1.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
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Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP is an American architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings, with a portfolio spanning thousands of projects across 50 countries, SOM is one of the largest architectural firms in the world. Their primary expertise is in commercial buildings, as it was SOM that led the way to the widespread use of the modern international-style or glass box skyscraper. They have designed several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the John Hancock Center, Willis Tower, due to their faithful following of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohes ideas, Frank Lloyd Wright nicknamed them The Three Blind Mies. Notable SOM architects include, Edward Charles Bassett, Natalie de Blois, Gordon Bunshaft, David Childs, Myron Goldsmith, Bruce Graham, Gertrude Kerbis, Fazlur Rahman Khan. Lucien Lagrange, Walter Netsch, Larry Oltmanns, Brigitte Peterhans, Adrian Smith, indeed, Khan is responsible for developing the algorithms that made the Hancock building and many subsequent skyscrapers possible. Another notable SOM engineer is Bill Baker, who is best known as the engineer of Burj Khalifa, to support the towers record heights and slim footprint, he developed the buttressed core structural system, consisting of a hexagonal core reinforced by three buttresses that form a Y shape. Davis Allen, a pioneer in corporate interior design, had a tenure at SOM. Throughout its history, SOM has been recognized more than 1,700 awards for quality. More than 900 of these awards have received since 1998. In 1996 and 1962, SOM received the Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects, SOM is the only firm to have received this honor twic13 R+D Awards from Architect Magazine. In addition, a collaboration between SOM and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology, was honored with a fifth award. SOM has completed over 10,000 projects around the United States and in more than 50 other countries around the world, london, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi. Smaller field offices supplement these in such as the Philippines. Burj Khalifa is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 829.8 m, construction began on 21 September 2004, and the building officially opened on 4 January 2010. The towers architect and engineer was Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, george J. Efstathiou was the Managing Partner for the project. Bill Baker, the Chief Structural Engineer for the project, invented the buttressed core structural system in order to enable the tower to achieve such heights economically, Adrian Smith, who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill until 2006, was the Consulting Design Partner. The primary builder is a joint venture of South Korean Samsung C&T, one World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, is located in Manhattan, New York City, and is 1,776 ft high, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
Brookfield Office Properties
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Brookfield Office Properties Inc. is a North American commercial real estate company, wholly owned by Brookfield Property Partners. The company has its headquarters operations in New York, Toronto, the company owns, manages and develops office properties in the downtown core of the American cities of New York City, New York, Washington, D. C. It also operates real estate service businesses and has a land-development business primarily based in Canada, the companys roots go back to the 1900s in Montreal, Quebec. It was known then as the Canadian Arena Company, in a partnership with Toronto investors, it built the Arena Gardens in Toronto. In the 1920s, it built the Montreal Forum, from 1935 to 1957, the company owned the Montreal Canadiens National Hockey League club. The company was acquired by Edper Investments in 1970, in the 1970s, when the company was known as Carena Properties, it expanded its business into commercial real estate. After the Montreal Forum closed, the Forum was sold to competitor Canderel Properties, in 1990, Brookfield acquired a 50% interest in a portfolio of office properties in Toronto, Denver and Minneapolis from BCE Development Corporation. In 1994, this holding was increased to 100% and included BCE Place, now Brookfield Place, Brookfield Properties flagship office complex in Toronto. Brookfield lost out to Silverstein Properties, Inc. on the lease of the World Trade Center in New York City, in 2005 it acquired O&Y Properties Corporation and O&Y Real Estate Investment Trust, the revived and once power house of Olympia and York. In 2006, the company acquired Trizec Properties, which was founded in 1960 by William Zeckendorf, on Earth Day on April 22,2010, the company was listed as one of Canadas The Green 30 Organizations Based On Eco-Friendly Programs and Practices based on an employee poll. Brookfield Office Properties Inc. became the dominant office landlord in the Los Angeless financial district after acquiring MPG Office Trust Inc. As one of the wealthiest real estate companies in the country, they began to aggressively seek tenants in the technology, MPG had been one of Southern Californias most prominent real estate developers and a longtime L. A. office tower owner. They were known as a builder of top-quality office space in Southern California for decades after being founded by Robert F. Maguire in the 1960s, the MPG buildings they acquired include the Gas Company Tower and the Wells Fargo Tower on Bunker Hill. In June,2014, Brookfield Property Partners completed their acquisition of Brookfield Office Properties, BPO common shares were de-listed from the Toronto Stock Exchange as of June 10,2014, and from the New York Stock Exchange on June 20,2014. Brookfield Property Partners is now the owner of all of the issued. On November 15,2011, at around 1,00 a. m. the NYPD went in and cleared the park citing alleged health, later that morning, Judge Lucy Billings issued a court order for the NYPD to allow the protesters back into the park. That injunction was lifted by the NY Supreme Court and the police were allowed to keep the park cleared of tents at the request of Brookfield Properties. Brookfield Condominium Services Ltd. – a leading condominium management corporation in the greater Toronto area Brookfield Residential Properties Inc. – a developer and homebuilder in North America, list of real estate companies of Canada Boston Properties Silverstein Properties Inc
4.
Topping out
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In building construction, topping out is a builders rite traditionally held when the last beam is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlayed into an event for public relations purposes. Long an important component of timber frame building, it migrated initially to England and Northern Europe, a tree or leafy branch is placed on the topmost wood or iron beam, often with flags and streamers tied to it. A toast is usually drunk and sometimes workers are treated to a meal, in masonry construction the rite celebrates the bedding of the last block or brick. In some cases a topping out event is held at an intermediate point, in New Zealand, completion of the roof to a water-proof state is celebrated through a roof shout, where workers are treated to cake and beer. The tradition of pannenbier is popular in the Netherlands and Flanders and it stays in place until the buildings owner provides free beer to the workers, after which it is lowered. It is considered if it remains flown for more than a few days. The topping out traditions of the high-steel ironworkers, Topping Off. at the Wayback Machine. Http, //www. stp. uh. edu/vol68/160/news/news4. html Tree symbolizes campus growth, The Daily Cougar, Volume 68, Issue 160, Monday,28 July 2003, Topping Off at the Wayback Machine. National Review, December 23,2003 Richtfest. info A German language site about the topping out ceremonies, Topping out Roberts Pavilion Topping out the new athletic building at Claremont McKenna College
5.
