a2006.jan.19

Ciob International News

David Scott, a structural engineer and principal at Arup (New York), the global consulting and engineering firm, has been named to chair the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. His three-year term begins officially on 1st February 2006.

Mr. Scott has led Arup’s structural design work on numerous large and prestigious building projects throughout the world. His career in tall buildings started with Norman Foster’s Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in 1981, where he was involved as designer and site engineer from concept to completion.

Since that time he has worked on high-rise buildings throughout the world in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Based in New York since 1998, he has been involved in projects such as the master-planning and structural schemes for the Manhattan Freedom Tower with Daniel Libeskind, and overseas projects in London and Korea.

“David’s appointment heralds the continued expansion of the Council’s activities and influence in the field of urban and tall building design and construction,” said Ron Klemencic, president of Magnusson Klemencic Associates and outgoing chairman of the Council. “His leadership, expertise and commitment will enhance the organisation’s stature as the pre-eminent guiding force and touchstone for the planning, design and construction of urban landscapes globally.”

David Scott’s additional assignments have included the award-winning design for the international terminal at Hong Kong Airport, the 300m Cheung Kong Center and the 425m Landmark Tower in Hong Kong: the Orca tower in Warsaw, Poland; and the Northeast Asia Tower in Songdo, Korea.

He was a team leader working with contractors on the search, recovery and clean-up of the World Trade Center site after the September 11 attack and was extensively involved in the subsequent industry review of building design and standards. He has authored papers on seismic design, wind engineering, the performance of tall buildings in fire, composite structures and the design of long-¬span roofs.

750m forecast for Burj Dubai

Noting the recent scale of new investment and re-commitment to tall buildings, which makes it a very interesting, and important time for tall building design, he said that new technologies and a greater understanding of how these buildings perform under normal and extreme conditions, are making tall buildings more robust, more efficient and more sustainable.

“The current tallest building in the world is Taipei 101 at 508m. Emaar’s Burj Dubai, by SOM, now under construction, will set the new world record when it tops out at approximately 750m. These buildings are enormous and demonstrate a very high level of confidence in the performance of tall buildings. But few new buildings are targeting the tallest spot, and the drive to be tallest has moved out of reach for most developers,” said Mr. Scott.



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