Al Sharq Tower

Al Sharq Tower by Skidmore, Owiings & Merrill is a unique mix of an iconic form, ingenious structure, and spatial qualities of sky-high living. The purity of its form as nine cylinders defined by a spiraling filigree structure will be a timeless, elegant marker on Sheikh Zayed Road. The Al Sharq Tower will be a 102-floor residential tower which will have a total structural height of 367 m (1,181 ft), and have 268 apartments. Construction of the Al Sharq Tower is expected to be completed in 2011.Al Sharq isn’t close to being the tallest building in town (the highest is Burj Dubai) but it is one of the skinniest towers in the world.

The tower is to be a slender design with a height-width ratio of 10:1 and comprises 6 tube like designs, each tube is to be approximately 12 meters in diameter. The architects SOM used the tubular design, which is similarly used in the Sears Tower, to reduce the horizontal movement of the building due to the strong winds that can ’shake’ the building. The central tube serves to take the gravity load that the strong winds produce, along with housing the main elevators that service the building.
The end result is wide open, column free interiors.








Melbourne Recital Centre and MTC Building

The Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Theatre Company’s (MTC) buildings designed by Australian architects Ashton Raggatt McDougal, in collaboration with Arup (acoustic design) and Bovis Lend Lease (construction), the building consists of five different halls.





Melbourne Theatre Company’s new building comprises the 500 seat theatre Sumner Theatre and more intimate Lawler Studio for small-scale works. To eliminate external noise, the building is surrounded by 250mm of concerete, mounted on 38 steel springs. An entirely timber interior turns the hall into an instrument in itself adding an architectural bass to performances.















Architecture Building of Serta International Headquarters

This is architecture building of Serta International Corporate Headquarters was designed by Epstein Metter Studio on 8,360 sqm constructed areas in 2009. This building located in the Prairie Stone Development of Hoffman Estates, IL. The selected site borders a protected wetlands area, resulting in all work spaces having sweeping views of the natural landscape.
The architectural composition of the building has been developed to express the two main programmatic functions: Research & Development and office work space. Each of these functions is distinctly articulated in the building massing. Located at the heart of the building are the public spaces such as showrooms, lunch room, and training Auditorium.
The building (700' long x 67' wide) has been designed to facilitate equal access to natural light, ventilation, and views of the wetlands for all employees. As a result, the building is expressed as a horizontal bar, generating a strong horizontal datum line.
To maintain this strong horizontal line, while accommodating excess program, finely detailed, projecting cantilevered bays have been developed which hover over the prairie landscape.


The structural and architectural detailing has been designed to allow each bay to slide into the building, incorporating reveals between multiple wall layers, and sandwiched between the upper and lower concrete brows. This allows the program to grow organically, while reflecting the natural contours of the site.