With inauguration on January 5, the "Baluarte Bridge" in Mexico is officially the Guinness World Record holder for the tallest cable-stayed bridge, reported Constructiondigital. The massive infrastructure project consists of 152 steel suspenders supporting over 1100 meters of 20 meter wide roadway, with a central span of over 520 meters. The 403m (1,321ft) tall "Baluarte Bridge" is part of celebrations to mark 200 years of Mexico's independence from Spain. Its four lanes are held up tall enough to house the Eiffel Tower - which bring the structure its impressive world record credentials. The US$ 1.42 billion project is 86 percent complete, and will be finished by the end of January. The bridge spans a deep ravine in northern Mexico, and the achievement comes soon after the country's bicentennial celebration of independence from Spain. "It is definitely one of the most impressive infrastructure projects. It is a key piece of Mazatlan and Durango -a project that is going to unite the people from the north of Mexico like never before," said Felipe Calderon, Mexico's President. More than 4 years in the making, the project is intended to provide a more direct route through the "Devil's Backbone" as the area is known. Critics say that the bridge will open up a new "drug superhighway", allowing marijuana and other narcotics to be more easily transported through the area's mountainous region. Officials, however, insist the project will benefit the local communities. The highest suspension bridge is the Siduhe Bridge in China, with 472m height and 900m span. To avoid misunderstanding about record holders, we need to add, that difference between the two are bridge structures. Thus, the Mexican Baluarte Bridge structure is called cable-stayed, while China's Siduhe Bridge's-suspension.

Russian businessman Dmitry Rybolovlev bought the most expensive apartment in central New York for US$ 88 million, reported the New York Observer. It turns out, the most expensive home in the history of Manhattan real estate. Rybolovlev owned 10-room penthouse at 15 Central Park West in New York. The total area of apartment exceeding 626 square meters, besides this it's surrounding by terrace area over 190 square meters. According to New York Observer, former principal owner of the "Uralkali" was the 93rd richest person in the world with a net worth around US$ 9.5 billion. Were he to move in full-time, that would make him the fifth richest New Yorker, behind David Koch, Mayor Bloomberg, John Paulson and Ronald Perelman. This is not the first time a rich Russian has set real estate records this year. The current belt is held by Igor Krutoy, a Russian composer who paid US$ 48 million for a massive spread just across the park at the Plaza. The fertilizer kingpin is no stranger to staggering real estate. In 2008, he purchased Donald Trump's 3 thousand square meters Florida estate, Maison L'Amitie, for US$ 95 million. Photo gallery here.

One of the world's largest Apple store is opening at the landmark Grand Central Terminal. The 2136 square meters personal electronics business will start selling to the public on December 9, reported The Huffington Post. The construction of store began on August. The Grand Central Terminal Apple store, the fifth to open in New York City, is about the size of two that are in London. Now this is the largest store of company. The second largest Apple store in the world is located in Convent Garden in London, England. That location covers 2320 square meters, but only 1520 square meters of that property is open to the public. Apple, behind Macintosh computers and such iconic products as the iPod, the iPad and the iPhone, signed a 10-year lease with the MTA for the space once occupied by Charlie Palmer's Metrazur restaurant, which got US$ 5 million from Apple to clear out early. The lease for Apple cost US$ 800 thousand annually for the first ten years and would bump up to US$ 1.1 million a year after the first decade. According to the transit agency the draw of the Apple name promises to increase foot traffic to other businesses at the terminal, which is visited by about 750 thousand people daily and is home to the Metro-North commuter railroad.

On November 3, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat announced the winner of its annual "Best Tall Building Worldwide 2011". KfW Westarkade (Frankfurt, Germany) by Sauerbruch Hutton architects named as the 2011 Overall "Best Tall Building Worldwide" during 10th Annual Awards Ceremony, reported CTBUH.rog. The architects at Sauerbruch Hutton, Germany have built the world's most energy efficient glass tower using "pressure ring facade" in 2010. The architecture incorporated the facade design developed in 1990s which managed excess sunlight in glass towers while building the 15 story glass tower in Frankfurt, Germany. The design includes a pressure ring facade, the first of its kind, reducing the effects of changes in the pressure around the building and enhancing natural ventilation. Complex and highly sophisticated computer controlled flaps in the outer facade open and close and equalize the pressure throughout. The inner windows can be opened and strong winds entering the building are prevented. The building's control system constantly gets a feedback from a rooftop weather station and from 40 sensors installed all around the building which measure pressure, temperature and sunlight. The system also has geothermal heat exchangers, heat capturing modules from basement data center and heat recovered from vented air. All this reduces the tower's primary energy demand to less than 100 Kwh of energy per square meter per year. It is approximately half of the current European average, and one third of the American. The need for the mechanical ventilation will be almost eliminated in fall and spring as air from open windows will be available. The unwanted summer heat is rejected by the Venetian blind installed horizontally. On the other side, pane of glass over the blinds and provided with ventilation at both top and bottom protects blinds from strong winds. This posed a major problem that when windows were opened, pressure difference created around the tower sent drafts across the floor which flew everything.

Spanish practice Cloud 9's Media-ICT office scheme in Barcelona has been named as the "World Building of the Year" at the 2011 World Architectural Festival (WAF), reported Architect journal. The building is 44m x 44m x 37.82m meters high, with 16 thousand square meter of commercial space above ground and 7.1 thousand square meter below surface, with capacity for 200 car parking spaces. The victorious scheme was selected from 16 finalists to win the highest accolade in global architecture and is the first win for the host city. The facade is made of south-facing, inflatable ETFE cushions which act to a sunscreen in summer and can opening in winter to gain solar energy. The scheme's upper floors are available for big companies, while the second and third floor have small spaces for emergent companies and the first floor with the auditorium offers a course program open to all the city residents. Meanwhile the overall "Future Project of the Year" award went to Hong Kong-based "Integrated Design Associates" for its Hanimaadaoo International Airport, Maldives. The new airport, designated as the Country's second international gateway, is intended for an island with very limited land mass. Frank Gehry's iconic 76-story Beekman Tower at 8 Spruce Street, New York won the " Structural Project of the Year 2011" with the prize going to engineer WSP Cantor Seinuk.