Mixed-use development
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Mixed-use development can take the form of a single building, a city block, or entire neighbourhoods. Traditionally, human settlements have developed in mixed-use patterns, in the United States, the heyday of separate-use zoning was after World War II, but since the 1990s, mixed-use zoning has once again become desirable as the benefits are recognized. Walking was the way that people and goods were moved about. Most people dwelt in buildings that were places of work as well as domestic life, people lived at very high densities because the amount of space required for daily living and movement between different activities was determined by walkability and the scale of the human body. This was particularly true in cities, and the floor of buildings was often devoted to some sort of commercial or productive use. This historical mixed-used pattern of development declined during industrialisation in favor of separation of manufacturing. This period saw massive migrations of people from areas to cities drawn by work in factories. These influxes of new workers needed to be accommodated and many new urban districts arose at this time with domestic housing being their primary function, thus began a separating out of land uses that previously had occurred in the same spaces. Furthermore, many factories produced substantial pollution of various kinds, distance was required to minimize adverse impacts from noise, dirt, noxious fumes and dangerous substances. Even so, at time, most industrialized cities were of a size that allowed people to walk between the different areas of the city. These factors were important in the push for Euclidean or single-use zoning premised on the compartmentalization of land uses into like functions, in the United States, another impetus for Euclidean zoning was the birth of the skyscraper. Fear of buildings blocking out the sun led many to call for zoning regulations, Zoning regulations, first put into place in the 1916 Zoning Resolution, not only called for limits on building heights, but eventually called for separations of uses. This was largely meant to people from living next to polluted industrial areas. This separation, however, was extended to commercial uses as well and this type of zoning was widely adopted by municipal zoning codes. However, it has been the post-second World War dominance of the automobile, throughout the late 20th century, it began to become apparent to many urban planners and other professionals that mixed-use development had many benefits and should be promoted again. As American, British, Canadian and Australian cities deindustrialized, the need to separate residences from hazardous factories became less important, completely separate zoning created isolated islands of each type of development. In 1961, Jane Jacobs influential The Death and Life of Great American Cities argued that a mixture of uses is vital, Zoning laws have been revised accordingly and increasingly attempt to address these problems by using mixed-use zoning. Mixed-use guidelines often result in buildings with streetfront commercial space
6.
Pennsylvania Station (New York City)
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Pennsylvania Station, also known as New York Penn Station or Penn Station, is the main intercity railroad station in New York City. Serving more than 600,000 commuter rail and Amtrak passengers a day, Penn Station is in the midtown area of Manhattan, close to Herald Square, the Empire State Building, Koreatown, and the Macys department store. Entirely underground, it sits beneath Madison Square Garden, between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue and between 31st and 34th Streets, Penn Station has 21 tracks fed by seven tunnels. It is at the center of the Northeast Corridor, a rail line that connects New York City with Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D. C. Intercity trains are operated by Amtrak, which owns the station, while rail services are operated by the Long Island Rail Road. Connections are available within the complex to the New York City Subway, additionally, if reopened, the old Hilton Corridor would recreate an indoor connection with Port Authority Trans-Hudson trains. The original Pennsylvania Station was built from 1901-1910 by the Pennsylvania Railroad, after a decline in passenger usage during the 1950s, the original station was demolished and reconstructed from 1963 to 1969, resulting in the current station. Pennsylvania Station is named for the Pennsylvania Railroad, its builder and original tenant, the current facility is the substantially remodeled underground remnant of a significantly more ornate station building designed by McKim, Mead, and White and completed in 1910. The original Pennsylvania Station was considered a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style, the station was moved fully underground, beneath the newly constructed Pennsylvania Plaza complex and Madison Square Garden arena completed in 1968. Until the early 20th century, the PRRs rail network terminated on the side of the Hudson River at Exchange Place in Jersey City. Manhattan-bound passengers boarded ferries to cross the Hudson River for the stretch of their journey. The rival New York Central Railroads line ran down Manhattan from the north under Park Avenue, the development of the electric locomotive at the turn of the 20th century made a tunnel feasible. The station would sit in Manhattans Tenderloin district, a historical district known for its corruption and prostitution. Beginning in June 1903, the two single-track North River Tunnels were bored from the west under the Hudson River. Electrification was initially 600 volts DC–third rail, and later changed to 11,000 volts AC–overhead catenary when electrification of PRRs mainline was extended to Washington, D. C. in the early 1930s. The same tube, with an inscription indicating that it had displayed at the Exposition, was later installed under water. Construction was completed on the Hudson River tunnels on October 9,1906, meanwhile, ground was broken for Pennsylvania Station on May 1,1904. Along with Long Island Rail Road trains, Penn Station saw trains of the New Haven and the Lehigh Valley Railroads
7.
