Famous Buildings In the Middle east

Hi today I'm going to be showing you more Famous buildings, This time in the Middle East



1.The Burj Khalifa Dubai

http://www.som.com/FILE/14226/burjkhalifa_1400x800_nickmerrickhb_02jpg.jpg?h=800&s=17

To see this building being built here is the Link for the video as I cant post it https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mMIi3N7yjgA

The burj Khalifa is currently the tallest building in the world.

Construction started in January of 2004 and it was completed in 2009.It opened on the 4th of January of 2010.The towers roof height is 828m high.It costs 1.5 billion USD to build and is the centrepiece of downtown Dubai. The architect and exterior designer is Adrian Smith. It has 163 stories.

I love the design and is a perfect building in a desert.

The decision to build Burj Khalifa is reportedly based on the government's decision to change from an oil based economy to one that is based around tourism,tours and family holidays. some people think its necessary for projects like Burj Khalifa to be built for the city for more recognition from the world and citizens to bring tourists to their land.

The Architect

Adrian Smith was born on the 19 of August 1944 in Chicago USA, He has designed many projects like this building, Jim Mao tower in China and is currently working on the project in Jeddah called the Kingdom tower. He went to the university of illnois Chicago and Texas A+M university

2.The Landmark tower Abu Dhabi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Abu_Dhabi#mediaviewer/File:The_Landmark_Abu_Dhabi.JPG



This tower is located in Abu Dhabi and is 72 stories tall.Construction started in 2006 and finished in 2012.Its 324m high. I picked this as its an amazing looking tower and looks very Arab like.The architect was Caeser Pelli who I have mentioned before.

3.Al Faisaliyah Centre

http://kashif-ali.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/skyscraper.jpg

This tower is located in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Construction started in 1998 and it was completed in 2004.Its 267 metres high and was designed by the architect foster and partners which is a new company and was set up mainly for this project.

Thank you for reading this and I hope you liked my blog.

Benjamin

Thanks for reading my posts and I hope you get to see these amazing buildings in the future.
Ben

Sources:WIKI

Famous Buildings In South America

Famous Buildings In South America

Hi/Ben here.

Today I'm  going to show you so famous buildings in Latin America. These ones are the top 3 of my favorites due to their design,use etc.

1.Gran Torre Santiago.

Link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gran_Torre_Santiago#mediaviewer/File:Costanera_Center_Sep._13.jpg

This is Latin Americas tallest building and work finished this year. This looks beautiful in its surroundings and is a very good example of modern Chilean architecture.In my opinion this building is quite different to other buildings I've mentioned in my last post on buildings in North America even though its made from glass like most modern buildings nowadays.This building is very edgy and reminds me of the shard but a wider version.Back to the building.It is 70 stories high and has a height of 984ft.It cost 1 billion to build and construction started in June 2006. The Architect was Cesar Pelli

The Architects and Influences:
Cesar Pelli was born in San Migual De Tucuman in Argentina on the 12th of October 1926.
After studying in Univeridad Nacional De Tucuman and the University of Illinois he then wanted to follow his ambition and move to the USA in 1952 to start a new life and set up a firm. His influences were Shreve and lamb+Som. Over his Carrer he designed over 50 different projects from around the world. From the World trade Center in 2000 in New York. To the Petronas Twin towers in 1998.


2.Titanium La Portada

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Titanium_La_Portada_and_Torre_Gran_Costanera,_September_2010.jpg

This building is located in Santiago, Chile and has 55 floors. Construction started in January 2007 and it was completed in January of 2010.Its height is 636 ft and was recently surpassed by the Gran Torre Santiago.It was designed and developed by Inmobiliaria Titanium S.A.

The tower is seen as a feat of engineering as the building grounds of the skyscraper had to be 60ft down and the building was built strong enough to withstand a category 9 earthquake on the richter scale. The building costs around 180 million to make.In my opinion this building is an amazing project for Chile and is a glass monument for Santiago.the building also has one of the most biggest green space for a building in Latin America with Garden on the lower floors inside and also outside.
This building was designed by a group of about 40 architects so I cant really talk about the influences but overall this is one of my favourite.


3.Renoir tower

link :http://openbuildings.com/buildings/renoir-towers-profile-24073#!buildings-media/0

This tower is located in Buenos Aires in Argentina and is 52 stories tall.It cost 100 million to build and was designed by Robirsa and Co.
Constuction started on the 2nd of October 2007 and it was completed in 2011.I think this tower is very modern but is slightly dull with the facade.

Thanks for reading this post and I hope you learned new things.

Famous buildings in Europe

Here is my top 3 favorite famous buildings in Europe.

