Friday, August 28, 2009

The Leaning Tower of... Abu Dhabi?


We all know about Dubai's ruthless expansion into the seas and skies, but neighboring Abu Dhabi has been growing at a more reasonable rate. In fact, Abu Dhabi's developments are generally overshadowed by the more glitzy, Las Vegasesque nature of its steroidal sister emirate. The Louvre, the Guggenheim, the zero-carbon [and therefore environmentally-friendly] Masdar community... Or better yet, Capital Gate.

Move over Pisa, Abu Dhabi's gonna knock you down. Or at least it plans to.

Why? Abu Dhabi-based developer ADNEC is constructing a new tower designed to be the internationally-recognized icon of the city of the same vaunted prominence of the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. What makes it so special? It's tilted. Like Leaning Tower of Pisa tilted. [Only this one's tilted on purpose.]

At 160 meters in height and a staggering 18 degrees, Capital Gate will be more than 2.8 times taller than its slanty Italian predecessor and have more than 4.5 times the inclination. Housing a five-star Hyatt hotel in the lower section and offices in the upper half, it's scheduled to open in 2010 and is expected to make a dramatic impact on the skyline.

True, it's yet another hotel/office hybrid, but its design has been executed in a far more daring and unconventional concept. Rather than build a box or something based around something like a flower or another ubiquitous, neck-breakingly tall high-rise, the architects [RMJM Architects, for those interested] chose to go with something new. Can't wait for this one to open, although I can't help but wonder if this one is gonna attract people the way the Leaning Tower of Pisa has for almost 900 years...

7 comments:

  1. It's nice to see creativity is being taken into consideration when designing multi-million dollar buildings, as oppose to bland skyscrapers of metal and glass.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i would like to say inshallah kuwaits buildings become this imaginative and even more sucessful bas awl shay i want the country to get fixed before it breaks down..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Las Vegasesque is such a killer word. God. Mum wants to take me to Dubai - yaaay not. I sincerely hope it has developed more of its own personality than the last time i visited!

    ReplyDelete
  4. 'dubai's ruthless expansion'
    'las vegasesque nature of its steroidal sister emirate '

    aww, I see some very jealous Kuwaities ! The post and comments are giving out smoke !

    'cant help but wonder if this one is gonna attract people the way the Leaning Tower of Pisa has for almost 900 years'

    None of us has seen 900 years, but with the scale of it's projects, UAE's atleast got a chance of still being on the map by that time.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Ocean Terrace Inn is a nice hotel just across the street from us, and a few houses down.

    RAK Tower

    ReplyDelete
  6. All those building are really awesome. They just look so magnificent.

    Khalifa City Abu Dhabi

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was worried when I was about to purchase my house with my bad credit score. I was declined a loan from my bank and couldn't get it. I explained to a friend, he then introduced me to the greatest man of all time ( Mr Benjamin Lee) . I explained my problem to him by sending a text to his mail and he helped me get everything solved in the space of 3 working days. He granted me a loan of 3,000,000.00 Euros to pay for my house in which I also used to expand my business as well. May God bless him! you can apply for a quick loan from Mr Benjamin Lee who is working with a group of investors..He’s the wizard everyone is talking about all over the internet..Contact him via Mail on 247officedept@gmail.com. WhatsApp Number: +1-989-394-3740

    ReplyDelete