Towers Around The World

Highest Towers - of the World

Location : Paris

Height : 318 Meters

Floors :

Built : 1887

11 More after the break...

World's Tallest Tower

The the worlds newest tallest building is about to be completed, lookx amazing, should be safer than going to space to get a better view of Earth.break...

Skyscraper Urban Forest

Urban Forest, Chongqing, China

All images courtesy of MAD architects

MAD architects has sent us images of a new project, urban forest, located in chongqing, china. drawing on the mountainous landscape of the country, the commercial high-rise building, is made up of curved, abstracted shaped floors which have been layered slightly off-center from one another. Connected by a core cylindrical structure, each level's interior is protected by full length glass windows with a see-through, wrap around balcony. this provides transparency throughout the building, and makes the floors almost seem as if they are floating on top of one another. the overall design brings together nature and the urban metropolis, with the incorporation of green space and large expansive views of the city. 06more images after the break...

New tower in the Emirates — Nakheel Tower

The latest design attempting to breach the dizzying heights of the Burj Dubai has been revealed as the multibillion dollar Nakheel Tower. Designed by the developments wing of major investment company Nakheel, the tower will be more than a kilometre high, covering a space of around 270 hectares, and will become home to around 55,000 people, a workplace for 45,000, and is hoped will attract millions of visitors each year. 09 more images and video after the break...

Camouflaged Cell Phone Towers

Even though people increasingly depend upon cellular communications, they are opposed to the bare cell phone towers spoiling otherwise scenic views. Many people view bare towers as an ugly mark on a beautiful landscape. So many companies disguise their cell phone towers as trees, church towers, flag poles, water tanks and other features. These are generally called "stealth towers" or "stealth installations". 19 more images after the break...

The Tallest Tower in the World

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia unveiled plans Tuesday to build the world's tallest tower (The tallest tower in the world will be built by 2020)— a mixed-use structure that will rise two-thirds of a mile high — in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah. Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal signed a $1.23 billion contract with Bin Laden Group for the proposed tower, which will take just over five years to complete. The building is the centerpiece of the planned Kingdom City development being built outside Jeddah by Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding. "Building this tower in Jeddah sends a financial and economic message that should not be ignored," Prince Alwaleed told reporters. "It has a political depth to it to tell the world that we Saudis invest in our country despite what is happening around us from events, turmoil and revolutions even." Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, a Chicago architectural firm, has been selected to design the Kingdom Tower, which will feature a Four Seasons hotel, serviced apartments, Class A office space, luxury condominiums and the world's highest observatory.07 more images after the break...

10 Facts of Eiffel Tower

01. During installation of the tower, Only one person was killed. He fell from a height and crashed.

09 More after the break...

10 Most Famous Falling Towers

01. Church Suurhusen, Germany

 Suurhusen late medieval building in the region of East Friesland in the north-west of Germany. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it was the most inclined tower in the world, although in 2010 new Capital Gate tower in Abu Dhabi broke this record. Suurhusen spire remains the most leaning tower in the world, the slope of which was ahead of world-famous Leaning Tower of Pisa by 1.22 degrees. 09 more after the break ...

Tower Design of English Project

The English held a contest to design London’s wacky rip-off of the Eiffel Tower — Inspired by the financial success of the Eiffel Tower — which was erected in Paris for the 1889 World's Fair — a group of Englishmen attempted to bang out their own ersatz Eiffel a year later. This contest to design the never-to-be "Great Tower of London" received 68 designs. Some resemble alien fortresses and all of them would've (supposedly) prompted an international Eiffel Tower arms race. To quote:

Taking into consideration the enormous popularity of the Eiffel Tower and the consequent pecuniary benefits conferred on those interested in that undertaking, it is not too much to anticipate that, in the course of a short time, every important country will possess its tall Tower. The project of erecting a great Tower in London soon found the willing support of many capitalists, who felt convinced that if the scheme were properly laid before the public there would be no great difficulty in accomplishing the object. 12 more images after the break...

Namaste Tower Mumbai — India

Namaste Tower - W Hotel | 301 m | 62 fl | U/C

Say Namaste to the Namaste tower! Designed by the Atkins design studio, work IS currently underway on this 300m-62 storeyed mixed use tower that will encompass a hotel, office and retail space. The location is Ambika mills which is a couple hundred meters south of the Shangri-La hotel. The developer of the project is unknown.