Ninth Avenue (Manhattan)
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Ninth Avenue, known as Columbus Avenue between West 59th and 110th Streets, is a southbound thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Traffic runs downtown along the stretch from Chelsea to the Upper West Side. A one-block stretch of Ninth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets is also signed as Oreo Way, the first Oreo cookies were manufactured in 1912 at the former Nabisco headquarters on that block. The buildings are separated in mid-block by the narrowest of access alleys, the repeated designs of three or four commercial speculative builders, using the same features and detailing, add to the avenues architectural unity. There are several generously scaled pre-World War I apartment buildings and the former Endicott Hotel, as well as a commercial block from the office of McKim, Mead. Between 77th and 81st Streets, Columbus Avenue borders the American Museum of Natural History, Ninth Avenue reappears in the Inwood neighborhood as a short two-way street in two segments interrupted by the New York City Subways 207th Street Yard. The addresses along this stretch from 201st Street to Broadway are continuous with the lower portion of Ninth Avenue. The Ninth Avenue Elevated was a train that ran above Ninth Avenue beginning in the nineteenth century. The lease for the line was assumed by the Interborough Rapid Transit Company on April 1,1903. The line ran until it was closed and dismantled in 1940 following the purchase of the IRT by the City of New York, Ninth Avenue and Columbus Avenue were converted to carry one-way traffic southbound in two stages. South of its intersection with Broadway the avenue was converted on November 6,1948, the rest to 110th Street was converted on December 6,1951. Former president Bill Clinton initiated a project to revitalize the 9th Avenue corridor centered on the Hells Kitchen area, several street fairs are held every year, including the Ninth Avenue Food Festival in May. Ninth Avenue is the setting of Saul Steinbergs View of the World from 9th Avenue, in the TV show Seinfeld, the street set on which most of the street scenes were filmed was based on Columbus Avenue. In the play Zoo Story by Edward Albee, Jerry claims to live between Columbus Avenue and Central Park, New York City portal Notes New York Songlines, Ninth Avenue, a virtual walking tour
8.
Hudson Yards, Manhattan
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Javits Convention Center, and a financing plan to fund the various components. The centerpiece of Hudson Yards is a 28-acre mixed-use real estate development of the name by Related Companies and Oxford Properties. This new construction project is the largest of its kind, the railyard project broke ground on December 4,2012, the first tower, an 895-foot office building in the southeast corner of the site, opened on May 31,2016. The over-US$20 billion development will accommodate a projected 65,000 daily visitors when completed, the Citys plan was similar to a neighborhood plan produced by architect Meta Brunzema and environmental planner Daniel Gutman for the Hells Kitchen Neighborhood Association. The main concept of the HKNA plan was to major new development while protecting the existing residential core area between Ninth and Tenth avenues. To help facilitate development, the Citys plan called for an extension of the 7 <7> trains to a 34th Street subway station under Eleventh Avenue, a Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corporation would issue bonds against expected revenues. In January 2005, the New York City Council approved the 60-block rezoning, including the portion of the West Side Yard. In June 2005, the proposal was defeated. After the City rezoned the western rail yard and added it to the financing district, five developers responded to the RFP, Extell, Tishman Speyer, Brookfield, Vornado, and the Related Companies. Tishman Speyer won the bid in March 2008, Tishman Speyer entered into a 99-year lease with the MTA, paying $1 billion for the air rights. However, just two later, the deal broke down due to the late-2000s financial crisis. Not much later, the MTA chose the Related Companies and Goldman Sachs to develop Hudson Yards under the same conditions, in December 2009, the New York City Council approved Related Companies revised plan for Hudson Yards, and the western portion of the West Side Yard was rezoned. Following the rail yards successful rezoning, the MTA signed another 99-year lease to the air rights over the yard in May 2010. Groundbreaking for 10 Hudson Yards, the first building, occurred on December 4,2012, in April 2013, the Related/Oxford joint venture obtained a $475 million construction loan from parties including Barry Sternlichts Starwood Capital Group and luxury retailer Coach. A portion of the project was financed by the EB-5 investment program. The city had originally projected to receive $563 million from property sales by September 2015, consequently, the city has had to allocate $358 million since 2006 to pay off debt. But developers have paid the city $336 million since July 2014, the pace has quickened in recent years, with 57 buildings built or under construction in the area from 2006 to June 2015, indicating an improving balance sheet. After the Hudson Yards project was approved in 2005, the MTA received proceeds from the initial 2006 bond offering to pay for the subway to 34th Street, with funding assured, the MTA proceeded quickly to construction
9.
Long Island Rail Road
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With an average weekday ridership of 337,800 passengers in 2014, it is the busiest commuter railroad in North America. It is also one of the worlds few commuter systems that runs 24 hours a day,7 days a week and it is publicly owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, who refer to it as MTA Long Island Rail Road. The LIRR logo combines the circular MTA logo with the text Long Island Rail Road, the LIRR is one of two commuter rail systems owned by the MTA, the other being the Metro-North Railroad. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is the second-oldest US railroad still operating under its original name and charter. There are 124 stations, and more than 700 miles of track and this service was superseded in 1849 by the land route through Connecticut that became part of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. The LIRR refocused its attentions towards serving Long Island, in competition with railroads on the island. In the 1870s, railroad president Conrad Poppenhusen and his successor Austin Corbin acquired all the railroads, the LIRR was unprofitable for much of its history. In 1900, the Pennsylvania Railroad bought a controlling interest as part of its plan for access to Manhattan which began on September 8,1910. The wealthy PRR subsidized the LIRR during the first half of the new century, after the Second World War, the railroad industrys downturn and dwindling profits caused the PRR to stop subsidizing the LIRR, and the LIRR went into receivership in 1949. The State of New York, realizing how important the railroad was to Long Islands future, in 1966, New York State bought the railroads controlling stock from the PRR and put it under the newly formed Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority. With MTA subsidies the LIRR modernized further, continuing to be the busiest commuter railroad in the United States, the LIRR is one of the few railroads that has survived as an intact company from its original charter to the present. The LIRR operates out of three terminals, in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. Jamaica Station in central Queens is the hub of all railroad activities, expansion of the system into Grand Central Terminal is expected over the next few years. Major stations include, Pennsylvania Station, in Midtown Manhattan, is the busiest of the western terminals and it is reached via the Amtrak-owned East River Tunnels from the Main Line in Long Island City. The New York City Subways 34th Street–Penn Station and 34th Street–Penn Station stations are next to the terminal and it also connects LIRR with Amtrak and NJ Transit trains. Atlantic Terminal, formerly Flatbush Avenue, in Downtown Brooklyn serves most other trains and it is next to the New York City Subways Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station complex, providing easy access to Lower Manhattan. A handful of trains run to Hunterspoint Avenue or onward to the Long Island City station on the East River in Long Island City. From Hunterspoint Avenue, the Hunters Point Avenue subway station can be reached for Midtown Manhattan access, the same subway trains can also be reached from Long Island City station at the Vernon Boulevard–Jackson Avenue subway station
10.
