Woman to build tallest building

Woman to build tallest building

A  new skyscraper proposed for the US city of Chicago is set to become the world’s tallest building designed by a woman.  At 1,140 feet (348 m) in height and covering more than 1.8 million square feet, the new Vista Residences complex features a trio of glass towers arranged in a row and has been designed by American architect Jeanne Gang.

It will contain more than 400 apartments and a hotel, with residential units averaging 2,500 sq ft (232 sq m). The project, scheduled for completion in 2020, also calls for a wine cellar, tasting room and demonstration kitchen.

Studio Gang Architects, which Jeanne leads, is a well-known architecture and design firm based in Chicago and New York.  Jeanne, born in 1964, started her Chicago-based practice in 1997.

Studio Gang had earlier designed another high-rise building in Chicago – the 261-metre-high (856 feet) Aqua tower, which was completed in 2011. The 84-storey mixed-use building, with each floor covering approximately 16,000 sq ft,  was Jeanne’s first skyscraper project.

Achal Narayanan   

Most sustainable office building

The Zuidas urban hub in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is rapidly emerging as one of
Europe’s most significant business districts, with excellent connections to public transport, cycle-route networks and a new high-speed train station.

London-based PLP Architecture’s new 40,000 sq metre office for the Deloitte consultancy firm claims to be the world’s most sustainable office building, having been awarded the highest rating ever recorded by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), a global assessor of sustainable buildings. The project, named The Edge, achieved an ‘Outstanding’ construction certification and a score of 98.36 per cent for employing
innovative  smart technology.

The workspace is organised around a grand 15-storey atrium, a window animated by office activity, circulation bridges and lift cores. The base of the atrium is activated by a restaurant, a cafe, exhibition spaces and conference facilities. The shape of the building also allows northern light into 60 per cent of the offices. East, west and south walls have smaller openings in a dense load-bearing structure; on the south, photovoltaic cells shade the openings.

The urban hub of Zuidas has an ideal strategic location, to the south of Amsterdam’s city centre and in close proximity to Schiphol Airport.  More than 700 companies are
already established there. It provides an excellent residential environment, with ample hotel and leisure facilities.

Geetha Balachandran