World’s tallest skyscraper. formerly Burj Dubai. renamed Burj Khalifa in honor of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, president of the united Arab Emirates (UAE). The building officially opened January 4, 2010. The tower is being constructed by a South Korean company, Samsung Engineering & Construction [16] which built the Petronas Twin Towers and the Taipei 101. The tower is designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, who also designed the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Freedom Tower in New York City, among numerous other famous high-rises. The building resembles the bundled tube form of the Sears Tower, but is not a tube structure.

Current records:
* Tallest skyscraper to top of spire: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 509.2 m (1,671 ft))
* Tallest structure ever built: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously Warsaw radio mast – 646.38 m (2,121 ft))
* Tallest extant structure: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously KVLY-TV mast – 628.8 m (2,063 ft))
* Tallest freestanding structure: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously CN Tower – 553.3 m (1,815 ft))
* Building with most floors: 160 (previously Willis Tower – 108)
* World’s highest elevator installation
* World’s fastest elevators at speed of 64 km/h (40 mph) or 18 m/s (59 ft/s) (previously Taipei 101 – 16.83 m/s)
* Highest vertical concrete pumping (for a building): 606 m (1,988 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 449.2 m (1,474 ft))
* Highest vertical concrete pumping (for any construction): 606 m (1,988 ft) (previously Riva del Garda Hydroelectric Power Plant – 532 m (1,745 ft))
* The first world’s tallest structure in history to include residential space
* Highest outdoor observation deck in the world (124th floor)
* World’s highest mosque (located on the 154th floor)
* World’s highest installation of an aluminium and glass façade, at a height of 512 m (1,680 ft)
* World’s highest swimming pool (76th floor)

Designer: adrian smith ( note: the architects are the chicago office of SOM. smith left in 2006 to open his own firm: adrian smith + gordon gill

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A home that makes the Smart car, standing side-by-side, look like a SUV. No, an 18-wheeler.

“Micro-Compact Home” [m-ch] was inspired by Japanese tea houses, yes, the Smart car and first class air travel. They are lightweight, modular, mobile and very minimal 2.65m (roughly 77 sq ft). That equates into a 266 x 266 x 266 centimeter cube ‘Home,’ Imagine that? It’s not for the claustrophobic, a dwelling non-the-less, for one or two people. This is not a tent, a trailer, but a home, in a super compact design.

Producer: via microcompacthome.

full story in e-zine section

Porchdog House Prototype, Biloxi, Mississippi, (August 2009 Completion):

Biloxi Model Homes are affordable prototype houses designed for the Architecture for Humanity Model Home Program for families in East Biloxi whose houses were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. The proposition of raising a home up to 12’ above the ground disrupts the traditional notion of the Gulf Coast streetscape and affiliated porch culture. Compact with an efficient stacked living program, the metal-clad Porchdog house is raised above the ground and is essentially open at the ground level, but still incorporates a street level porch. Other ground-level elements are an entry stair, enclosed storage volume, and parking area. The Porchdog house is a refuge that still opens itself to the social structure of the city, minimizing its impact on the ground and while providing the requisite protection from a potential Category 4 storm surge event. Operable metal louvered shutters provide light control and storm security for aluminum framed window walls at the east and west elevations.

Designer: marlon blackwell, architect
Producer: bilox homes

2010 Brit Insurance Design Award—shortlist nominee