Apparently Phoenix isn't well-known enough, because developers want to put it on the map with a giant pin-shaped observation tower. Designed by BIG, the Pin is a 128 meters tall tower topped with a giant ball and spiraling exhibition and recreation space. Likely visible from space, the pin will let aliens and astronauts know where Phoenix is and visitors can enjoy unparalleled 360dg views from its heights. Lit up with LED lights at night, BIG plans for the Phoenix Observation Tower to serve as a working model of sustainable energy practices and will incorporate a blend of solar and other technologies. The Pin Phoenix Observation Tower is being developed by boutique real estate company Novawest and designed by Denmark-based BIG. Unlike many other big cities, Phoenix does not have an observation tower to draw visitors into its downtown. The pin will be located in the heart of the museums, convention center and the sports arenas. Rising 128 meters tall in the air, the Pin is composed of a concrete core topped with a spiral sphere. BIG's design was inspired by the Guggenheim museum and is like a core sample removed from the building and placed on top of a tower. Visitors will enter the facility through the Base, which will serve as a public plaza offering shade, water features and a small amount of retail together with a subterranean queuing area. An elevator in the core will take the visitors up to the top of the sphere and then they walk down at their own pace. Inside the sphere, visitors can enjoy dynamic viewing and observation space, a terrace bar and cafe, a high-end restaurant, event space for catered events, a viewing gallery for special art and cultural exhibits and an evening lounge and nightclub. The Pin is definitely a distinctive landmark and will certainly place the city on the map. One can imagine though the analogies you can make regarding its shape - a golf ball on a tee, a giant mascara wand, or a huge map pin. Sustainability is said to be a large part of the design and will include energy efficient practices, LED lighting, and solar technologies.

Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, who designed some of the 20th Century's most famous modernist buildings, has died just before his 105th birthday. Last year on December 15 he feted his 104th birthday in his Rio workshop overlooking Copacabana beach. He rose to international fame as the architect of the main government buildings in the futuristic Brazilian capital, Brasilia, inaugurated in 1960. During a long career in which he received top professional honors (in 1988, he was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize) Mr. Niemeyer also worked with Swiss-born modernist architect Le Corbusier on the UN building in New York and, as a lifelong communist sympathizer, designed the French party's head office in Paris while in exile from Brazil's military rulers. He continued to work on new projects until earlier this year. Last year the official opening of Niemeyer Center (Centro Niemeyer) was held in Aviles, (Asturias, Spain). Through his designs, Mr. Niemeyer protested the "orthodox functionalism" of modern building style that he thought left little room for sensuality. A bikini admirer, he often chose to link his work with Brazil's shapely beach women. "Form follows feminine," he said, twisting architect Louis Sullivan's famous remark about function. For inspiration, he drew on Brazil's colonial heritage with its ornate, baroque architecture, and applied new building materials and methods of construction. He favored reinforced concrete in an economy lacking in steel and created works of voluptuousness and space-age allure: smooth ramps leading to broad esplanades, domes shaped like soup bowls and entire buildings resembling flying saucers. His style was not to everyone's taste, and for a communist some people say his work was not very people-friendly - focusing more on the architecture's form than on its inhabitants or functionality. Niemeyer went on to create more than 600 buildings around the world. His legacy endures in museums, monuments, schools and churches in Brazil and beyond. Many of the designs were initially sketched on a table overlooking his beloved Rio de Janeiro and its famous Copacabana beach, replete with the women, waves and hills from which he drew such inspiration.

The second phase of the tallest hotel scheme in the world is to start in Dubai. The Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid ordered the start of the second phase of Emirates Group's twin tower JW Marriott Marquis Dubai hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road after being shown around the first phase, an 804 room tower, which opened to the public earlier this month. The hotel, which is scheduled to be completed in late 2014 or early 2015, will eventually have 1,600 rooms, making it Dubai's biggest hotel by room number. And at 355 meters tall, the structures will be only 26 meters shorter than the Empire State Building in New York. The hotel also boasts the largest function room in the Middle East and 19 restaurants.

