect who had not done a high-rise before.” Gang, trained at the University of Illinois, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) in Zurich, offered the proper pragmatic sensibility. Loewenberg wasn’t worried about Gang’s high-rise experience: He would be the executive architect as well as the client.

The 180,000-square-foot site on the western edge of Lakeshore East generated a tower-on-a-podium solution that would negotiate the 50-foot drop in grade between Upper Columbus Drive on the west and Harbor Park at the center of the complex on the east. The podium itself contains lobbies for both the hotel (a hotelier is to be designated this month) and the apartments, along with retail stores, a ballroom, an indoor pool, and other public spaces. Beneath all that is a parking garage. Above, the tower is divided into the hotel, on floors 4 to 18; 474 rental apartments, on floors 19 to 52; and 264 condos on the floors above. Atop the tower are penthouses, on the 80th and 81st floors, where ceilings go as high as 14 feet.

In designing the balconies that extend outward from 2 to 12 feet, Gang thought of them as a concrete topography that would remind Chicagoans of limestone outcroppings along the Great Lakes—only in this case, the rises and falls would extend vertically from the top to the bottom of the shaft. Here, too, the ledges—9-inch-thick concrete balconies—thin out toward the edge of the cantilever to help drainage. In working out the balcony contours, Gang conducted view studies of unimpeded sight lines for places of interest. The different ripples also allow oblique views up and down the facade from the various balconies. Moving between physical models and digital ones—switching from hand to computer—Gang’s team arrived at separate calculations for each floor plate.

Magellan found a way to be efficient about creating curves for the concrete balconies: An edge-form steel plate guided the pour and, when finished, snapped back into a straight plane to be reused and bent into another curve. While this method saved on construction, the team did not include thermal breaks between the outdoor and indoor slabs, owing to the complexity of the cantilevers. The absence has received criticism for the loss of heat during the winter due to the radiator effect. (For more on this debate, see GreenSource, Letters, March–April 2010, page 14, and Editors’ Letter, page 13). In response, Gang says that while thermal breaks would have been preferred, other considerations have saved energy, such as using Chicago’s District Energy System, along with the apartments’ natural ventilation, sun shading during the summer, and the use of high-performance glass to cut solar loads.

The architects wanted to make sure apartments could receive sufficient direct light and so created “ponds” of glass that interrupt the balconies in certain portions of the facade. To reduce the solar loads, they specified six types of glazing, including tinted, reflective, and fritted, along with low-E glass. The fritted glass also doubles as a safety factor in keeping birds from crashing into the tower—a strategy that won Aqua an award from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

One of the most compelling features—besides the balconies—is the landscaped roof, 80,000 square feet in size, atop the 3-story podium. Working with Wolff Landscape Architecture, Studio Gang created a swirling garden with paths reminiscent of Roberto Burle-Marxe and planted with colorful flora in light soil. A sustainable by-product of the garden is the mitigation of the summer heat-island effect so typical of asphalt roofs. In addition, it provides occupants with other amenities—such as a running track, outdoor pool, and outdoor fireplace.

Although the rectangular podium itself is stark and blocky in comparison with the garden and tower, Gang softened the effect with two large concrete staircases that link the upper street level with the lower Harbor Park: One is a switchback stair, the other a spiral. On the east face of the podium, Gang inserted nine town houses, for which she designed interior finishes. She also executed finishes as well as furnishings for a model town house nearing completion.

Rectilinear floor plans and a squared podium are pro forma. What advances architecture at Aqua is the inventiveness of its swerving tiers of concrete, which not only heighten the tower’s livability for the occupants, but add to the appearance of the cityscape for Chicagoans. Yet the optical play is not without drawbacks: The visual appeal of Aqua’s curves works best close-up or at mid-distance, and on a bright, sunny day when the gleaming glass adds luster to the sinuous balconies. However, from a distance, and on a gray day, the curves flatten into straight lines, the white concrete darkens, and the ponds of glass turn into irregular swaths of patchwork. As an optical experiment—as a machine for viewing (looking at the city from the tower, and at the tower from the city)—Aqua is enchanting, but needs further research.

Profect Specification

Structural system:
Cast-in-place concrete with recycled content supplied by Prairie Concrete

Concrete:
Post-tensioned structure minimized concrete use

Exterior cladding
Masonry:
Brick, manufactured by Endicott Clay Products (Dark Ironspot) at Parkhomes

Brick block
by Interstate Brick at Podium Garage

Metal/glass curtainwall:
Tower: EFCO 5600, Installed by EFCO; Podium: Tubelite 400, installed by Schaaf

Glass; Park-homes Jeld-Wen, installed by Stock Supply Windows

Panels on exterior of hotel composed of recycled paper content and phoenolic resin (Trespa) installed by Sobotec
 Aerated Autoclave Concrete was used in parking garages.

Plaster:
installed by Kole Construction, supplied by Luczak Brothers

Precast planters:
by Precast Concrete Specialties

Metal Railings:
By Greco Railings

Windows, Glazing
Glass:
High performance low-e glass was used (Viracon) at Tower and podium and PPG Glass with Jeld-Wen coatings at Park Homes

Silicons
by Dow Corning

Doors
by Tubelite at podium; by EFCO at Tower; by Jeld-Wen at Park homes

Garage doors
by Raynor (Thermatite)

Roofing
Low-slope roofing:
Running track on roof garden is made of 100% recycled content (SofDesign, produced by Soft Surfaces Inc), top-layer contains 10% recycled content

Recycled plastic lumber was used for decks (Trex)

Custom Roof Garden System: with Hydrodrain 300 Filter Fabric; Hydroflex 30 Synthetic fiber reinforcement and root Barrier (Root Stop HD)

Concrete Waterproofing Products: Modac, and Vulkem 350 by Tremco

Interior finishes
Paints and stains: Installer:
Ascher Brothers

Special surfacing:
Countertops made of recycled content, protects indoor air quality (Hanston- Greenguard Certified)

Floor and wall tile:
Wood flooring, bamboo and engineered

Furnishings
Energy Star rated kitchen appliances (Kitchen Aid refrigerators, dishwashers, appliances)

Conveyance
Elevators/Escalators:
By Otis

Lighting
Exterior:
Downward focused, low-energy exterior overhead lighting and foot lights were used

-Use of fixtures with light pollution control below 10% up-light. (US Architectural BSA6) at sidewalks/walkways and bollards in front of ballroom

-Use of EISA compliant fixtures (Invue SQS) at public stairs steps and parkhomes patios

-Use of fall cut-out performance Metal Halide fixtures (Gardco GSO1) at Amenity level and (Portfolio MD6S) at soffits

-Use of LED downlight (BK Lighting SE63) for ornamental trees

Controls:
Motion sensors

Chillers
off-site, beneficial for energy-reduction

Plumbing
Low-flow shower heads reduce gallons per minute (HansGrohe, Grohe, Moen, Delta, Toto)

Window washing equipment by Tractel

Two non-for profit I-GO Car Stations in tower’s garage (I-GO)

Car charging station that will accommodate up to 24 vehicles (Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint Network)