A former HAM radio enthusiast and Pittsburgh local, Tom Stapleton, decoded the message and posted the gaffe on YouTube, and it clearly shows the tower's misspelling. He said he noticed the problem when he casually looked up and saw the signal broadcasting the letter K, which he remembered well as it's the first letter of his sister's name. Too bad "Pittsburgh" doesn't contain the letter K. Representatives of the tower's owners could not say how long the tower had been advertising Pitetsbkrrh. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

The building—which will house a 5-star Hyatt hotel—can lean this much thanks to its steel exoskeleton and 490 piles drilled 100 feet into the ground, designed to compensate for gravity, wind, and seismic pressures caused by its peculiar shape. I wonder who is compensating for all the gravity, wind, and seismic economic pressures generated by all this crazy developments in the desert. [ArchDaily]

Furthermore, the trees inside the structure would be nourished using a windmill-powered pump system, so it would not significantly contribute to our energy consumption. Would something like this actually work? Maybe—that is until the wind kicks up and we have trees falling all over the streets of L.A. [Core77]

The defining element of the Anara Tower has got to be the massive propeller-like structure at the very top, at the center of which will be a glass-ceiling hub containing one of the world's most luxe restaurants. Unfortunately, the propeller doesn't rotate, but I guess we'll let that slide.

In the tower itself there will be 300 insanely-expensive apartments, a 250-room luxury hotel and gardens every 27 floors. Places that the slaves building it won't be enjoying. Construction is due to start by the end of next year assuming that their real estate and financial services don't go to hell with the rest of the world. [Urbanity via Dvice]

If completed, the Dubai City Tower, would definitely be absolutely breathtaking. I wonder how many slaves would have to die to complete this one. [Luxury Property via Dark Roasted Blend]

My guess is that it is oriented in such a way that the sun doesn't project shadows over the buildings around it. That or it's made of cloned cells from the Invisible Girl. Architects Herzog & de Meuron say that their stunning structure's shape will also allow for "optimum solar and wind power generation."

Le Projet Triangle, Porte de Versailles
Paris, France
2006 –, planned completion 2014

“Le Projet Triangle” is primarily perceived on the metropolitan scale of the city of Paris. Its elevated stature will lend major visibility to the Porte de Versailles and the Parc des Expositions site within the overall conurbation. It will also permit its integration in the system of axes and perspectives that constitute the urban fabric of Paris.

On the scale of the Porte de Versailles site, the project will also play a significant role in the reorganization of flows and perception of urban space. The Parc des Expositions site currently forms a break between the Haussmanian fabric of the 15th district of Paris and the communities of Issy-les-Moulineaux and Vanves, emphasised by the visual impact of the peripheral boulevard.

The construction of an ambitious building on the Porte de Versailles site will mark its opening and restore the historical axis formed by the rue de Vaugirard and avenue Ernest Renan.

The square of the Porte de Versailles is a complex space in its current configuration. Its initial semi-circular organisation is difficult to interpret given the many visual impediments and lack of clearly identified public spaces between the Parc des Expositions and the buildings opposite.

Building on the square itself would intensify this problem of perception: our project therefore proposes to free this space by positioning itself along the avenue Ernest Renan.

This move offers three major advantages :

it permits the creation of a public square between the boulevard Victor and Hall 1 of the Parc des Expositions, by reorganising logistic flows.
It creates a strong link between what are known as the “petit” and “grand” parcs, the two parts of the Parc des Expositions.
It marks the Paris / Issy-les-Moulineaux axis, allowing the urban space to cross the peripheral boulevard by activating the entire facade of the avenue Ernest Renan.
Situated along the avenue, the project is located at the heart of the Parc des Expositions site, set back from the surrounding residential areas. Its volumetry also takes into account the impact of a high building on its environment. Its triangular shape actually means that it does not cast shadows on adjacent buildings. The environmental approach of the project is also perceptible in this simple, compact volumetry which limits its ground impact and allows the optimum utilisation of solar and wind power due to its excellent positioning.

Apart from its structural and technical qualities, the filigree, crystalline nature of the project permits its integration in the system of perspectives formed by the Hausmannian axes. This dialogue with the city is not however limited to its silhouette, but also defines the internal organisation and texture of the project.

The Triangle is conceived as a piece of the city that could be pivoted and positioned vertically. It is carved by a network of vertical and horizontal traffic flows of variable capacities and speeds. Like the boulevards, streets and more intimate passages of a city, these traffic flows carve the construction into islets of varying shapes and sizes.

This evocation of the urban fabric of Paris, at once classic and coherent in its entirety and varied and intriguing in its details, is encountered in the façade of the Triangle. Like that of a classical building, this one features two levels of interpretation: an easily recognisable overall form and a fine, crystalline silhouette of its façade which allows it to be perceived variously.

This “vertical city” district stands in close relation to its environment and is accessible to a highly diverse public. Taking up the analogy of urban squares, it offers each individual the opportunity to enter a complex of spaces open to all on its levels.

The base of the project is open to all, from the square of the Porte de Versailles and along the avenue Ernest Renan which regains the appearance of a Parisian street, with its shops and restaurants. An elevated square, on level with the roofs of Paris, will offer everyone a unique view of the district and the whole city. This visit might then be extended in the higher reaches of the Triangle, from where the entire metropolis can be discovered.

The Triangle will thus become one of the scenes of metropolitan Paris. It will not only be a landmark from which the urban panorama can be viewed, but also an outstanding silhouette in the system of axes and monuments of the city.

Herzog & de Meuron, 2008

[Dezeen]

I took these photos from a bell helicopter last week on a trip to see this amazing building in Dubai with my son. They were taken on a 45 degree bank over the tower on a canon 1Ds mark 3 digital camera NO GOOD FOR THOSE AFRAID OF HIGHTS !! The interior shot however is not the Burge Dubai but the Arab Emirates Towers shot from the 10th floor bar looking up to the upper floors also took the attached shot looking out from the window across the street with the reflection of the interior in the window cool.

Here are more photos of the Arab Emirates Towers:

[Burj Dubai Skyscraper via Dark Roasted Blend]

The variable size of the windows is not just to make the building more interesting. According to the architects, the pattern was created to adapt to the wind and sun:

By mapping the different air flows and solar direction across the site, we were able to position different sized windows accordingly, minimizing heat loss in the winter and heat gain in the summer.

The building—located in a port city one hour east of Beijing—will be finished in 2012, including the big office tower and the smaller one, which will be dedicated to a hotel. [Dezeen]

It's going to be built in a new city near Jeddah on the Red Sea and is funded by billionaire Prince al-Walid bin Talal. He bought London's Savoy hotel for a cool $2.5 billion in 2005. So you can suspect that there'll be a hotel in the building somewhere. By my calculations, the tower will have somewhere between 320 and 350 floors, so perhaps that should be "several hotels".

Not much is known about the details yet, other than the fact that it'll have two supporting flying-buttress towers to help keep it up (both more than 800 feet high). It will also have advanced damping systems to stop the swaying at high floors from making people sick, and it's going to need amazing engineering to cope with freezing wind at the top and desert heat at the bottom.

It's so tall that much of the ferrying of material and construction workers will have to be by helicopter. And that's just cool. [Daily Mail]

Jump ahead to see a fun fanciful choreographed video of the proposed tower.

Look for the first of its kind to start production in Dubai within six months. But if that's too far for you, American's Chicago is looking into one as well.– Ben Longo

Twirling Tower Could Power Itself, Ten Others [EcoGeek]