Dyer Avenue
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Dyer Avenue is a short, north-south thoroughfare in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, located between Ninth Avenue and Tenth Avenue. It is primarily used by traffic exiting the Lincoln Tunnel, Dyer Avenue runs between West 34th Street and West 42nd Street but functions as two distinct sections due to its connections with the south and center tubes of the Lincoln Tunnel. The at-grade portion of the Lincoln Tunnel Expressway between West 30th Street and West 31st Street is also referred to by signs as Dyer Avenue. The roadway is owned by the Port Authority of New York, south of West 38th Street, Dyer Avenue is used by southbound vehicles exiting the south tube of the Lincoln Tunnel. At this intersection, there is also an entrance ramp to the Lincoln Tunnel Expressway. These vehicles merge with other vehicles from a ramp from Ninth Avenue that continues to the Lincoln Tunnel Expressway and provides access to the center. North of West 39th Street, Dyer Avenue is used by vehicles exiting the south. Before the intersection with West 40th Street, there are ramps leading up to the Port Authority Bus Terminal that are used by buses. Another large parking garage is located on West 42nd Street, opposite the end of Dyer Avenue, squeegee men used to target motorists stopped at traffic signals in this area. The northern section of Dyer Avenue previously had a lane for buses to access the center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel during the evening rush hour on weekdays. Dyer Avenue is named after General George Rathborne Dyer, who was the chairman of the board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and died while the Lincoln Tunnel was under construction
11.
Qatar Investment Authority
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The Qatar Investment Authority is Qatars state-owned holding company that can be characterized as a National Wealth Fund. It specializes in domestic and foreign investment, the QIA was founded by the State of Qatar in 2005 to strengthen the countrys economy by diversifying into new asset classes. The fund is a member of the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds and is signed up to the Santiago Principles on best practice in managing sovereign wealth funds. The QIA was founded in 2005 by the then-Emir of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani to manage the oil and natural gas surpluses by the government of Qatar. As a result of its strategy to minimize risk from Qatars reliance on energy prices. Prior to establishment of the Qatar Investment Authority in 2005, Qatars Ministry of Finance had a small team to invest revenue from budget surpluses. The Qatar National Vision 2030 foresees the shift from natural gas based revenue to QIA-type investments between now and then, the QIA wholly controls Qatari Diar, a property investment company. The QIA does not publish its holdings to the market, sayed held the post for 16 months. In January 2015 Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohamed bin Saud al-Thani, chairman of Qatar communication company Oredoo, was appointed new CEO, Khalifa Al Kuwari is the current Chief Operating Officer. Qatar Investment Authority owns Qatar Holding LLC, and is associated with Qatar National Bank, QIA is affiliated with Qatar Islamic Bank and with Ubac Curaçao NV. Qatar Holdings stake in Barclays rose to 12. 7% following Barclays capital raising in October 2008, Qatar Investment Authority holds a small stake in Fisker Automotive. It also holds about 17% stake in the Volkswagen Group, Porsche, Hochtief, in February 2009, France accorded special beyond-OECD investment privileges to Qatar and its State-Owned Enterprises, one example is capital gains exemptions in France. The QIA is also reported to hold part of Xstrata, on 8 May 2010, Qatar Holding, an indirect subsidiary of QIA, purchased the Harrods Group from Mohamed Al-Fayed, including the Knightsbridge department store. QIA are also the largest shareholder in Sainsburys, in February 2012, it completed the acquisition of Credit Suisses headquarters in London. QIA holds a 6% stake in Credit Suisse and owns shares in Apeldoorn, Qatari Diar, a property arm of the fund, along with Canary Wharf, won a £300mn deal to redevelop the Shell Centre in London that houses the Royal Dutch Shells London headquarters. The French government has offered tax exemptions for Qatari real estate investments in the country and have acquired almost $4 billion of property, in May 2012, it acquired a stake below 3% in Royal Dutch Shell. It has announced a plan to raise its stake to 7%, in late 2012 Qatar Sports Investments completed a buyout of the French football club Paris Saint-Germain F. C. which valued the club at $130 million. QSI invested a further $340 million in the club, they had bought the Paris Saint-Germain Handball team the previous year, nasser Al-Khelaifi is also the director of Qatari owned television network Al Jazeera Sports, which launched French television channels beIN Sport
12.
Reinforced concrete
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The reinforcement is usually, though not necessarily, steel reinforcing bars and is usually embedded passively in the concrete before the concrete sets. Reinforcing schemes are designed to resist tensile stresses in particular regions of the concrete that might cause unacceptable cracking and/or structural failure. Modern reinforced concrete can contain varied reinforcing materials made of steel, Reinforced concrete may also be permanently stressed, so as to improve the behaviour of the final structure under working loads. In the United States, the most common methods of doing this are known as pre-tensioning and post-tensioning, durability in the concrete environment, irrespective of corrosion or sustained stress for example. François Coignet was a French industrialist of the century, a pioneer in the development of structural. Coignet was the first to use iron-reinforced concrete as a technique for constructing building structures, in 1853 Coignet built the first iron reinforced concrete structure, a four story house at 72 rue Charles Michels in the suburbs of Paris. Coignets descriptions of reinforcing concrete suggests that he did not do it for means of adding strength to the concrete, in 1854, English builder William B. Wilkinson reinforced the concrete roof and floors in the two-storey house he was constructing. His positioning of the reinforcement demonstrated that, unlike his predecessors, in 1877, Monier was granted another patent for a more advanced technique of reinforcing concrete columns and girders with iron rods placed in a grid pattern. Though Monier undoubtedly knew reinforcing concrete would improve its inner cohesion, before 1877 the use of concrete construction, though dating back to the Roman Empire and reintroduced in the mid to late 1800s, was not yet a proven scientific technology. His work played a role in the evolution of concrete construction as a proven. Without Hyatts work, more dangerous trial and error methods would have largely depended on for the advancement in the technology. G. A. Wayss was a German civil engineer and a pioneer of the iron, in 1879 Wayss bought the German rights to Moniers patents and in 1884 started the first commercial use for reinforced concrete in his firm Wayss & Freytag. Up until the 1890s Wayss and his firm greatly contributed to the advancement of Moniers system of reinforcing, ernest L. Ransome was an English-born engineer and early innovator of the reinforced concrete techniques in the end of the 19th century. With the knowledge of reinforced concrete developed during the previous 50 years, ransomes key innovation was to twist the reinforcing steel bar improving bonding with the concrete. Gaining increasing fame from his concrete constructed buildings Ransome was able to build two of the first reinforced concrete bridges in North America, one of the first concrete buildings constructed in the United States, was a private home, designed by William Ward in 1871. The home was designed to be fireproof for his wife, one of the first skyscrapers made with reinforced concrete was the 16-storey Ingalls Building in Cincinnati, constructed in 1904. Many different types of structures and components of structures can be built using reinforced concrete including slabs, walls, beams, columns, foundations, frames, Reinforced concrete can be classified as precast or cast-in-place concrete. Designing and implementing the most efficient floor system is key to creating optimal building structures, small changes in the design of a floor system can have significant impact on material costs, construction schedule, ultimate strength, operating costs, occupancy levels and end use of a building
13.
