On April 21 billionaire Donald Trump will visit Georgia, told Silk Road Group representative during his interview to News-eorgia. The purpose of the visit is a presentation of Trump's Batumi new project. As we reported earlier, on March10th last year, during the visit of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to New York, the Trump Organization and the Georgian company Silk Road Group signed a protocol of intent to develop two Trump managed skyscrapers in Georgia, one in Batumi and another in Tbilisi. The start of construction is scheduled in 2013 and would be overseen by the Silk Road Group, one of the largest private investment companies in the region and the Trump Organization partner for the project. The deal, which the partners estimate about US$ 250-300 million, calls for two projects. The Trump Tower in Batumi would be a part of a planned by Silk Road complex that includes a casino, an exhibition hall and a marina. The residential buildings will each contain 100 apartments and rise nearly 40 stories - average by New York standards, but nearly twice the size of the republic's tallest structures.

Scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Bayer have developed a seismic wallpaper that can hold up building walls during earthquakes, reported The Inhabitat. The system, called EQ-Top, is a glass fiber fabric that can help keep mason walls stable. After two years of research and testing, the patented product, which could help keep office buildings and apartments safer during an earthquake, will soon be available for purchase. For many years researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) simulated earthquake scenarios in the quest to find a better way to support buildings in the event of such a disaster. At first they tried using materials with a carbon fiber base, but those created even worse damage after testing. By 2010, the university team began to experiment with glass fibers. These strong and stiff glass fibers are interwoven to create durable and elastic panels. The fibers crisscross in various directions, so they are both strong and pliable, allowing the covering to distribute energy evenly when the walls shake during an earthquake. Standard wallpaper glue is not enough to keep walls standing in the event of seismic activity, however. KIT therefore began working with Bayer's Material Science division to enhance the product. The result was a flexible yet soft adhesive that contains water and polyurethane beads. The adhesive forms to the grooves in a wall's masonry, and as the water evaporates it boosts the wallpaper's strength. The fabric was put to the test in a model home in an earthquake simulator, and thanks to the seismic wallpaper the building still stood and suffered little damage after the simulated quake. Bayer will market the wallpaper later this year. The building material is expected to cost more than regular wallpaper, but builders and homeowners who live in quake-prone areas may find the product well worth the price - and of course - the saved lives.

Changzhou, China will soon have a massive new cultural center complete with an arts museum, a science and technology museum and a library, reported The Inhabitat. The complex will be designed by Hamburg-based GMP Architekten who has made natural daylight a vital design strategy. Skylights, atria, transparent facades and bright white surfaces will encourage light to reach the inner depths of the large facility. Generous landscaping, which includes a waterway right through the center of the Changzhou Culture Center will make this a desirable meeting place and a prominent landmark for the city. GMP Architekten recently won first prize in the international competition to build the culture center in the newly created Changzhou city center. The 350,000 sq meter project will be six times larger than the Louvre in Paris and will include a number of hubs such as an arts museum, a science and technology museum and a library. The center will also provide for service facilities that support the center for culture in the Xinbei district of the city. The basement will provide for an underground parking garage and the lower levels will be filled with retail shops and restaurants. The complex's form is created from 6 modular buildings with the same cantilevered and arced volume. Placed together, these modules create a much larger volume with a flat roof and large open pavilions in the middle. From the outside, each module looks the same, but varies significantly on the inside with different architectural functions to cater to the specific programs within. The facades are clad in staggered grey slate and transparent glass to move light through and around the space, while skylights and atria help pull light down into the modules. Finally generous landscaping will work to make the center a desirable meeting place and a water course that cuts diagonally through the site will be a prominent feature. Like a natural canyon, the waterway is a landscaping element, helps create a microclimate and pulls light into the lower levels.

Would you spend US$ 300 a night to sleep underground? You might, once you see the jaw-dropping designs for China's latest hotel project. For more than a decade, China has been a front-runner in the world's skyscraper race. Now the country is taking the pole position in digging "groundscrapers" -- enormous structures built mostly underground. As reported CNN International, most recently, ground has been broken on construction of a high-end hotel at the foot of Shanghai's Tianmashan in a 100-meter-deep pit. Developed by Shanghai Shimao Property Group and to be managed by InterContinental Hotels Group, the hotel, named InterContinental Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, is expected to extend 19 stories into the bottom of the pit. Once completed, in late 2014 or early 2015, the deepest story of the luxury resort will be approximately 700 meters lower than the top floor of the world's-highest-hotel-to-be, the Shanghai Tower J Hotel in Shanghai Tower, set for completion around the same time. Located about 45 kilometers southwest of Shanghai's city center, the pit in Tianmushan is 100 meters deep, 240 meters long and 160 meters wide. The lowest 20 meters are filled with stagnant rainwater, which the hotel will retain. Construction of the 380-room InterContinental Shimao Shanghai Wonderland commenced last month. The 19-story hotel will have three levels above ground, and 16 underground, including an underwater restaurant. A 60-meter glass curtain will be built to mimic a waterfall next to the resort's main structure. The pit has served as a quarry since the 1950s, then it has been abandoned since the year 2000. Shimao purchased the surrounding land in 2006 in order to build Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, a large-scale theme park integrating hospitality, leisure and entertainment elements. The hotel is planned as part of the wonderland complex. Designed by UK-based engineering firm Atkins, the company behind the ostentatious Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, the quarry hotel design bagged a Gold Medal at last year's commercial real estate MIPIM Asia Awards. Industry experts believe nightly room rates will start from US$ 320, twice the price currently charged by nearby five-star hotels. Shimao is investing a total of US$ 555 million in the 428 thousand square meter Shimao Shanghai Wonderland, of which US$ 95 million will go toward the subterranean resort. Hotel planners are considering taking advantage of the site's surrounding cliffs by hosting activities such as rock climbing and bungee jumping.

The world's highest and longest tunnel-to-tunnel bridge has been completed in China, reported The Telegraph. The bridge, named the Aizhai Extra Large Suspension Bridge, will link together two tunnels 1176 meters apart, and 355 meters above Hunan's Dehang Canyon. The bridge is a key part of the Jishou-Chadong Expressway, a 64-kilometer road which has 18 different tunnels which cover about half of its length. It is hoped the bridge will help ease traffic jams which are common in the mountainous area which has narrow, steep and winding roads. The structure is supported by a base that is 24.5 meters wide and is designed for speeds of around 80 kilometers per hour. Pedestrians can also walk along it on a special walkway under the road. It has been dotted with 1888 lights to increase visibility at night. According to The Shanghaiist online publication, the bridge construction began in October 2007 and was completed in December 2011 with the assistance of a US$ 208 million load from the Asian Development Bank, cutting travel time from Jishou to Chadong from four hours to less than one hour. As mentioned Chen Mingxian, a renowned bridge expert and commander of the Aizhai bridge construction headquarters, the Aizhai Bridge bridges the Jishou-Chadong Highway with its steel truss girder bridge. Although it won't be not the highest bridge in the world by deck height (interestingly, this title also belongs to the Chinese, the Si Du River Bridge has a deck height of a staggering 496 meters), the Hunan Road and Bridge Construction Group and its partners created 4 No.1s (according to them) in the world architectural feats -- First, the construction of its 1176 meters long main span suspension bridge that crosses its canyon; Second, the first use of a pylon and girder separation structure; Third, the first use of a rock anchor in suspension and the use of carbon fiber as its pre-stressed reinforcement material; and lastly, the first adoption of rail cable sliding techniques used to erect the steel truss girder. China is also home to the longest bridge in the world. The 164.8 thousand meters long Danyang Kunshan Grand Bridge was built in 2010 to carry the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.