Construction began on world's tallest modular building, a 32-storey residential tower in Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards development by Manhattan-based firm SHoP Architects. Nearly 60 percent of the B2 tower will be prefabricated off-site. This means the complex will produce 70-90 percent less waste and will reduce energy consumption by 67 percent during the building phase. Controversy has swirled around this strategy, as it will cut union worker wages from US$ 85 an hour for on-site construction to only US$ 35 an hour in a factory setting. The development also drastically cuts the number of workers needed, leaving only 125 lucky laborers on the job. The flipside to this is that the overall cost and energy will be also being cut. B2 is the first of three new residential towers planned around the Barclays Center, the 19,000-seat indoor sports and music arena that opened this September. Both were designed by Manhattan-based firm SHoP Architects as part of the controversial Atlantic Yards development. The three buildings will provide around 1500 residential units in total, half of which will be earmarked as affordable housing. B2's 363 apartments are expected to be available for occupancy in summer 2014. While developers and city officials hail B2 as the world's tallest modular building, construction is also set to begin on a modular tower in Changsha, China, which at 838 meters, or 220 story's, would be the tallest building in the world - and construction firm Broad Sustainable Building says the tower, called Sky City, will go up in just 90 days. Recently the prefab Hotel in China's south-central Hunan province standing 30 stories was erected in an incredible 360 hours or in 15 days. The hotel built Chinese sustainable-building firm Broad Group and the building is designed to withstand up a 9.0 magnitude earthquake - and even boasts energy-efficient building techniques. In 2010 Broad Group during 6 days built another prefab building, the 15-story Ark Hotel in the Changsha Province, demonstrating fantastic speed of prefab building construction.

One of the biggest homes in U.S. history is rising on a Los Angeles hilltop, and the developer hopes to sell it for a record US$ 500 million. Nile Niami, a film producer and speculative residential developer, is pouring concrete in L.A.'s Bel Air neighborhood for a compound with a 6,9 thousand square meter main residence and three smaller homes, according to city records. The project, which will take at least 20 more months to complete, will exceed 9,3 thousand square meters, including a 465 square meters master bedroom, a 30-car garage and a "Monaco-style casino," Niami said. Niami's project, on a 1.6-hectare hilltop lot, will have 360-degree views of the Pacific Ocean, Beverly Hills, downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. Plans called for removal of almost 30,600 cubic meters of earth, the equivalent of an American football field covered by 6 meters of dirt. Niami's mansion is set to be the largest built in the U.S. this century, surpassing Versailles, a 8,3 thousand square meters chateau in Windermere, Florida, under construction for David Siegel, founder and chief executive officer of Westgate Resorts. Estates with views of the Los Angeles basin are the California counterpart to Manhattan's penthouses or London's Mayfair manors, drawing a global cast of financiers, technology tycoons and celebrities who collect trophy homes like works of art. Around the world, five properties sold for US$ 100 million or more last year, and at least 20 others have nine-figure asking prices, Christie's International Real Estate reported last month. The priciest home ever sold was a US$ 221 million London penthouse purchased in 2011, according to Christie's. The most expensive properties on the market include a US$ 750 million rancho in USA, a US$ 425 million estate in France's Cote d'Azur Villa Leopolda, an almost US$ 400 million penthouse in Monaco and a US$ 365 million London manor.

New York's first "micro apartment" building "My Micro NY" is constructed in Brooklyn Navy Yard (New York, USA). According to New York Times, the end of construction is planned for this spring and the building will begin leasing studios in summer. The project was designed by "nArchitects". The firm won a closely watched design competition in 2013 that was sponsored by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development and enthusiastically endorsed by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The city's first "micro" building will have 55 rental apartments, all ranging from 23-34 square meters with kitchenettes, wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, ceilings over 2.7 meters high and big windows. And to help make living in a small space more palatable, tenants will have access to storage units and common spaces scattered throughout the building. The building will begin leasing studios this summer for around US$ 2 - 3 thousand a month. The project is being watched with interest by both housing advocates and developers, and not just because of its modular construction. Housing advocates say the creation of more micro-apartments could open up many more reasonably priced living options. More units dedicated to singles could eventually bring down rent prices across the city, as more two- to four-bedroom apartments would then open up to families. The contest was developed to address the growing need in New York City for affordable studios, one person- and two person-households. It was originally a part of Mayor Bloomberg's New Housing Marketplace Plan, a multi-billion dollar initiative to finance 165 thousand units of affordable housing for an expected 500 thousand New Yorkers. Under current zoning laws enacted in 1987, all NYC apartments must be at least 37 square meters, but then-mayor Michael Bloomberg said in 2013 that the new micro-units would be an exception.