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- Counting both ongoing and planned construction projects, the GCC’s construction pipeline totals $2.8 trillion, especially in mixed-use mega-developments, airports and seaports, and transportation infrastructure, according to the recent report by Deloitte.
- “The Middle East is seeing nationwide transformation in construction innovation, with projects for mega-events such as World Expo 2020 in Dubai and 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar stretching design boundaries.
- The building and construction sector in Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) has witnessed 74 per cent growth in the last five years growing from Dh10.7 billion in 2009 to Dh18.6 billion in 2014.
- Advancing government BIM mandates further demonstrate the Middle East’s desire to be on par with global innovators in the construction field,” Paul Wallett, area business director, Tekla Middle East, said in a statement.
- Among the top visiting countries to the event will be the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt and Pakistan.
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- But Transport for London (TfL) and the Garden Bridge Trust have carried on regardless, egged on by powerful Bullingdon backers, mayor Boris Johnson and chancellor George Osborne.
- The president of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association has described it as a “vanity project of a windswept garden on an unneeded bridge”, while leading bridge engineers have called it a “private garden platform pretending to be a bridge”.
- The National Audit Office has been ordered to examine the “rationale” behind George Osborne’s pledge of £30m of Treasury funding for the bridge.
- Their correspondence over funding the bridge was recently uncovered by the Architects’ Journal, in which Osborne spelled out his £30m grant and urged Johnson to “do the same”.
- Opponents have objected to the £60m of public funding and the £3.5m annual maintenance costs, to the restricted access for bikes and to the murky procurement process, which saw Thomas Heatherwick appointed ahead of other experienced bridge designers.
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- Pomo summer: Memphis Group designer Martine Bedin’s Super Lamp can be trailed along like a dog on a leash, demonstrating the collective’s playful style.
- “We were always discussing the possibilities of new furniture, furniture that could move,” said Bedin. “I was designing everything on wheels at this time.
- The Super Lamp was one of a variety of lighting designs that Bedin created for Memphis.
- The Super Lamp is still produced and sold through the Memphis Milano gallery, and has remained one of Memphis’ most recognisable pieces.
- Sottsass and his wife Barbara Radice also visited Bedin in Paris, and spotted the design for the Super Lamp while flicking through her sketch book.
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- David Chipperfield Architects has completed a pair of holiday villas inspired by lemon houses on a hillside overlooking Italy’s largest lake (+ slideshow).
- According to David Chipperfield Architects, they “echo the rhythm of the surrounding olive groves”.
- The British architect’s Berlin office paired rugged stone walls with timber and concrete pergolas to recreate the aesthetic of Lake Garda’s famous limonaias – buildings where lemon trees are cultivated behind high walls.
- The largest of the two structures, known as Villa David Chipperfield, is a two-storey structure with an open-plan living, dining and kitchen space on the ground floor.
- Once complete, the Villa Eden will comprise seven villas, a hotel and an apartment building.
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