Associated Press
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The Associated Press is an American multinational nonprofit news agency headquartered in New York City that operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. The AP is owned by its contributing newspapers and radio and television stations in the United States, all of which stories to the AP. Most of the AP staff are members and are represented by the Newspaper Guild, which operates under the Communications Workers of America. As of 2007, news collected by the AP was published and republished by more than 1,700 newspapers, in addition to more than 5,000 television, the photograph library of the AP consists of over 10 million images. The AP operates 243 news bureaus in 120 countries and it also operates the AP Radio Network, which provides newscasts twice hourly for broadcast and satellite radio and television stations. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, as part of their cooperative agreement with the AP, most member news organizations grant automatic permission for the AP to distribute their local news reports. The AP employs the inverted pyramid formula for writing that enables the news outlets to edit a story to fit its available publication area without losing the storys essentials. Cutbacks at rival United Press International in 1993 left the AP as the United States primary news service, although UPI still produces and distributes stories and photos daily. Other English-language news services, such as the BBC, Reuters, some historians believe that the Tribune joined at this time, documents show it was a member in 1849. The New York Times became a member shortly after its founding in September 1851, initially known as the New York Associated Press, the organization faced competition from the Western Associated Press, which criticized its monopolistic news gathering and price setting practices. The revelations led to the demise of the NYAP and in December 1892, when the AP was founded, news became a salable commodity. The invention of the press allowed the New York Tribune in the 1870s to print 18,000 papers per hour. During the Civil War and Spanish–American War, there was a new incentive to print vivid, Melville Stone, who had founded the Chicago Daily News in 1875, served as AP General Manager from 1893 to 1921. He embraced the standards of accuracy, impartiality, and integrity, the cooperative grew rapidly under the leadership of Kent Cooper, who built up bureau staff in South America, Europe and, the Middle East. He introduced the telegraph typewriter or teletypewriter into newsrooms in 1914, in 1935, AP launched the Wirephoto network, which allowed transmission of news photographs over leased private telephone lines on the day they were taken. This gave AP a major advantage over other media outlets. While the first network was only between New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, eventually AP had its network across the whole United States, in 1945, the Supreme Court of the United States held in Associated Press v. The decision facilitated the growth of its main rival United Press International, AP entered the broadcast field in 1941 when it began distributing news to radio stations, it created its own radio network in 1974
14.
Brutalist architecture
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Brutalist architecture is a movement in architecture that flourished from the 1950s to the mid-1970s, descending from the modernist architectural movement of the early 20th century. The term originates from the French word for raw in the used by Le Corbusier to describe his choice of material béton brut. British architectural critic Reyner Banham adapted the term into brutalism to identify the emerging style, there is often an emphasis on graphically expressing in the external elevations and in the whole-site architectural plan the main functions and people-flows of the buildings. Brutalism became popular for educational buildings, but was rare for corporate projects. Brutalism became favoured for government projects, high-rise housing. In one critical appraisal by Banham, Brutalism was posited not as a style, Brutalism as an architectural critical term was not always consistently used by critics, architects themselves usually avoided using it altogether. More recently, brutalism has become used in popular discourse to refer to buildings of the twentieth century that are large or unpopular – as a synonym for brutal. The term brutalism was originally coined by the Swedish architect Hans Asplund to describe Villa Göth in Uppsala, designed in 1949 by his contemporaries Bengt Edman and he originally used the Swedish-language term nybrutalism, which was picked up by a group of visiting English architects, including Michael Ventris. In England, the term was adopted by architects Alison. The best known proto Brutalist architecture is the work of the Swiss architect Le Corbusier, in particular his 1952 Unité dHabitation, Brutalist buildings are usually formed with repeated modular elements forming masses representing specific functional zones, distinctly articulated and grouped together into a unified whole. Concrete is used for its raw and unpretentious honesty, contrasting dramatically with the refined and ornamented buildings constructed in the elite Beaux-Arts style. Surfaces of cast concrete are made to reveal the nature of its construction. Brutalist building materials include brick, glass, steel, rough-hewn stone. Another common theme in Brutalist designs is the exposure of the buildings functions—ranging from their structure, from another perspective, the design of the Hunstanton School included placing the facilitys water tank, normally a hidden service feature, in a prominent, visible tower. This style had a position in the architecture of European communist countries from the mid-1960s to the late 1980s. In Czechoslovakia brutalism was presented as an attempt to create a national, John Andrewss government and institutional structures in Australia also exhibit the style. In the United States Paul Rudolph and Ralph Rapson are both noted Brutalists, Walter Netsch is known for his Brutalist academic buildings. Marcel Breuer was known for his approach to the style
15.
