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Gb-TOWERs | Structural Resilience

Can a skyscraper withstand a ballistic missile strike?

A question that occasionally surfaces in discussions about extreme structural resilience. Hopefully it remains purely theoretical — yet there is at least one real-world reference.

During the brief Iran–Israel conflict, a missile struck the Da Vinci Tower in Tel Aviv. The impact severed one of the reinforced-concrete load-bearing columns. Despite the damage, the building’s structural system absorbed the loss without triggering a critical failure.

Repairs were carried out relatively quickly, and the tower continues to operate normally.

The episode offers a stark reminder of something structural engineers have long understood: modern reinforced-concrete high-rise systems are designed with significant redundancy. Even severe local damage does not necessarily translate into structural collapse.

Extreme events test architecture in unexpected ways.
Sometimes the engineering quietly holds.

Great & Famous
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The Pritzker Architecture Prize 2026 has been awarded to Chilean architect Smiljan Radić, whose work is known for its delicate balance between material experimentation, fragility, and cultural memory.

Founder of Smiljan Radić Clarke in 1995, Radić has developed an architectural language that often feels mysterious yet emotionally powerful. His buildings are subtle and poetic, offering what the jury described as “quietly joyful shelter.”
The jury, chaired by Alejandro Aravena, highlighted Radić’s rare ability to create architecture that is instantly recognizable while remaining conceptually elusive.

Radić gained international recognition with projects such as the Serpentine Pavilion 2014 in London — a semi-translucent cylindrical structure resembling a shell and resting on large quarry stones. Occupying around 350 square metres of the Serpentine lawn, the pavilion became both the setting and inspiration for the Park Nights series of events. The design also echoes Radić’s earlier explorations, including The Castle of the Selfish Giant — a papier-mâché model inspired by the story by Oscar Wilde — as well as the Restaurant Mestizo, partially supported by large boulders.

Another notable work is the Teatro Regional del Bío Bío in Chile. Its envelope is layered with carefully engineered semi-translucent polycarbonate panels mounted over a steel frame, modulating daylight while enhancing acoustic performance. The façade neither fully conceals nor reveals the building: by day it filters light to minimize glare, while at night it radiates a soft luminescent glow.

Radić’s architecture often explores the tension between monumental form and human vulnerability, using simple materials and experimental structures to create spaces that feel both enigmatic and deeply human.

Sources:
www.serpentinegalleries.org
www.archilovers.com

Gb-TOWERs | Seoul

Thomas Heatherwick’s studio has unveiled a new large-scale project for Seoul.

The concept features four residential towers with an unusually sculpted form and a height that has not yet been announced. The architecture feels fresh and expressive, continuing Heatherwick’s approach to more human-centred high-rise design.

The towers will incorporate elevated sky gardens — one of the defining global trends in contemporary skyscraper design — alongside a generous public realm at ground level, reminiscent of Azabudai Hills in Tokyo.

A promising new addition to Seoul’s evolving skyline.

Principle #1. - Beauty without structure is decoration | Structure without beauty is oppression

Architecture is often divided into two camps: the aesthetic and the functional. One side chases visual impact. The other hides behind efficiency and regulations. But real architecture begins where these two forces stop fighting.

Beauty alone is fragile. It seduces for a moment, but without structure it collapses — visually or physically.
Structure alone can stand for decades. But without beauty, proportion, and light, it slowly drains the human spirit.
True balance is not compromise. It is integration. Every line must carry load. Every load must carry meaning. When structure becomes expressive, and beauty becomes rational, space stops being a container and becomes an experience.

Architecture is not about choosing between art and engineering.
It is about mastering both — so completely that the division disappears.

Gb-TOWERs | New York

A new generation of skyscrapers has redefined New York’s vertical order.

Over the past decade, a wave of landmark towers has risen across the city — structures that now assert clear dominance over the skyline. Their scale, proportion and precision have shifted the visual hierarchy that once felt permanent.

Against this backdrop, even the legendary Chrysler Building appears almost modest — a reminder that it once held the title of the tallest building in the world.

Skylines evolve.
Power recalibrates.

GOLDBILLION

CITY-Symbol

The upper section of the cross has been installed on the Sagrada Família in Barcelona.

With this final structural element, the basilica now reaches its full height of 172.5 metres — 143 years after construction began and a century after the death of Antoni Gaudí. The cross itself was assembled like a precise architectural mechanism, lifted and mounted in multiple segments in a carefully staged operation that began in November. Each phase required exact coordination due to weight, wind loads and the extreme elevation.

The completion of this installation marks the symbolic culmination of Gaudí’s vertical vision — a temple conceived as a dialogue between earth and heaven. In the coming weeks, scaffolding will be removed from the central tower, revealing the definitive silhouette that has been evolving over generations.

A project spanning three centuries has reached its final height.
Barcelona’s skyline is no longer a construction site — it is a statement.

ZahaARTs | National Innovation, Creativity and Finance Center, Taipei
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A 47-storey & approx. 175-metre tower inspired by a flower is set to redefine the skyline in Taipei’s Beimen district, near Taipei Main Station.

The National Innovation, Creativity and Finance Center spans 175,000 square metres, combining Taiwan’s key financial institutions, including the Taipei Exchange, with offices, retail and public spaces. Its design is informed by the native Phalaenopsis orchid, celebrated for its layered petals, radial symmetry, and delicate fluting — qualities that translate into the tower’s vertical rhythms, gently modulated façades, and a sense of lightness and suspended movement. Rather than mimicking the flower literally, Zaha Hadid Architects abstracted its structural logic into a refined, flowing composition that rises elegantly above the city.

A five-storey podium, aligned with the scale of the adjacent 1930s post office and sheltered by a sculptural glazed canopy, completes this organic architectural gesture, connecting history, nature and contemporary urban life.

Gb-TOWERs | One Delisle
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Toronto’s skyline continues to evolve as One Delisle, rising to 158 metres, steadily climbs higher.

Nicknamed the “Pineapple Tower” during development, the project has progressed at an impressive pace and is expected to complete later this year. In a city where much of the recent high-rise stock leans towards restrained, minimalist glass volumes, One Delisle introduces something distinctly more expressive.

Its sculpted, textured façade brings a layer of emotive tech character to the panorama — a welcome counterpoint to the prevailing discipline of the surrounding towers.
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