This year in January Barclays Capital research reported, there is an "unhealthy correlation" between the building of skyscrapers and subsequent financial crashes. Often the world's tallest buildings are simply the edifice of a broader skyscraper building boom, reflecting a widespread misallocation of capital and an impending economic correction. Examples include the "Empire State building", built as the "Great Depression" was under way, and the current world's tallest, the "Burj Khalifa", built just before Dubai almost went bust. Besides this research world's largest companies are continuing to fund skyscrapers construction. Tomy Winata, the Artha Graha group director and Agung Prabowo, the Danayasa Arthatama Company's director, are sure, that with a fast growing Indonesian economy, by the time the planned tower is finished, the supply of office space and rooms will meet demand. According to The Financial Times, Artha Graha group director Tomy Winata plans to build a 111-storey tower, which will be the world's fifth tallest skyscraper upon completion in five years' time. The tower will build the Danayasa Arthatama, an Artha Graha subsidiary company focused on the property sector. The US$ 2 billion tower will rise 534.5 meters above ground level according to the architect's plans. As reported the newspaper the MGM Resorts International, a US-listed casino and hospitality group, will manage a luxury hotel on the top 20 floors of the building. The Signature Tower will be built in the Sudirman Central Business District, a 45 hectare development controlled by Mr. Winata's business group and home to the Indonesia Stock Exchange and many banks and international companies. Today many skyscraper projects are still on paper. UAE planned to build 1400-meters tall "Nakheel tower", but its construction was delayed. Saudi Arabia also plans to build the 1010-meters tall "Kingdom Tower" in Jeddah. In January of this year, Azerbaijan also announced, that its Avesta concern decided to build 1050 meters tall "Azerbaijan Tower" in "Caspian Island".

According to US publications, an unknown buyer has paid over US$ 90 million for an unfinished penthouse apartment, setting a new mark for the priciest home in New York City. He bought the 1015 square meters penthouse on the 89th and 90th floors of One57, the building currently under construction at 157 West 57th Street. The building, which features a Park Hyatt below the condominium units, will offer striking views of the southern end of Central Park and will be among New York's tallest residential structures when it is completed next year. Since One57 opened for sales in December, about half of its 92 apartments have been sold. This purchase breaks the previous New York City record of US$ 88 million paid by a Russian billionaire to buy a Central Park West apartment for his daughter last year. As we reported earlier, it is 10-room penthouse with total area of 626 square meters. On a per-square foot basis, however, this is a much better deal. The latest sale went for about US$ 8 thousand a square foot (US$ 88 600 for 1 square meter), while the Central Park West pad went for more than US$ 13 thousand (US$ 140 000 for 1 square meter). Foreign buyers, including Brazilians, Chinese and Russians, have been on a buying spree in New York and Miami in recent months, developers and brokers say. Russian and Ukrainian buyers have shown a particular willingness to pay top dollar for so-called trophy properties. Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development Company, was quick to dispel any notion that the One57 penthouse was sold to a Russian, saying the buyer was not Russian, Ukrainian or from "any other part of the former Soviet Union." He described the buyer as a "very nice family" who plans to use the penthouse as a residence, and as "someone that people would recognize." One57 is a 90-story skyscraper currently under-construction in New York City. Upon completion in 2013, it will stand at 306 meters tall, making it one of the tallest buildings in the city. The mixed use tower is developed by the Extell Development Company and the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Atelier Christian de Portzamparc designed One57 with SLCE Architects. The building will have 135 residential units on top of a Park Hyatt Hotel with 210 rooms. Foundation work started in January 2010.

The world's largest solar thermal system for water heating recently opened in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The new one is almost double the size of what was previously the largest solar water heating facility (located in Denmark), and it will generate enough power to heat water for a university of 40 thousand students. The Millennium Energy company was responsible for the design and build of the solar thermal plant and the GREENTecONE, an Austrian solar design company, supplied the solar panels for the project. The 36 thousand square meter rooftop system is the size of five soccer fields and was built at a cost of US$ 14 million. The solar technology is just one of the many features that will make the new US$ 11.5 billion Princess Nora bint Abdul Rahman University for Women in Riyadh a showcase for environmental innovation. The project is also a signal that countries in the Middle East, which have become wealthy thanks to fossil fuels, are now planning for post-oil future. Plentiful sun shines down on Saudi Arabia, and the solar panels that allow this project to run are massive. Each one covers 10 square meters and weighs 170 kilograms. The panels have a transparent coating to enhance their performance, and they also require a special mounting system to keep them bolted to the roofs when Saudi Arabia's notoriously vicious sandstorms hit Riyadh. Watch for similar projects to appear in Saudi Arabia the coming decade. The Kingdom has set a goal for 10 percent of its energy to come from solar power by 2020. Currently oil is plentiful, and over half of Saudi Arabia's electricity comes from the country's black gold. But with oil pricing at over US$ 100 a barrel, it makes economic sense for Saudi Arabia to reduce their dependency at home and export more of it abroad. With the country expected to grow even more in the coming years, Saudi Arabia could become a global leader in solar power generation. The $14 million renewable solar energy development includes a 36,000 square metre rooftop solar energy system that will cater to the hot water needs of the 40,000 students at the city's Princess Noura Bint Abdulrahman University for Women. The 10 square metre solar panels have been provided by Austrian firm GREENTecOne. After a six month trial period, each one of the six solar fields has been uncovered and six tanks of 150m3 have been built to store excess solar heat at 110 C.

The Titanic Belfast is the world's largest Titanic museum, and it is located at the site of the famous ship's construction in Northern Ireland, Belfast. The interactive museum took 3 years to build - the same amount of time it took to build the ship - and it opened just in time, on March 31, for the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic's launch. The Titanic's maiden and fatal voyage was made on April 10, 1912. The White Star Line ocean liner was originally constructed in the Belfast shipyard and the museum celebrates her craftsmanship and the people who built her. Irish Architecture firm TODD Architects is responsible for the design of the icy museum, which is clad in 3 thousand individual silver anodized aluminum shards, requiring sophisticated 3D modeling to complete. The museum's volume is meant to resemble four 27.5 meters high hulls although it eerily looks a bit like an iceberg, which was the cause of the ship's demise. Inside, the museum features 9 interactive galleries that explore the sights, sounds, smells and stories of the Titanic, as well as the city and people which made her. Visitors can explore how the ship was constructed, her launch, the lavish rooms of the wealthy, third class steerage, the timeline of the disaster, and then details about her watery grave. The building will also house temporary exhibits, a thousand seat banqueting suite, education and community facilities, catering and retail space and a basement car park.

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.