Tallest Towers: The Latest Architecture and News

BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group has released a photo series of the Vancouver House and the Telus Sky towers, captured for the first time since their opening in 2020 during the pandemic. In a sort of "yin and yang," both skyscrapers are shaped by a curvilinear silhouette that involves the surrounding like a giant curtain revealing the building to the skyline.

The 220-meter-tall Telus Sky tower, and the 149 meters high Vancouver House, accommodate mixed-use offices and residential spaces, with connections to cycling and pedestrian pathways in their platforms. Moreover, both hold the highest level of Energy and Environmental Design. Vancouver House is the city's first LEED Platinum building, and TELUS in Calgary now occupies the largest LEED Platinum footprint in North America, with 70,725 square meters.

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Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has revealed the design of 8 Shenton Way, a 305 meters-high tower. Once completed it would become not only Singapore's Tallest Building but one of Asia's most sustainable skyscrapers. The mixed-use tower takes cues from bamboo forests to create an indoor-outdoor vertical community with public spaces, offices, retail, a hotel, and residences. In partnership with DCA Architects, the project is scheduled for completion in 2028 and will become the newest landmark on the Singapore skyline, along with Marina Bay and CapitaSpring Tower.

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German-based architecture firm OMT designed Africa's tallest hybrid timber tower in Zanzibar City, Tanzania. In partnership with Birk Heilmeyer Frenzel Architects, engineering firm Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineers, and CPS Developers, the "Burj Zanzibar" will rise 96 meters tall to accommodate 266 residences and recreational and conferencing facilities. The mixed-use tower will promote the locally available wood and support the growing urban infrastructure that, according to the government plans, expects to attract tech companies to turn the island into a leading hub for Africa's technology companies.

Handel Architects designed the third tallest in Los Angeles, a 63-story high-rise 265 meters high in the Historical Downtown L.A. Featuring a 150 meters second tower, affordable residential housing, and community spaces, the "Angels Landing" will be the largest and tallest development to be built by Black developers in the United States, marking a milestone in the real estate industry, as in L.A.'s skyline. In partnership with The Peebles Corporation and MacFarlane Partners, the complex is scheduled to open in 2027 and will create more than 8,300 new jobs during construction.

The 311-meter-high Mixed-Use Tower in Downtown Austin designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), will become Texas' tallest when it opens in late 2026. Called Waterline, this skyscraper is intended to define the skyline of one of the U.S.A.'s most dynamic and growing cities. Targeting LEED Gold certification, the 74-story project will include apartments, offices, hotel rooms, and a ground-floor paseo. The development will also add two new pedestrian bridges and three additional public pedestrian and bike access points.

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Jean Nouvel's recently completed towers, Tours Duo, redefined the Parisian skyline. Captured by Paul Clemence in his latest photo series, the project by Ateliers Jean Nouvel creates a singularity in relation to the rails that lead into the city's heart and define the Avenue de France. Established as a landmark on the East side of Paris and considered to be the city's future, Tours Duo is a mixed-use project that completes and modifies the unfinished context of this part of the city.

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Arcquitectonica unveiled the design of One Brickell City Centre, an approximately 1,000-foot (approximately 300 meters) office tower planned to become the tallest commercial tower in Florida. Located in Miami’s financial district on Brickell Avenue, the office building represents the second phase of Brickell City Centre, a 4.9-million-square-foot (450,000 square meters) mixed‐use development that opened in 2016. One Brickell City Centre is developed by Swire Properties Inc. and Related Companies. Construction it set to begin in 2023.

In his latest photo series, Paul Clemence turns his lens towards the newest addition to Chicago’s famed skyline: the undulating shapes of St. Regis Tower, formerly known as Vista Tower. Designed by Studio Gang, the 101-story supertall skyscraper makes its mark as Chicago’s third tallest building. Despite its size, the volume appears slender due to the flowing rhythm that defines its three nested towers.

The tower aims to enhance rather than disrupt its surrounding urban fabric. Sitting between downtown Lakeshore East Park and the Chicago Riverwalk, the careful design of the lower levels allows for a porous connection between the two attractions. Innovative structural systems are implemented to achieve this by completely elevating the second volume from the ground.

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In downtown Kuala Lumpur, Merdeka 118 topped out at 678.9 metres tall and 118 storeys, becoming the second-tallest building in the world. Five years after construction started, the tower’s final silhouette is revealed with the completion of the spire, redefining the city’s skyline currently dominated by the Petronas Towers and the Kuala Lumpur Tower. Designed by Australian firm Fender Katsalidis, the project features a triangular faceted glass façade inspired by patterns found in Malaysian art and, together with the surrounding park designed by Sasaki, creates a new layer of the city’s identity.

Foster+Partners has unveiled its design for Marina Tower, a residential project set to become the tallest building in Greece. Located in Ellinikon, on the outskirts of Athens, the project is part of a larger development plan meant to transform the site of the former airport into several new neighbourhoods centred around a large coastal park. The 200-metre tall tower at the heart of the masterplan showcases a permeable relationship between interior and exterior spaces in tune with the Mediterranean climate while also featuring various water elements and extensive greenery.

Scottish architecture firm Kettle Collective has revealed plans for a 703-metre skyscraper in St. Petersburg, making it the second tallest building in the world after Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. The Lakhta Centre II will have the highest occupied floor, and while the exact site is yet to be confirmed, it will sit alongside Lakhta Centre, currently the tallest building in Europe and the headquarters of energy firm Gazprom.

For those in the northern hemisphere, the last full week in January last week kicks off with Blue Monday - the day claimed to be the most depressing of the year. Weather is bleak, sunsets are early, resolutions are broken, and there’s only the vaguest glimpse of a holiday on the horizon. It’s perhaps this miserable context that is making the field seem extra productive, with a spate of new projects, toppings out and, completions announced this week.

The week of 21 January 2019 in review, after the break: 

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