Facade
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A façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. It is a loan word from the French façade, which means frontage or face. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect from a design standpoint, from the engineering perspective of a building, the façade is also of great importance due to its impact on energy efficiency. For historical façades, many local zoning regulations or other laws restrict or even forbid their alteration. The word comes from the French foreign loan word façade, which in turn comes from the Italian facciata, from faccia meaning face, the earliest usage recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is 1656. It was quite common in the Georgian period for existing houses in English towns to be given a fashionable new façade, in modern highrise building, the exterior walls are often suspended from the concrete floor slabs. Examples include curtain walls and precast concrete walls, the façade can at times be required to have a fire-resistance rating, for instance, if two buildings are very close together, to lower the likelihood of fire spreading from one building to another. In general, the systems that are suspended or attached to the precast concrete slabs will be made from aluminium or stainless steel. In recent years more lavish materials such as titanium have sometimes been used, whether rated or not, fire protection is always a design consideration. The melting point of aluminium,660 °C, is reached within minutes of the start of a fire. Firestops for such building joints can be qualified, too, putting fire sprinkler systems on each floor has a profoundly positive effect on the fire safety of buildings with curtain walls. Some building codes also limit the percentage of area in exterior walls. When the exterior wall is not rated, the slab edge becomes a junction where rated slabs are abutting an unrated wall. For rated walls, one may also choose rated windows and fire doors, on a film set and within most themed attractions, many of the buildings are only façades, which are far cheaper than actual buildings, and not subject to building codes. In film sets, they are held up with supports from behind. Within theme parks, they are usually decoration for the interior ride/attraction/restaurant, by Ulrich Knaack, Tillmann Klein, Marcel Bilow and Thomas Auer. ISBN 978-3-7643-7961-2 ISBN 978-3-7643-7962-9 Giving buildings an illusion of grandeur Poole, the article outlines the development of the façade in ecclesiastical architecture from the early Christian period to the Renaissance
16.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
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Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, founded in 1948, is an international law firm based in New York City. With approximately 1,700 attorneys, it is one of the law firms in the world. Forbes magazine has called Skadden Wall Streets most powerful law firm, the firm has been ranked Americas Best Corporate Law Firm in Corporate Board Members survey of public company directors every year since 2001. 1948 — The firm is founded in New York by Marshall Skadden, John Slate,1959 — William Meagher joins the firm. Elizabeth Head, the firms first female attorney, is hired,1960 — The firms name becomes Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. 1961 — Peter Mullen, who will serve as Skaddens first executive partner. 1973 — The firm opens its office, in Boston. 1981 — Peggy L. Kerr becomes Skaddens first female partner,1985 — Skadden ranks as one of the U. S. s three largest law firms. 1987 — The firm opens its first international office, in Tokyo,1988 — The firm founds the Skadden Fellowship Foundation. 2000 — Skaddens New York City headquarters moves to 4 Times Square,2008 — With the City College of New York, the firm launches the Skadden, Arps Honors Program, to increase diversity in law schools and the legal profession. 2011 — Joseph Flom, the last living name partner, dies,2014 — The firm opens its 22nd office, in Seoul. 2015 — Skadden becomes the first law firm to advise on more than $1 trillion worth of deals in a single year, as of December 2016, Skadden has 22 offices worldwide. In February 2011, there were 432 Skadden partners worldwide, as of December 2016, there are 381 partners worldwide. Among the more partners, of counsel and counsel are, Eileen T. Nugent. Scott V. Simpson, co-global leader of the firms transaction practices, david M. Zornow, global leader of the firms litigation/controversy practices. David M. Rievman, global leader of the firms regulatory practices, thomas H. Kennedy, global leader of knowledge strategy. Craig, former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, robinson, former federal district court judge sitting in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and former U. S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut. Fred T. Goldberg, Jr. commissioner of Internal Revenue from 1989–92, in 2015 and 2016, Skadden was the fourth largest law firm in the U. S. by revenue
17.
4 Times Square
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4 Times Square, formerly known as the Condé Nast Building, is a skyscraper in Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Located on Broadway between West 42nd and 43rd Streets, the structure was finished in January 2000 as part of a project to redevelop 42nd Street. The architects were Fox & Fowle, who designed the Reuters Building as part of the larger project. The 809-foot, 48-story building is the 12th tallest building in New York City, owned by the Durst Organization, the building contains 1,600,000 square feet of floor space. The building was designed by Fox & Fowle, chosen for their experience designing ecologically sustainable buildings,4 Times Square is one of the first and most important examples of green design in skyscrapers in the United States. The air-delivery system provides 50% more fresh air than is required by New York City Building Code, the building uses solar technology and PureCell Systems fuel cells. It was the first project of its size with these features, for which it received awards from the American Institute of Architects, the original antenna was built primarily for Clear Channel Communications as a backup transmitter site for its four FM stations. It was replaced between 2002 and 2003 with a 300-foot mast to broadcast television and radio signals as a transmission site. The mast has three tiers, one for VHF, one for UHF, and one for FM, currently, eight FM stations use the site as a backup, and three—WBGO, WKCR-FM, WNYE, plus the booster, WFMU-1—use it as a primary site. Three TV stations are using the mast for auxiliary use, the antenna systems and mast were constructed by Dielectric Communications of Raymond, Maine, Shively Labs of Bridgton, Maine, and Electronics Research Inc. of Chandler, Indiana. In 1995,4 Times Square was the first speculative building to be developed in New York City in almost a decade. The major office space tenants are Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, h&M has the majority of the retail space in the building, in August 2013, the retailer announced that it would be installing four illuminated panels bearing the company logo atop the tower. Magazine publishing company Condé Nast moved from its building to the One World Trade Center in Downtown Manhattan in November 2014. In January 2016, It was announced that SS&C Technologies has signed for 140, the buildings northwest corner holds NASDAQs MarketSite, a seven-story cylindrical tower whose electronic display provides market quotes, financial news and advertisements. The ground floor of the MarketSite contains a studio with a wall of monitors. A replica of the Condé Nast Building is featured in the Battlestar Galactica universe and it can be seen during scene of the city in the series finale Daybreak, Part 2. It can also be seen briefly in the pilot for the Caprica television series, the building is also featured in Grand Theft Auto IV, as part of Liberty City and the 2009 documentary about Anna Wintour, The September Issue. It is a location in The Accidental Husband
18.
