Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is expected to be the tallest building in the world, at over 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) tall. Image: Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture/ Courtesy Kingdom Holding Company Extra Large Image
Jeddah · 2011.0802
Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding Company has revealed the design for Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, slated to become the tallest building in the world. The supertall tower will be at least 173 meters (568 feet) taller than the current record-holder, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which is 828 meters (2,717 feet) tall. Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) of Chicago, Illinois, is leading an interdisciplinary design team that includes Thornton Tomasetti as structural engineering consultant and Environmental Systems Design, Inc. (ESD) as building services engineering consultant. Adrian Smith previously designed the Burj Khalifa while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM).
Kingdom Tower's slender, subtly asymmetrical massing was inspired by the folded fronds of young desert plant growth, according to the architects. The three-petal footprint is well suited to residential units, and the tapering wings will produce an aerodynamic shape that helps reduce structural loading due to wind vortex shedding. The project will feature a high-performance exterior wall system and a series of notches that create pockets of shadow and provide outdoor terraces.
The mixed-use tower will include a Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, Class A office space, luxury condominiums, and a record-high observation deck. At level 157, a sky terrace roughly 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter will provide outdoor amenity space for use by the penthouse floor.
The 530,000-square-meter (5.7 million-square-foot) tower project will be the centerpiece and first construction phase of Kingdom City, Jeddah Economic Company's new urban development on over 530 hectares (1,310 acres) of land in north Jeddah, near the Red Sea. The overall Kingdom City master plan is being designed by HOK, while AS+GG designed the master plan for the 23-hectare (57-acre) Kingdom Tower Waterfront District surrounding the tower.
Schematic design is complete and design development is underway. Foundation drawings are complete and the piling for the tower is currently being tendered. The overall construction cost of the tower is expected to be SR4.6 billion (about US$1.2 billion) and the overall estimated cost of the entire Kingdom City project is anticipated to be SR75 billion (about US$20 billion).
The Nolitan Hotel, designed by Grzywinski+Pons, has opened in Manhattan. Photo: Courtesy Grzywinski+Pons Extra Large Image
New York · 2011.0801
The Nolitan Hotel has opened in the Nolita neighborhood of Manhattan. Designed by New York City architecture firm Grzywinski+Pons for Veracity Development, the nine-story boutique hotel contains 55 guest rooms in eight different sizes and shapes, some with private balconies and others with floor-to-ceiling windows. Public spaces include a lobby lounge, a 2,400-square-foot (220-square-meter) rooftop deck, and the 70-seat restaurant "ellabess," also designed by Grzywinski+Pons. Beneath a geometrically patterned facade featuring black terra cotta and channel glass, the glazed ground floor helps to integrate the hotel into the neighborhood.
The HGA-designed Virtua Voorhees hospital in Voorhees, New Jersey, recently opened. Photo: Todd Mason/ Halkin Photography Extra Large Image
Voorhees · 2011.0726
The new Virtua Voorhees hospital in Voorhees, New Jersey, opened in May 2011. HGA Architects and Engineers (Hammel, Green and Abrahamson), based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, designed the 680,000-square-foot (63,000-square-meter) medical complex, which includes a 368-bed inpatient bed tower, a medical office building, a pediatrics medical office building, a central utility plant, and zoned parking, located on a 120-acre (49-hectare) campus.
Building materials include energy-efficient glass, maintenance-free wood panels, and manufactured stone panels. The complex features private patient rooms, decentralized nurses' stations, and prairie-grass landscaping. Among the medical center's facilities are a level III neonatal intensive care unit, a pediatric intensive care unit, and two distinct emergency areas, one each for adults and children. An ambulatory care center is slated to open in spring 2012.
A 19th-century masonry building in downtown Syracuse, New York, has been adapted by Fiedler Marciano Architecture to house a recording studio. Photo: © Chris Cooper Extra Large Image
Syracuse · 2011.0725
In downtown Syracuse, New York, the adaptive reuse of a 19th-century industrial building to house a recording studio has been completed. Fiedler Marciano Architecture of New York City provided programming, architectural design, and interior design for the renovation of the three-story, 19,200-square-foot (1,780-square-meter) masonry building, located on a site bordered by high-speed thoroughfares and a freight rail overpass. The primary tenant is SubCat Studios.
The architects worked in closed collaboration with Lally Acoustical Consulting to design the recording studios to isolate noise and vibration from passing trains and heavy vehicular traffic. The existing wood floor framing was removed and replaced with a long-span concrete deck, which supports a series of secondary floating slabs that in turn support isolated wall and ceiling construction.
Multicolored glass storefronts on the building's front facade allow passersby to view recording sessions in progress. In addition to the studios, the first floor houses a lobby, lounge, and cafe that are shared with the adjacent Red House Arts Center. Music instruction, rehearsal areas, a dance studio, and office spaces are located on the second floor, and three residential suites on the top floor provide accommodations for visiting performers and artists in residence.
On the back side of the building, the architects added a glazed extension to the ground floor, which serves as the new main entry and also brings daylight into the lobby. The stair tower was reclad in perforated metal panels.
B720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos is collaborating with Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados on a waterfront redevelopment project in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Image: b720 Extra Large Image
Porto Alegre · 2011.0719
The architecture firm b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos has revealed its design for a mixed-use waterfront redevelopment in Porto Alegre, Brazil, designed in collaboration with Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados of Curitiba, Brazil. The project is aimed at transforming the Cais Mauá docks into a business, cultural, retail, and leisure hub for the 2014 World Cup, while reestablishing a direct, human relationship with the Guaíba River.
The redevelopment involves three key zones within a 2.5-kilometer (1.6-mile), 181,000-square-meter (1.95 million-square-foot) area. A 1.5-kilometer (0.9-mile) stretch of 1920s warehouse buildings will be restored and adapted for shopping and dining. In the disused dock area, a new conference center will be built, along with offices, retail, and a hotel comprising several high-rise buildings. And the historic former Gasômetro power plant will be converted to house a mix of uses.
The project is expected to cost approximately €198 million. Based in Barcelona, Spain, b720 also has offices in Madrid, Porto Alegre, and São Paulo.
Discuss this article in the Architecture Forum...
People and Places Last Week
People and Places Archive
ArchitectureWeek Professional Directory
ArchitectureWeek Web Directory
Send us your People and Places items
