VIEW OF ELEVATORS AND MORE FROM SPACE NEEDLE’S “LOUPE”
Visitors to the 605-ft.-tall Space Needle in Seattle can now look down on the iconic structure’s elevators and elevator counterweights from a new vantage point: The Loupe — named for the magnifying device used by jewelers — described as the “world’s first and only revolving glass floor” at the 500-ft. level, various news outlets, including KGW8, report. Part of a US$100-million overhaul of the attraction built for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, the rotating floor replaces a stationary glass floor just below an open-air observation deck. In addition to various city attractions, Loupe visitors also get a close-up look at the 12 motors and 48 rollers that operate the floor. Seattle-based design firm Olson Kundig also added an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant elevator that makes the observation deck fully accessible for the first time. More than 1.3 million people visit the Space Needle each year.
BROOKLYN SUPERTALL WINS PLANNING PANEL APPROVAL
The New York City Planning Commission voted unanimously this week to approve a mixed-use project at 80 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn (ELENET 730, 676) that includes a supertall tower, Curbed New York reports. The commission's action was made in spite of reservations expressed by borough President Eric Adams (who has called for a reduction in the tower's height) and the rejection of the plan by the Brooklyn Community Board. The proposal calls for a 986-ft.-tall tower, cultural space, two schools and retail. The development has been praised for bringing the schools and 200 "permanently affordable" apartments among its 900 residential units, but critics say its size is out of scale with the neighborhood. If built, the tower would be Brooklyn’s second-tallest building. The proposal now goes before the city council for final approval.
TOWER COMPLETION A MILESTONE FOR EMERGING SYDNEY PRECINCT
The completion of Ovo, at 28 stories the tallest tower in the AUD8-billion (US$5.9-billion) Green Square urban-renewal project in Sydney, is a testament to the “extensive planning and collaboration” among developers Landcom and Mirvac, architecture firm FJMT and the City of Sydney, The Urban Developer reports, quoting Landcom CEO John Brogden. The ellipsoid-shaped tower will house more than 600 residences and is described by Mirvac as one of the most complex projects it has ever handled as it incorporates approximately 1,800 panels in 17 different colors and 134 different shapes. Spanning 287 ha, the former industrial area known as Green Square already has an AUD32-million (US$23.7-million) community and cultural center and is expected to be a “new global village” with approximately 2,000 apartments within the next decade.
NEW RENDERINGS, PHOTOS OF STRIKING NEW NYC DEVELOPMENT
New renderings have been revealed and New York YIMBY has fresh photographs of The XI (previously known as The Eleventh), a Bjarke Ingels Group-designed development in New York City’s (NYC) Chelsea neighborhood distinguished by a pair of dramatic, twisting towers (ELENET 661, 719 and 732). New York YIMBY reports the taller, 35-story tower has topped out after rising “incredibly quickly,” and that the sculptural edifice is already attracting plenty of attention from visitors to the High Line snapping their own photographs. The 402-ft.-tall tower will house commercial space on the bottom four floors, with 250 spacious condominiums above. A 25-story, 300-ft.-tall tower will house a hotel. HFZ Capital is the developer, Omnibuild is the general contractor, and Woods Bagot is the architect of record.
Image courtesy newyorkyimby.com via TheXI.com:
https://newyorkyimby.com/2018/08/new-renderings-revealed-for-the-xi-as-first-tower-tops-out-at-76-eleventh-avenue-west-chelsea.html
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