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson
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Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP is an international law firm with offices in New York City, Washington, DC, London, Paris, and Frankfurt. The firm was founded in New York City and currently employs 468 attorneys worldwide, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson traces its origins back nearly a century to the predecessor firms Riegelman & Bach, Riegelman Hess & Strasser and Strasser Spiegelberg Fried and Frank. These firms were founded by German Jewish attorneys, in 1971, the firm took its current form with name partners Walter Fried, Hans Frank, Sam Harris, Sargent Shriver and Leslie Jacobson. Domestically, it opened a Washington, D. C. office in 1949, Fried Frank also opened a Los Angeles office in 1985, but closed it in 2005. In 1970, Fried Frank opened a London office becoming one of the first U. S. law firms to establish a European presence, a Paris office followed in 1993. It opened in Frankfurt in 2004, the three European offices tend to focus on international corporate transactions. The firm officially launched an office in Shanghai in October 2007, efforts to merge with an established UK law firm have been unsuccessful. In 2002, Fried Frank engaged in talks with UK giant Ashurst Morris Crisp. Fried Frank in 2004 hired Ashursts former managing partner, Justin Spendlove, but in January 2015, Fried Frank announced it was closing its offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai, effectively pulling the plug on its Asia practice. In March 2009, Fried Frank announced it was laying off 41 associates and 58 staff members, by September 2009, its attorney head count had shrunk 26.4 percent, the largest percentage decrease of any of the 250 largest law firms in the country. Fried Franks real estate practice is predominant in New York City, Fried Frank has been listed as one of the top twenty firms in the United States for pro bono by The American Lawyer. Fried Frank was listed by Law360 as the Pro Bono Firm of 2013, michael R. Bromwich Douglas J. Feith Martin D. Ginsburg Jason Greenblatt Max Kampelman Harvey Pitt Sargent Shriver William Howard Taft IV Marc Zell Vanessa Ruiz Official website
19.
National Hockey League
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Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the playoff champion at the end of each season. At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, the league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of American and Canadian teams. After a labour-management dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, in 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, attendance, and television audiences. The league draws many highly skilled players from all over the world, canadians have historically constituted the majority of the players in the league, with an increasing percentage of American and European players in recent seasons. The National Hockey League was established in 1917 as the successor to the National Hockey Association, founded in 1909, the NHA began play one year later with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec, and was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, frank Calder was chosen as its first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play, and the remaining owners created a new team in Toronto, the first games were played on December 19,1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, the NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, which was an interleague competition back then. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for the 1918 Stanley Cup. The Canadiens won the title in 1919, however their Stanley Cup Final against the PCHAs Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned as a result of the Spanish Flu epidemic. Montreal in 1924 won their first Stanley Cup as a member of the NHL, the Hamilton Tigers, won the regular season title in 1924–25 but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after defeated the Toronto St. Patricks in the semi-final. Montreal was then defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1925 Stanley Cup and it was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926 after the WCHL ceased operation. The National Hockey League embarked on rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons, the Bruins were the first American team in the league. The New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing the assets of the Hamilton Tigers, the New York Rangers were added in 1926. The Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars were also added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL, a group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and immediately renamed them the Maple Leafs. The first NHL All-Star Game was held in 1934 to benefit Ace Bailey, the second was held in 1937 in support of Howie Morenzs family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game
20.
Ernst & Young
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EY is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. EY is one of the largest professional services firm in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, the organisation operates as a network of member firms which are separate legal entities in individual countries. It has 231,000 employees in over 700 offices around 150 countries in the world and it provides assurance, tax, consulting and advisory services to companies. The firm dates back to 1849 with the founding of Harding & Pullein in England, the current firm was formed by a merger of Ernst & Whinney and Arthur Young & Co. in 1989. It was known as Ernst & Young until 2013, when it underwent a rebranding to EY, the acronym EY was already an informal name for the firm prior to its official adoption. In 2016, Fortune magazine ranked EY as 49th of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, EY is the result of a series of mergers of ancestor organizations. The oldest originating partnership was founded in 1849 in England as Harding & Pullein, in that year the firm was joined by Frederick Whinney. He was made a partner in 1859 and with his sons in the business it was renamed Whinney Smith & Whinney in 1894, in 1903, the firm of Ernst & Ernst was established in Cleveland by Alwin C. Ernst and his brother Theodore and in 1906, Arthur Young & Co. was set up by the Scotsman Arthur Young in Chicago. As early as 1924, these American firms allied with prominent British firms, Young with Broads Paterson & Co. in the year 1979, this led to the formation of Anglo-American Ernst & Whinney, creating the fourth largest accountancy firm in the world. Also in 1979, the European offices of Arthur Young merged with large local European firms. In 1989, the four firm Ernst & Whinney merged with the then number five, Arthur Young. The merger plans were abandoned in February 1998 due to client opposition, antitrust issues, cost problems, EY had built up its consultancy arm heavily during the 1980s and 1990s. In 2002, EY took over many of the ex-Arthur Andersen practices around the world, although not those in the UK, China, in 2010, EY acquired Terco, the Brazilian member firm of Grant Thornton. In 2013, EY changed its name from Ernst & Young to EY. EY expanded further and acquired all of KPMG Denmarks operations including its 150 partners,1500 employees and 21 offices. In 2015, EY opened its first ever global Security Operations Centre at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in India, in 2017 EY announced it was opening an executive support center in Tucson, Arizona, creating over 125 new jobs. In 2017 the company looking for a location for a new, $4.35 million professional services center in Louisville, Kentucky, creating 125 new jobs
21.
