Anya Hairapetan, the daughter of wealthy Moscow-based journalist, publisher and oil tycoon Levon Hairapetian, is unloading a prized piece of her real estate portfolio. After picking up a historic Brooklyn Heights carriage house for $9.8 million last year, Hairapetian is letting it go again for almost the same price. The four-bedroom townhouse at 165 Columbia Heights is back on the market asking $9.9 million, according to The Real Deal. In 2014, the New York Post reported that she bought a West Village townhouse for $9.89 million at 280 West Fourth Street that was once home to artist Charles Webster Hawthorne, mentor to Norman Rockwell. The Brooklyn carriage house is on the market with Compass’ Maggie Sherman, who says in the listing that the property has all new mechanical systems and every structural piece has been replaced. The house features a 3-car garage, expansive open living space, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and a beautiful planted Roof Terrace.

Timber constructions are rapidly carving their rightful place in urban environments all over the world, and now, beautiful Sydney is home to the Australia’s largest commercial all-timber building. The International House by Tzannes Architects is a beautiful seven-story building with 7920 square meters total area constructed entirely with engineered or cross laminated timber. Located near the historic heart of the city, the International House is a beautiful all-wood design. With the exception of the single ground retail level, which is made out of conventional concrete, the striking building was constructed with engineered or cross laminated timber, including the floors, columns, walls, roof, elevator shafts, etc. The building is the first timber commercial building of its size in Australia. The project used a massive 3,500 cubic meters of sustainably grown and recycled timber. The architects chose to go with timber for its many sustainable features, but were also determined to create a design whose all-wood aesthetic would serve as an iconic landmark for the city. According to the architects, International House Sydney demonstrates that the commercial real estate market will accept mass timber construction as a viable and exciting alternative to conventional concrete construction, increasing opportunity for architecture to contribute more effectively to a lower carbon and more sustainable future for urban development around the world. Earlier in 2012 Architect Michael Green, one of three principals at McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design (mgb), has plans for a 30-story wooden skyscraper in Vancouver. He predicted that instead of concrete jungles our cities can become urban forests of wooden skyscrapers. He was right. Last month in Australia, Brisbane held groundbreaking ceremony of world’s tallest wooden office building. When complete in 2018, 45 meters of the 52-meter office tower will qualify as the world’s highest to be held aloft not by steel and concrete, but timber and glue.

Some 2,000 years after they were first erected, Ancient Roman harbors made from concrete are still standing across Europe. Meanwhile, more modern constructions have proved far less durable. Finally, scientists have solved the puzzle of what made the ancient concrete so strong — and they think the discovery could make modern buildings more environmentally friendly. The results are published in American Mineralogist. Concrete used for ancient sea walls was made by mixing lime, seawater, volcanic ash and rock. Researchers have now discovered that elements in the ash react with sea water, which actually strengthens the material. Researchers discovered the Roman concrete contained aluminium tobermorite, a rare mineral that adds extra strength. When the Roman concrete was exposed to seawater, the tobermorite crystallised and spread. The researchers said that long-term exposure to sea water helped these crystals to continue growing, reinforcing the concrete and preventing cracks from developing.

AMBS Architects was commissioned with a highly confidential project - due to security reasons until recently - in Basra, Iraq. Home to a bulk of Iraq's oil reserves, the province is becoming one of the fastest-growing business centers in the world (and most precious per square meter). The new downtown master plan was assigned by the Basra governorate with an aim of maximizing the city's capacity by 2025. Avoiding urban sprawl was the top priority in order to protect the environment, thus posing the preference to build vertically, rather than outwards. The scheme for the downtown area will feature a one of a kind landmark to match its importance called The Bride tower. The brief developed into four conjoined towers creating a more logical and stable structure with multiple accesses and escape routes via horizontal and vertical circulations. Tower 1, located on the south side, is the tallest, and is shaded by a glazed canopy known as 'the veil'. The towers are connected at many levels creating "sky gardens" and "sky squares". The Bride will be the first vertical city in the world. It will also be the tallest structure there is and will break new ground in all disciplines of engineering: from structures to vertical transportation and services. It will keep a constant typical section from top to bottom, which gives maximum space efficiency and repetition, reducing the costs. Furthermore, it's designed to be a "round the clock" city, with offices, hotels, whole neighborhoods, commercial centers, sky-squares, parks, gardens and its own rail network. The design responds to the external environment strategically positioning the structures in a way that they can shade one another. The south facade of tower 1 will be almost completely cloaked by a canopy that extends over 600 thousand square meters, covering low-rise buildings, public areas and the first floors of the high-rise. Apart from shading and cooling for the south facade of tower 1, the "veil" will integrate hybrid solar cooling PVT panels (a photovoltaic-thermal combined system). The water heated within these panels will be used to increase the performance of the photovoltaics, and which will subsequently be fed to absorption chillers. the heat provided to the generator will drive a cycle that produces chilled water for cooling. The city of Basra and its surrounding lands have been historically fertile and capable of producing abundant vegetation and agricultural crops. This reputation earned it the name "the bride of the gulf" by local people. The "bride tower" project takes its name to reference this saying and aims to convey the idea at many levels.