With the first stretch of the highly-buzzed about High Line Park slated for completion by the end of the year, Related Companies LLC, (the masterminds behind the Time Warner Center), has opened the finely polished doors to the Caledonia — the first luxury condominium built along the “park in the sky.” The swanky residential tower located at 450 W 17th Street, houses 190 condominiums and will offer a spectacular view of the first section of the 1.45 mile park, which spans from Gansevoort to 20th street, still 14 blocks shy of it’s final destination at 34th street.

I need to take a breather from my Burj Dubai obsession and give other buildings some love. Kanye West's blog (of which I'm becoming more and more enamored with) pointed me towards a new Jenga-like residential complex to be built in New York's Tribeca 'hood -- 56 Leonard Street to be precise. The 57-story building will house 145 residential spaces, each with its own unique floorplan. The under-construction complex is by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, whom the New York Times calls one of the most admired firms in the world. With structures like this one and this one popping up, Manhattan as the mad men knew it is on the brink.

My fascination with the Burj Dubai skyscraper continues. Its sheer scope terrifies me for some implacable reason. Its isolation from anything else remotely comparable is bothersome. It’s already the world’s tallest structure, and it has yet to be completed. The official height will not be announced until the project's finish a year from now. But this isn’t even the end to Dubai’s sky-scraping madness. I'm bringing this up because I came across a picture today that confirmed this building's undeniable wow-factor. Check it out after the jump.

Giving the lip-synching pretty girl a run for her Yen, the lavish, new American embassy opened last week in Beijing, winning its own legion of fawning admirers. But its sparkling exteriors are just part of the embassy's charm. Inside, the walls sport $800,000 worth of art by Robert Rauschenberg, Yun-Fei Ji, Guggenheim favorite Louise Bourgeois, and others. And at 8stories tall and 10 sprawling acres, the embassy proves that beauty does not preclude bombast and grandeur.

An island oasis, poised to become the world’s newest art mecca, aims to bring curatorial VIPs to the UAE.

Brace yourselves -- the Louvre and the Guggenheim are moving to Abu Dhabi. A Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim and a Jean Nouvel-helmed Louvre will soon be cultural hot spots on Saadiyat Island, a 10.4 square mile “island of happiness” (both literal translation and marketing slogan) less than half a mile from Abu Dhabi’s shores. The island, which has, until now, been totally undeveloped, will over the next 15 years become a luxury community complete with residences, hotels and resorts, museums, restaurants and shops, a performing arts center and even a New York University satellite campus. While its main purpose is to boost tourism to the UAE, developers expect a year-round population of 150,000.

The long-abandoned Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, is being given a second chance by the seemingly and suddenly reformed rogue nation. The 105-story building -- once dubbed "the worst building in the history of mankind" by Esquire -- has not been worked on in 15 years, and a deranged Egyptian group is bringing it back to life.

Try crowning the fashion capital of the world -- cases can be made for London, Milan, Paris, or New York. But a collaboration between Karl Lagerfeld and a Dubai developer is looking to seal the deal for the burgeoning emirate. With a little help from Lagerfeld, "Isla Moda" will literally serve as the fashion capital of The World. One of the islands in Dubai’s global-replica island chain will feature a collection of 80 “limited edition” homes designed by Lagerfeld. Say hello to haute real estate. “Isla Moda has tremendous potential to be the style icon of the future," says Lagerfeld, "and I intend on driving the island to high style stardom.”

A couple of days ago, while I was doing my daily assessment of the Freedom Tower’s progress (today’s assessment: belligerent), I discovered that once completed, it will be the second tallest building in America. I was shocked they couldn’t build something taller than the Sears Tower in Chicago. Is liberty, and pain, and triumph, not enough to topple couches, blenders and mattress delivery? Actually, turns out it is. It’s something called the Chicago Spire that we can’t quite beat.

The Port Authority can't even get one building in the air, while the South Koreans erect a whole new world with ease. Amidst delays and bloated budgets, Christopher Ward, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, wrote that "The schedule and cost estimates of the rebuilding effort that have been communicated to the public are not realistic," which means the city will not hit their desired deadline of 2011, the10th anniversary of 9/11. It's now expected to open sometime in 2013, and some even say that's optimistic. Meanwhile, on the other edge of the world, South Korea has designed and begun construction of an entirely new high-tech city they hope will reinvigorate the country's sagging economy.