Amazon (company)
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Amazon. com, also called Amazon, is an American electronic commerce and cloud computing company that was founded on July 5,1994, by Jeff Bezos and is based in Seattle, Washington. It is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world by total sales, the company also produces consumer electronics—notably, Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo—and is the worlds largest provider of cloud infrastructure services. Amazon also sells certain low-end products like USB cables under its in-house brand AmazonBasics. Amazon has separate retail websites for the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan, China, India, and Mexico. Amazon also offers international shipping to other countries for some of its products. In 2016, Dutch, Polish, and Turkish language versions of the German Amazon website were launched. In 2015, Amazon surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization, in 1994, Bezos left his employment as vice-president of D. E. Shaw & Co. a Wall Street firm and moved to Seattle. He began to work on a plan for what would eventually become Amazon. com. Bezos incorporated the company as Cadabra on July 5,1994, Bezos changed the name to Amazon a year later after a lawyer misheard its original name as cadaver. In September 1994, Bezos purchased the URL Relentless. com and briefly considered naming his online store Relentless, the domain is still owned by Bezos and still redirects to the retailer. The company went online as Amazon. com in 1995, Bezos placed a premium on his head start in building a brand, telling a reporter, Theres nothing about our model that cant be copied over time. But you know, McDonalds got copied, and it still built a huge, multibillion-dollar company. A lot of it comes down to the brand name, brand names are more important online than they are in the physical world. Additionally, a beginning with A was preferential due to the probability it would occur at the top of any list that was alphabetized. Since June 19,2000, Amazons logotype has featured a curved arrow leading from A to Z, representing that the company carries every product from A to Z, with the arrow shaped like a smile. After reading a report about the future of the Internet that projected annual Web commerce growth at 2, 300% and he narrowed the list to what he felt were the five most promising products, which included, compact discs, computer hardware, computer software, videos and books. Amazon was founded in the garage of Bezos home in Bellevue, the company began as an online bookstore, an idea spurred off with discussion with John Ingram of Ingram Book, along with Keyur Patel who still holds a stake in Amazon. Amazon was able to access books at wholesale from Ingram, in the first two months of business, Amazon sold to all 50 states and over 45 countries
22.
Empire State Building
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The Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper located on Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets in Midtown, Manhattan, New York City. It has a height of 1,250 feet, and with its antenna included. Its name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State and it stood as the worlds tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931 until the topping out of the original World Trade Centers North Tower in late 1970. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the tallest building in New York, the Empire State Building is currently the fifth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States and the 34th-tallest in the world. It is also the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas, when measured by pinnacle height, it is the fourth-tallest building in the United States. The Empire State Building is an American cultural icon and it is designed in the distinctive Art Deco style and has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and it was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the AIAs List of Americas Favorite Architecture, the site of the Empire State Building was first developed as the John Thompson Farm in the late 18th century. At the time, a stream ran across the site, emptying into Sunfish Pond, beginning in the late 19th century, the block was occupied by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, frequented by The Four Hundred, the social elite of New York. The limestone for the Empire State Building came from the Empire Mill in Sanders, Indiana which is a town adjacent to Bloomington. The Empire Mill Land office is near State Road 37 and Old State Road 37 just south of Bloomington, the Bloomington, Bedford, and Oolitic area is known locally as the limestone capital of the world. The Empire State Building was designed by William F, the building was designed from the top down. The general contractors were The Starrett Brothers and Eken, and the project was financed primarily by John J. Raskob, the construction company was chaired by Alfred E. Smith, a former Governor of New York and James Farleys General Builders Supply Corporation supplied the building materials. John W. Bowser was project construction superintendent, excavation of the site began on January 22,1930, and construction on the building itself started on March 17—St. Patricks Day—per Al Smiths influence as Empire State, Inc. president, the project involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, along with hundreds of Mohawk iron workers, many from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. According to official accounts, five died during the construction. Governor Smiths grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1,1931, lewis Wickes Hines photography of the construction provides not only invaluable documentation of the construction, but also a glimpse into common day life of workers in that era. The construction was part of a competition in New York for the title of worlds tallest building
23.
Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
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The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is an international body in the field of tall buildings and sustainable urban design. Its stated mission is to study and report on all aspects of the planning, design, the Council was founded at Lehigh University in 1969 by Lynn S. Beedle, where its office remained until October 2003 when it moved to the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. The CTBUH ranks the height of buildings using three different methods, Height to architectural top, This is the criterion under which the CTBUH ranks the height of buildings. Heights are measured from the level of the lowest, significant, open-air, pedestrian entrance to the top of the building, inclusive of spires but excluding items such as flagpoles and antennae. Highest occupied floor, Height to the level of the highest floor that is occupied by residents. Height to tip, Height to the highest point of the building, including antennae, flagpoles, a category measuring to the top of the roof was removed from the ranking criteria in November 2009. This became the CTBUH official definition of a building’s completion, the CTBUH maintains an extensive database of the tallest buildings in the world, organized by various categories. Buildings under construction are included, although not ranked until completion. The CTBUH also produces an annual list of the ten tallest buildings completed in that particular year. Second on the 2008 list was the 363-metre Almas Tower in Dubai, third was the Minsheng Bank Building in Wuhan which stands at 331 metres, whilst fourth was The Address Downtown Burj Dubai. All in all, six of the ten tallest buildings completed in 2008 are located in Asia, the CTBUH also hosts annual conferences and a World Congress every three to five years. The most recent World Congress was held in Shanghai between 19 and 21 September 2012, the next World Congress will be held in Shanghai between 16 and 19 September 2014. The CTBUH also bestows Tall Building Awards each year, with four awards to the Americas, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Among these four regional awards, one is given the Best Tall Building Award Overall, there are also two lifetime achievement awards. Starting in 2010, these awards are presented at a symposium, in 2012 the CTBUH added two new awards for Innovation and Performance. In addition to the newsletter and daily updated global news archive. The Journal includes peer-reviewed technical papers, in-depth project case studies, book reviews, interviews with prominent persons in the building industry. The CTBUH also publishes guidebooks, reference manuals, and monographs related to the building industry
