The 73-story Wilshire Grand Center in downtown Los Angeles, expected to be completed by 2017, is well on its way to becoming the tallest building on the West Coast. However, with the San Andreas Fault only 46 miles away from the project site, the structure needed to be designed to withstand up to 7.4-magnitude earthquake. Engineers were tasked with not only testing how the building would react to seismic activity, but also how the slender form could endure high winds. Using a computer simulated digital model, they determined that the project would need shock absorbers in the form of three-story-tall buckle resistant-braces in a central core that extends five floors below ground level and 850 feet above. The building's 17.5-foot-thick foundation also broke the record for largest continuous concrete pour in history. Still, should a sizeable quake occur, occupants on the topmost floors will experience a bumpy ride. In fact, according to an article in Wired, "The calculated peak acceleration at the top of the tower is ... on par with a Space Shuttle launch." As scary as that might sound, people can rest assured that the 1,100-foot-tall building itself is safe and sound. [Wired]
According to a proposed transportation strategy report called Urban Mobility in a Digital Age, Los Angeles could feasibly rely on self-driving vehicles and on-demand sharing services in the near future. [Curbed]
Scottish tidal energy consortium MeyGen's tidal stream project has has officially been launched with the unveiling of its first 49-foot, 440,925-pound turbine—which will soon be sent to its final location off the northern coast of Scotland. [The Guardian]
Phillip Bernstein, FAIA, announced via email that he will be stepping down as vice president for strategic industry relations at Autodesk to "refocus on architecture, turn my attention to teaching, writing and lecturing, and seeing what might come next." In November, he will "assume a consulting role with Autodesk as a Fellow, supporting selected thought leadership and strategic endeavors. Bernstein, who had been with Autodesk for 16 years, has been a lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture since 1988. Check out ARCHITECT's 2012 Q+A with Bernstein on the future of design practice. [ARCHITECT]
Tha Hasso-Plattner-Institut in Potsdam, Germany, looks into the inner workings of mechanisms, or "artificial structures with mechanical properties that are defined by their usually repetitive cell patterns, rather than the material they are made of." [Hasso-Plattner-Institut]
