Tower power. (Snapshot).Corporations may be downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing , but architecture is not. At least not in Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. . Mexico City Mexico City Spanish Ciudad de México City (pop., 2000: city, 8,605,239; 2003 metro. area est., 18,660,000), capital of Mexico. Located at an elevation of 7,350 ft (2,240 m), it is officially coterminous with the Federal District, which occupies 571 sq mi became home to the tallest building in the region when it unveiled the Torre Latinoamericana in 1956. Later this year, it debuts the Torre Mayor, towering 55 floors above Paseo de la Reforma Paseo de la Reforma (a Spanish-language name that roughly translates as "Promenade of the Reform") is a 12 km long grand avenue in Mexico City, Mexico. The name commemorates the liberal reforms of 19th century president Benito Juárez. and beating out the Latinoamericana by '44 meters. The light at the top of the new steel office tower reportedly will be visible 25 kilometers away. Latin America is notable for its engineering feats. It is home to the Panama Canal, the monumental Pan-American Highway, Itaipu hydroelectric plant straddling strad·dle v. strad·dled, strad·dling, strad·dles v.tr. 1. a. To stand or sit with a leg on each side of; bestride: straddle a horse. b. Iguazu falls and the highest single-gauge rail line in the world, the line that crests at Ticlio, Peru. At nearly 30 years old, Brazil's 13-kilometer Rio-Niteroi bridge remains the longest steel-girder bridge in the world. For a region plagued by the developed world's tendency to spotlight its weaknesses, rather than strengths, the Torre Mayor will be a new reminder of the unabashed vision of the region. Still, with the memory of New York's World Trade Center attacks still fresh and new information about the inefficiencies of supersized buildings, perhaps it is time for Mexico--and the rest of Latin America--to concentrate on less flashy, more substantive symbols of its achievements. |
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