The American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Technology in Architectural Practice (TAP) Knowledge Community has announced the winners of their 2017 Innovation Awards, honoring “new practices and technologies that will further enable project delivery and enhance data-centric methodologies in the management of buildings for their entire lifecycle, from design, to construction and through operations.”
Continue reading for this year’s winners.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected this year's winners for the TAP/CCA Innovation Award, which highlights new practices and technologies that advance project delivery and life-cycle management of buildings. Categories for the awards, conferred by the AIA's Technology in Architectural Practice (TAP) Knowledge Community and the Construction Contract Administration (CCA) Knowledge Community), include Stellar Design, Project Delivery & Construction Administration Excellence, Academic Program/Curriculum Development, and Exemplary Use in a Small Firm. Voting is open from now until November 18th for favorite projects among the winners.
The world economy has endured a series of crises over the past century, and architecture has recently been recognized as a harbinger of these crises. Two years ago, British finance group Barclays released an index of skyscraper construction projects that correlate with the occurrence of economic downturns since 1873. Many of the tallest buildings in the world have been built at times of severe economic struggle, the most recent being Dubai's Burj Khalifa, built during the Great Recession of 2007 through 2010. According to Barclays, "the world’s tallest buildings are simply the edifice of a broader skyscraper building boom, reflecting a widespread misallocation of capital and an impending economic correction."
All the major financial crises in the past century, and the buildings that predicted them after the break...
Work on Kingdom Tower is moving forward, as above-ground construction is slated to begin April 27. Rising over 1000 meters (3,280 feet), the $1.2 billion skyscraper is expected to be the world’s tallest, surpassing the 828 meter tall Burj Khalifa upon completion in 2017.
Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG) has been announced as winner of a major design competition for World EXPO-2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan. Selected from 105 entrants, which included the likes of Coop Himmelb(l)au, Zaha Hadid Architects and UNStudio, AS+GG’s 173.4 hectare proposal plans to build on the Expo’s theme “Future Energy” by becoming the “first Third Industrial Revolution city.”
Ever expanding population growth coupled with the continuous development of urban centres mean that buildings, in general, will continue to get taller. With the topping out of One World Trade Centre in May this year the worldwide competition to construct towers with soaring altitudes doesn’t seem to be slowing, especially in China and the UAE. The question on many people’s lips, however, is how much of these colossal buildings is actual usable space?
