pippa

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Chicago Spire to become world’s tallest residential building

December 17, 2006 Santiago Calatrava is known for his ability to create public landmarks on a grand scale. The world renowned Spanish architect and engineer has one of the most impressive bodies of work ever assembled including the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center Transport Hub, plus dozens of the most beautiful buildings in major cities around the world - airports, opera houses, bridges, train stations. Now Shelbourne Development Group has filed a final design for the Chicago Spire, with the City of Chicago. The Calatrava-designed Chicago Spire is 2,000-foot tall tower which will become the tallest residential building in the world if approved. It’s Calatrava’s second remarkable residential building.

World's largest LED screen to be built in (where else) Dubai

Podium will combine architecture and technology to deliver a powerful medium for advertising, messaging and art. The curved screen was designed by the LED technology experts who worked on the Argosy Casino in Illinois and the Grand Lisboa and surrounding skyline in China. The highly-reflective tinted glass will be utilized to achieve a striking visual impact, giving the massive screen a bluish glow. Aluminum panels, mullions and canopies will frame the glass components in buffed natural aluminum.

The world’s most economical police pursuit car

We’ve seen a few exotic police cars in our time, but this is the first high performance diesel machine created for the constabulary and most likely the most luxurious, comfortable and economical into the bargain. Jaguar UK has launched a high performance Police pursuit vehicle based on its XF Diesel S model.

The Jaguar XF beats other contenders in this market with a fuel economy figure of 42mpg (6.8l/100 km), class-leading residual values and an excellent CO2 rating of 179 g/km.

The Police specification Jaguar features the 275PS 3.0-litre Diesel S engine with its unique, parallel sequential turbocharger system. Delivering high torque throughout the entire rev range, improved throttle response and low CO2 emissions, the twin-turbochargers work sequentially to deliver unrivalled response and best-in-class torque that means the XF packs a huge punch at all engine speeds.

"We hope that with this amount of torque on tap – and a 0-60mph time of 5.9 seconds, we will meet and exceed the exacting standards of any Police Officer driving this car."

The XF has picked up more than 20 international awards since launch, most recently 'Britain's Best Car' in the Auto Express Driver Power survey for 2009, 'Best Executive Car' at the What Diesel Magazine awards 2009 and the award for 'Best Executive Car' at the 2009 Fleet World Honours.

"The Police Officers driving pursuit vehicles demand a very high level of performance and handling, as well as safety and comfort,” said Geoff Cousins, UK Managing Director for Jaguar Cars. "Police forces are looking for vehicles that represent value for money, have good environmental credentials and deliver the power and performance required of a pursuit vehicle."

In the UK, retail pricing of the XF range starts at GBP32,900 for the 3.0-litre petrol. The 3.0-litre diesel model is available from GBP33,900 while the 3.0-litre Diesel S starts at GBP36,900.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Atlantis Dubai: the luxury resort that's home to 65,000 marine animals

The recently-launched luxury Atlantis hotel rises towards the sky from the man-made island of Palm Jumeirah, but unlike it’s mysterious namesake, this Atlantis is unlikely to get ‘lost’. The ocean-and-aquatic themed resort is impressive, and not surprisingly everything about it is big - from the development price of US$1.5 billion to its size (it's spread over 46 hectares of reclaimed land) and its 1, 539 rooms. It also features a massive 17 hectares of water park activities and an 11 million liter marine habitat that is home to more than 65,000 marine animals.