Amazing Architecture » construction

Torres de Hércules – beautiful architecture in Spain

tom — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:44:00 +0000

Lately in Spain Torres de Hercules was completed. This characteristic landmark is based on two cylindrical towers covered with original facade. This beautiful building is work of famous Spanish architect Rafael de la Hoz and surely will become one of the most appreciated work done in last years. This building is placed close to Gibraltar, Mount Musa and the Alcornocales Natural Park.

Torres de Hércules. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

The building height is 126 meters and has 20 floors. The last floor is 80 meters high, and above that there is a lookout restaurant. Both white towers are rising from the flat pillar of water, because the building is close to Bay of Algeciras and main highways from Seville to Gibraltar and also the Costa del Sol or Jerez de la Frontera airport. There is also parking with 200-lot space for cars based on the ground level. Some small commercial spaces are also provided with travel agency, a bank, messenger service or coffee shop.

Torres de Hércules. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

The construction covers area of 19.600 sq meters and is prepared to serve as an office building. Being close to Cadiz and Gibraltar makes this building not only a landmark, but also well-placed highrise that could manage to get some money from office rental. Still, above last floor restaurant there is roof-top with panoramic view to beautiful neighborhood.

Torres de Hércules. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Beijing New South Station

tom — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:49:02 +0000

Beijing New South Railway Station is a new project that replaced an old station that was called Yongdingmen Railway Station and operated from 1897 to 2006. New station was opened on August 1 ,2008 and it is reported to be the largest in Asia. Among two other capital stations: Beijing West Railway Station and Beijing Railway Station it is the third hub for passengers in Beijing. Soon it will be capable of taking high-speed trains that could achieve speed of 350 km/h.

Beijing New South Station during construction in 2008. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

The shape of this construction is oval and was designed by Hong Kong/UK company of Terry Farrel and Partners. It was also a single collaboration with the Tianjin Desing Institute. Materials used to create this monster are: almost 500,000 cubic meters of concrete and 60,000 tons of steel. Over 4,000 workers was on construction site in three years of building. The station outer wall is covered by glass and roof contains 3,246 solar panels that create electricity for the whole complex. The stations possess 24 platforms with an ability to service about 30,000 passengers/hour. In yearly scale that gives about 241,920,000 in every twelve months. There is also large waiting area with ability to create space for almost 10,000 people. The whole complex is much bigger than Beijing National Stadium.

Beijing New South Station final look, visualization. Photo taken from skyscrapercity forums.

Beijing New South Station inside. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Beijing New South Station railway. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Business Center Miramare

tom — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:30:19 +0000

Business Center Miramare is located in Zagreb, Croatia. It will be (like the name suggest) a business center including two buildings (higher will have 20 floors, and the lower one will consist 5 floors).

Miramare Business Center. Image taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

The project is based on a crossing of the two roads: Miramarska and Bednjarska. The building is supposed to join two urban city concepts: north and south. The northern side is filled with classical city blocks, and the southern consist many public and social buildings.

Miramare Business Center. Image taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

The complex contains semi-open atrium between the two buildings that is also connecting them to pedestrian space around. There is simple diversity of roles between floors: underground floors are garage spaces, ground floor will contain shops, restaurants and bars, and all higher floors will be filled with offices (around 20.000 square meters). There is also a view point predicted on the top of the higher building. The facade is made of glass modules that are pulled in and out.

Miramare Business Center. Image taken from Skyscrapercity forums.

Peace Bridge

tom — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:56:36 +0000

Peace Bridge (located in Calgary, Canada), will be just a small pedestrian bridge across the Bow River. This is not huge supertall investment, but I think that it is worth to see it (available still only on renders but the grand opening is planned on 2010). Many people call this project too extravagant and taking away the attention from the rest of the city, but I think that every architecture that can defend itself in stand alone fight is good. This bridge will be 6.2 meters wide. Bike lanes will be placed in center of the structure and pedestrian walks on both sides. Red and white on the outside, white on the inside will be filled with LED lights to make the impression even better. It is expected to carry over 5000 people each day.

This original project comes from great architect Santiago Calatrava.

Peace Bridge, calgary. Photo taken from Skyscrapercity forums, copyrights by Santiago Calatrava.

Cuatro Torres Business Area

tom — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:54:17 +0000

I really wanted to find some high constructions in Europe, but it is not so easy as it seems. Europe is traditionally more “low”, except for Russia where the highest skyscrapers on the continent are projected and constructed. There are many skyscrapers in Frankfurt, but I decided to show you some examples of recent work in Madrid.