World Trade Center “Oculus” Construction
One major piece of the transit hub at the World Trade Center site is the Oculus, designed by Santiago Calatrava. Read about what is being called the “most expensive train station in the world.”
Jim Kollaer's blog
The Four Best Tall Buildings of 2015
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) named the top four global award winners for new tall buildings as part of its annual awards program. The 123 submissions, up 40% from last year, were judged by an independent board of jurors, and they selected four to honor this year. The submissions are required to be new buildings and are judged for their sustainability, their contribution to the science and design of tall buildings and their livability.
The jury selected one honoree from each of the four areas of the globe, The Americas, Auastralasia, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa.
You can see the awardees and the finalists from each of the geographical areas on the CTBUH website here. [node:read-more:link]
MX3D will 3D Print a Bridge From Here To There
MX3D, a design and engineering firm located in Amsterdam, is working on new and innovative ways to use robotic 3D printers to autonomously print with exotic materials. A unique feature of their process is that the robots are multi-axis and can build some projects without additional supporting structures. They build their own support as part of the construction process.
MX3D has proposed to build a Joris Laarman-designed pedestrian bridge from molten steel and resins that will cross one of the many canals in Amsterdam as a way to showcase their abilities. DeZeen, a design, architecture and interiors website, says that the bridge will be printed by two multi-axis directional printing robots usually used in auto manufacturing to autonomously print the bridge by starting on opposite sides of the canal and building towards each other until the bridge is complete. [node:read-more:link]
How to Build a Wind Turbine [VIDEO]
Driving down the interstate from Houston to San Antonio recently, I passed a semi–trailer truck carrying a blade for a wind turbine. This isn’t your grandfather’s windmill out in West Texas, it is a blade for one of the new wind turbines being erected to generate power, usually on a wind farm as part of the sustainability movement around the world. This one was gigantic. [node:read-more:link]
Scandal and Slum Conditions in Qatar for 2022 Games
The president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, resigned today after being re-elected in the midst of an unprecedented scandal over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
Scandal is not new to the global scene, nor is the seedy underbelly of the construction industry in the countries where major facilities are needed to host the games. In this case, there are five stadiums being built for Qatar 2022, but recently, amid the scandal, the underbelly of global construction has once again been exposed in an investigative report by Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
In a recent article by ABC, the kafala system of forced labor, “kin to slave labor” even though the world’s richest per capita country, “is spending $260 billion building the stadiums, public transport systems, freeways, hotels and apartments to stage the tournament.” [node:read-more:link]
Chinese Building at Warp Speed [VIDEO]
Watch a time-lapse video of a 57-story skyscraper which was erected in China in only 19 working days, using the Broad Sustainable Building Prefabrication Process.
Twister Makes Tower [VIDEO]
Take a 2,000 foot high tower built for housing, hotels, office space, restaurants, retail shops, twist it 120 degrees clockwise, build it in sections, add eight 12-story high open non-leasable vertical gardens or mini parks, hang a second skin to enclose the open mini parks, make it able to accommodate 120-130 mile-per-hour winds from the typhoons, and what do you have? A super skyscraper.
The Shanghai Tower is currently the second tallest building in the world. Shanghai is a city with a population of over 24 million, or three times the population of New York City. Shanghai Tower was designed by Gensler, built by Shanghai Construction Group, and is owned by the Chinese government. It is quite a feat to behold. In an era of engineering and architectural feats never before possible, this one raises the bar again.
PBS is doing a series on the Super Skyscrapers, and this is one of the series that will hold your attention whether you are an engineer, architect, contractor or a person who used to play with Lincoln Logs or Lego blocks as a kid.
BIM Future [VIDEO]
BIM/IPD today. What tomorrow? Listen to how the designers, contractors and technologists see the future of BIM in the next ten years based on their work.
This panel discussion, from a recent BuiltWorlds event, features David Ivey of HOK, Josh Farkas, CEO of Cubicle Ninjas, Nancy Clark-Brown of Assemble Systems, and Steve Crowley, Construction Manager of Graycor Construction Company.
The panel discussion is revealing of the current state of BIM in the construction industry, both commercial and industrial. [node:read-more:link]
Keep an Eye on Trimble
We were amazed when we heard that Microsoft had given its Sketch Up program to Trimble. Now Construction Enquirer lets us in on one of the reasons that might have happened.
In a recent article, they give us a glance and a couple of videos of how Microsoft and Trimble might be bringing the Virtual Reality technology to construction sites to give the team a VR view of how the space should look while it is still under construction.
It will make “walk-throughs,” inspections, and day-to-day construction interesting. The technology and the new craft workers who are used to playing in the VR world will have a ball and might even join the construction industry to be able to make use of their skills. [node:read-more:link]
Drone Rules Drone On
It is against the law to fly a commercial drone or unmanned aircraft system (UAS) without approval and waivers from the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). No flying over your proposed subdivision to do survey or photo work without having a Section 333 exemption from the FAA and filing a Certificate of Authorization or COA. No survey or mapping or daily flights to track work progress on the construction site without filing a COA. No flights above 500 feet off of the ground. No flights that do not meet FAA visual flight rules (VFR), meaning that the operator must be able to see the drone at all times during the flight without using any Go Pro or other camera to track it. No autonomous flights, and the drone cannot weigh more than 55 pounds fully loaded.