The renders and text were submitted by Atkins to the World Architecture Festival in Barcelona (3-5 Nov 2010). Link to project page

Namaste: Hotel and Office Tower

Category: Future Projects - Commercial

Location: Mumbai, India

Architects: WS Atkins, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Atkins, United Arab Emirates

Following the long tradition of great Indian Architecture it was our aim that the Namaste Tower will stand as a landmark structure, representative of the burgeoning economic and cultural significance of India. We aimed to design a building that would become representative of the city: the picture postcard of Mumbai.

15 more images after the break...

The Agora Tower — Taipei, Taiwan

On the last and biggest parcel of land available for residential use in taipei city, vincent callebaut 's twisting, foliage-filled 'agora tower' will preside over the rest of the urban xinyin district. the architect, known for his distinct eco-vision, has designed a high-density space that aims at limiting the ecologic footprint of its inhabitants by forging a symbiotic relationship between the urban dweller and nature. tall planted balconies of suspended orchards, organic vegetable gardens and and medicinal greenery will take root in the high-performance building. in true cradle-to-cradle fashion, even the construction process transforms itself; industrial waste will be returned as a 'technical nutrient' to be indefinitely recycled. the helicoidal towers appropriate their form from the structure of DNA, conceptually speaking to the building blocks of life, as well as dynamism and twinning. four types of housing units form a full level allowing their twisting forms to optimize space for open-air hanging gardens. the angled apartments additionally offer exceptional views of the bustling city by multiplying the transversal views of the overall east-west rhomboidal pyramid. corbelled floors provide structure and privacy.16 more images after the break...

The Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi — Capital Gate Building

Capital Gate is an iconic leaning skyscraper located in Abu Dhabi adjacent to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. At 160 meter (520 ft) and 35 stories, it is one of the tallest buildings in the city and leans at an astounding 18 degrees to the west, four times than the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa. In June 2010, the Guinness Book of World Records certified Capital Gate as the "World’s furthest leaning man-made tower."

To make this possible, the central core of the building slants in the opposite direction to the lean of the structure, and it straightens as it grows. The building sits on top of a 7-foot-deep concrete base with a dense mesh of reinforced steel. The steel exoskeleton known as the diagrid sits above an extensive distribution of 490 piles that have been drilled 100 feet underground to accommodate the gravitational, wind and seismic pressures caused by the lean of the building.

Photo Via — Flicker

The ground-breaking form of Capital Gate is due not only to its lean, but also to its funnel shape. The tower widens as it spirals upwards and outwards. Due to its strange design each hotel room is unique in size and shape, with floor-to-ceiling windows that let guests soak up the best of the sweeping views of the city below.

Capital Gate forms the focal point of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre complex and the Capital Centre master development, a connected group of 23 towers including branded hotels, commercial buildings, residential and serviced apartment complexes and developments for mixed use. These facilities are built overlooking an urban highway along the south-western shore of Abu Dhabi, with Capital Gate dominating the waterfront from its position at the western edge.

The 35-storey tower, which opened less just a year ago after five years of construction, is fast becoming one of Abu Dhabi's most famous landmarks. 09 more images after the break...

The Tower Al-Bahar — Abu Dhabi

A quick glimpse at the upcoming weather for Abu Dhabi will show a week of intense sunshine, temperatures steadily above 100 degrees Fahrenheit with 0% chance of rain.  In such extreme weather conditions, even architects listing environmental design as their top priority are up against a tough battle.  Never mind that the sand can compromise the structural integrity of the building, the intense heat and glare can render a comfortable indoor environment relatively impossible if not properly addressed.  For Abu Dhabi’s newest pair of towers, Aedas Architects have designed a responsive facade which takes cultural cues from the “mashrabiya”, a traditional Islamic lattice shading device.

Completed in June 2012, the 145 meter towers’ Masharabiya shading system was developed by the computational design team at Aedas.  Using a parametric description for the geometry of the actuated facade panels, the team was able to simulate their operation in response to sun exposure and changing incidence angles during the different days of the year.

The screen opperates as a curtain wall, sitting two meters outside the buildings’ exterior on an independent frame.  Each triangle is coated with fiberglass and programmed to respond to the movement of the sun as a way to reduce solar gain and glare.  In the evening, all the screens will close.

“At night they will all fold, so they will all close, so you’ll see more of the facade.  As the sun rises in the morning in the east, the mashrabiya along the east of the building will all begin to close and as the sun moves round the building, then that whole vertical strip of mashrabiya will move with the sun,” said Peter Oborn, the deputy chairman of Aedas. 11 more images after the break...