1. Torre Agbar in Barcalona

http://tusse.pt/blog/?p=194

This building has 33 stories and is 473 ft tall.Construction started in 1998 and the tower was complete in June 2004. The tower cost around 130 million Euro and its mainly used for offices.The architect who designed this is Jean Nouvel. I picked this building as my first as I think this is really modern and different compared to other spanish architecture like the Burna Bao in Bao Spain. This tower is really similar to the Gerkin in London.

The architect:

Jean was born in France in 1945 and he has designed a lot of 21 century buildings for example the Lourve Abu Dhabi which is currently under construction.

2.Mercury city tower

http://buildingdb.ctbuh.org/class-image.php/userpics/10005/?width=1000&height=800&image=/images/albums/userpics/10005/MercuryCityTower_Ext-Overall_(c)MercuryCityTower.jpg

This tower is located in Moscow in Russia This tower is 75 stories tall and is 339 meters high.It is currently the Europe's tallest building but will soon be 2nd as the federation tower is currently under construction right beside the tower.The architect is M.M Posokhin and is one of the youngest architects to ever design a tallest skyscraper for a continent.I love this design as its different with the gold glass and It reminds me of a middle eastern building built by a Arab with its rich look.

the Architect unfortunately does have a vast amount of info on his life.

3.The Shard London 

This tower is located in London.It has 84 floors including the plants stories but without the plant stories it has 74 usable floors.Construction started in March 2009 and it opened in Feb 2013.

It was designed by the architect Renzo Piano.It cost approx 435 million to make.I think this building is a glass monster and one of my favorite as I have been in it for lunch and to see the views of the city at the top.

The architect;

	Renzo was born in Genoa Italy.His awards were from Riba gold award to AiA gold medal. Thanks for reading.

Famous buildings in North America.

Famous buildings of North America

Hi/Ben here.
I'm going to start of showing you modern structures of North America. Their different designs and when they were built .Why the were built/by who and their commercial use etc.

Before I start I just want to mention a really interesting website, which is slightly off topic. Its called Skyscrapercity and its a forum which discusses projects around the world, their stage of completion and peoples views. In my opinion it gives a more depth look at modern architecture.

List:
1.The Empire State Building   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building#mediaviewer/File:Empire_State_Building_by_David_Shankbone.jpg

First on the list is the Empire State Building which is located in New York City. It is approx 443m including the spire. Construction started in 1929 and it took approx 2 years to build. It cost approx 635 million dollars today and became a new landmark and an icon for New York. Its Architects were Shreve , Lamb and Harmon. It set a new standard for supertalls and became the worlds tallest building for a number of years due to its 101 floor count.

Influences and the Architects backgrounds:

Shreve and Lamb set up their firm in 1920 which was based in New York. Shreve  was born in Canada and his influences were architects in firms like Carrere and Hastings which was his life ambition to work there.

William F Lamb was from Brooklyn, New York.

In 1929 Arthur Harmon joined the newly set up firm. Prior to his join of the firm he had work on monuments at Tours, Cantigny and Somme-Py in France.

For the construction of the Empire State Building Shreve was responsible for the exterior design

2. The Trump Tower

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g35805-d674283-i112894660-Trump_International_Hotel_Tower_Chicago-Chicago_Illinois.html

This tower is located in Chicago and construction started in 2005.Construction took 4 years and the tower topped out in 2009.Its approx 415m tall and is as strong enough to stand a mega tornado with its extremely strong triple glazed window panels and reinforced structure which is needed in a tornado prone city. It 92 stories high and was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. I think this tower is very unique and shows 21 century innovation and design. Did I mention that the it has one of the deepest bases in the ground in the world.

Architects backgrounds and the company:

The Firm was formed in Chicago in 1936 and they opened their first office in New York in 1937.Today the are one of the largest Firms in the world and have designed many projects. Unfortunatly there is very little detail background to these three men but ill tell you the projects that they have completed. From the Burj Khalifa in Dubai to Willis tower in Chicago.

3. The Transamerica Pyramid



http://www.insecula.com/PhotosNew/00/00/09/78/ME0000097810_3.JPG

This tower is located in San Francisco and is the tallest building in San Francisco. It is 48 stories and has a roof height of 260m.It will soon be no longer the highest building in San Francisco by 2017 due a new tower called Salesforce Tower which is currently in preparation mode. Construction started on December 1969 and it was completed in Summer of 1971.It was designed by architects William l and Harry B. It is currently being used by The Bank Of America. In my opinion its very beautiful and I was surprised to find out that it was over 40 years as it aged well and still looks modern.

The influences of these architects were from Norway, Finland and Sweden.

Thanks for reading this and stick around for more posts.

Next is famous buildings in South America.

Introduction

Hi/this is Ben here

My blog is about architecture,different styles and modern projects completed around the continents like America and  Europe today. Hope you enjoy and learn new things.