Norman Foster presented proposals for a master plan to bring clarity back to Grand Central Terminal at The Municipal Art Society of New York's annual Summit in New York. Grand Central Terminal is one of New York's greatest landmarks and contains perhaps the city's finest civic space. However, over time it has become a victim of its own success. A building designed to be used by 75 thousand people per day now routinely handles ten times that number with up to a million on peak days. The result is acute overcrowding; connections to the rail and subway lines beneath the concourse are inadequate; and the arrival and departure experience is poor. Added to that, the surrounding streets are choked with traffic and pedestrians are marginalized. The rapid growth of tall buildings in the vicinity has all but consumed the Terminal. Within the station, the proposal creates wider concourses, with new and improved entrances. Externally, streets will be reconfigured as shared vehicle/pedestrian routes, and Vanderbilt Avenue fully pedestrianized. The proposal also creates new civic spaces that will provide Grand Central with an appropriate urban setting for the next 100 years. The 42nd street entrance to the south, where access is severely constrained, will be widened to fill the entire elevation by using existing openings, thus greatly easing accessibility. The access via tunnels on the northern approach from Park Avenue will be rebalanced in favor of pedestrians by creating grander, enlarged underground spaces through the Helmsley building. Lexington Avenue to the east will be tree-lined with wider sidewalks and will benefit from more prominent and enhanced tunnel access to Grand Central Terminal. The idea already mooted to pedestrianize Vanderbilt Avenue to the west would be extended. The street would be anchored to the south by a major new enlarged civic space between 43rd Street and the west entrance to the Terminal and to the north by a plaza accommodating new entrances to the East Side Access lines. Trees, sculpture and street cafes will bring life and new breathing space to Grand Central Terminal. At platform and concourse levels where congestion is particularly acute for travellers on the 4, 5, 6 and 7 lines, we will radically enlarge the connecting public areas, to address the huge increase in passenger traffic in the last 100 years. This will transform the experience for arriving and departing commuters and passengers. A generous new concourse will be created beneath the west entrance plaza on Vanderbilt Avenue connecting directly into the main station concourse. This visionary master plan with its focus on pedestrians and travellers will allow Grand Central Terminal to regain the civic stature that it deserves as a major New York landmark and an appropriate twenty-first century transport hub.

Russian billionaire, the chairman of Board of Directors of Capital Group, Vladislav Doronin, has built a futuristic mansion for his girlfriend Naomi Campbell in Moscow's suburban area known as Barvikha. The house for the supermodel looks like a spaceship. The unusual house was designed by famous British architect Zaha Hadid. The Russian entrepreneur plans to present the house to the famous British model when they become husband and wife. The house of 8687 square meters is called "Capital Hill Residence". The building consists of two 20-meter-high towers and is designed in Eco-style - a mixture of modern technologies and natural forms. The white mansion stands aloof amidst pine trees. The planning of the house is impressive. The basement will house a Finnish sauna, a hamam (Turkish bath) and a Russian bath. A huge gym is next door. The basement also houses a guest room. On the upper level, there is a reception hall, an indoor swimming pool, a dining room and a kitchen. The house has two children's rooms. The interior of the house is designed in Eco-style. The designer was inspired by the work of legendary Barcelona architect Antonio Gaudi, who did not accept straight lines and liked to use wood and glass in interior decoration. As for real estate, which Vladislav Doronin gives to his girlfriend, Naomi Campbell already has a penthouse in Brazil, not far from Sao Paulo. Doronin bought it for $18.5 million. In 2011, Doronin financed the construction of the Eye of Horus villa in Turkey for Naomi. The building was built in the form of the right eye of the Egyptian deity. The building, designed by young architect from Spain, Luis de Garrido, became a birthday present for Naomi.