CTF Tower in Tianjin, China, is world's newest phallic symbol

Even though the 20th Century was mostly about ever taller urban penises, adding biomorphism to the "supertall" structures creates a lifelike icon, fully realized in Tianjin's new CTF Tower, designed by Chicago-based architects Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM).

This building is also reminiscent of Apollo rockets from NASA, ready for liftoff! Even though I prefer more horizontal, flowing, female-influenced buildings, as far as skyscrapers go, this one is a gem.

Tokyo Sky Tree opening in May, 2012

The Tokyo Sky Tree (東京スカイツリー Tōkyō Sukai Tsurī?) was formerly known as New Tokyo Tower (新東京タワー Shin Tōkyō Tawā?), and it is a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. It became the tallest structure in Japan in 2010 and reached its full height of 634.0 metres (2,080 ft) in March 2011, making it the tallest communications tower in the world and the second tallest structure in the world after Burj Khalifa (829.84 m/2,723 ft) in Dubai.





Led by Tobu Railway and a group of six terrestrial broadcasters headed by NHK, the tower project forms the centrepiece of a large commercial development equidistant from Narihirabashi and Oshiage train stations, 7 km (4.3 mi) north-east of Tokyo station. One of its main purposes is to relay television and radio broadcast signals; Tokyo's current facility, Tokyo Tower with a height of 333 m (1,093 ft), no longer gives complete digital terrestrial television broadcasting coverage because it is surrounded by many high-rise buildings. The project was completed on 29 February 2012, with the tower's public opening due on 22 May 2012.

Farsighted towers around the globe; visionary new skyscrapers

W Hotel and Namaste Tower in Mumbai, India

Strata Tower, Namaste Tower, Hearst Tower and Fusionopolis; All innovative icons

Namaste Tower a vision of elegance and spirituality


With a proposed height of 300 m the tower will be seen from a distance of more than 40 km. Therefore the visual appearance of the project as a major landmark is of great importance to the city of Mumbai.

Views from the tower will extend to the South over the Mahalkshi Race course towards the Mumbai Peninsula and to the South West over the Indian Ocean. The views to the north East are towards a number of adjacent towers that are currently being constructed. The orientation and massing of the tower have been designed in order to make the very best of these visual relationships.







Hearst Tower, NYC’s First LEED Gold Skyscraper

Hearst Tower is located at 300 West 57th Street, 959 8th Avenue, near Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York. It is the world headquarters of the Hearst Corporation, bringing together for the first time their numerous publications and communications companies under one roof, including, among others, Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Good Housekeeping and Seventeen.



The six-story base of the headquarters building was commissioned by the founder, William Randolph Hearst and awarded to the architect Joseph Urban. The building was completed in 1928 at a cost of $2 million and contained 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2). The original cast stone facade has been preserved in the new design as a designated Landmark site. Originally built as the base for a proposed skyscraper, the construction of the tower was postponed due to the Great Depression. The new tower addition was completed nearly eighty years later, and 2,000 Hearst employees moved in on 4 May 2006.




The tower – designed by the architect Norman Foster, structural engineered by WSP Cantor Seinuk, and constructed by Turner construction – is 46 stories tall, standing 182 meters (597 ft) with 80,000 square metres (860,000 sq ft) of office space. The uncommon triangular framing pattern (also known as a diagrid) required 9,500 metric tons (10,480 tons) of structural steel – reportedly about 20% less than a conventional steel frame. Hearst Tower was the first skyscraper to break ground in New York City after September 11, 2001. The building received the 2006 Emporis Skyscraper Award. citing it as the best skyscraper in the world completed that year.

Hearst Tower is the first "green" high rise office building completed in New York City, with a number of environmental considerations built into the plan. The floor of the atrium is paved with heat conductive limestone. Polyethylene tubing is embedded under the floor and filled with circulating water for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. Rain collected on the roof is stored in a tank in the basement for use in the cooling system, to irrigate plants and for the water sculpture in the main lobby. 85% of the building's structural steel contains recycled material. Overall, the building has been designed to use 26% less energy than the minimum requirements for the city of New York, and earned a gold designation from the United States Green Building Council’s LEED certification program, becoming New York City's first LEED Gold skyscraper.








Strata Tower; new showpiece of Abu Dhabi skyline

Strata Tower is a forty-story luxury residential building, designed by New-York based architects Hani Rashid and Lise Anne Couture of Asymptote Architecture, currently being built on Al Raha Beach, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Construction has begun and it is scheduled for completion by 2011. It is being developed by Aldar Properties.







Fusionopolis in Singapore - Urban greenery extraordinaire



The Singapore skyline has been getting greener these days with new developments from some of the world’s most renown architects. The latest design to join the trend is a new futuristic green building from architect Ken Yeang named Fusionopolis. A research and development complex, this structure will adorn Singapore as the island nation’s most eco-friendly skyscraper.