Dubai is full of jaw-dropping engineering marvels: the world’s largest man-made island, the world’s largest shopping mall, the world’s tallest building–all are in Dubai. Now, Dubai is in line for the world’s first rotating, shape-shifting skyscraper.
This 420-meter (1,378-ft.) skyscraper will be an 80-story-high series of rotating condos and is set to become a reality by 2020. It’s the brainchild of Italian architect David Fisher of Dynamic Architecture. Fisher says, “This building will have endless different shapes.”
- The skyscraper’s apartments will be able to spin a full 360 degrees, in either direction, around a central column. So, the view from the apartment will change constantly for residents inside.
- It will take between one and three hours for an apartment to make a complete rotation.
- Residents will be able to control the movement and positioning of their apartment using voice-activated technology. They can instruct it to start and stop and can even control the rotation speed.
- The best part is that the skyscraper is eco-friendly. Solar panels on the roof and 79 wind turbines placed horizontally between the floors are expected to power the skyscraper.
- There will be a special elevator built inside the central concrete core that will allow residents to lift a car up to their floor and park it next to their apartment.
- The individual units are expected to be made from prefabricated parts. The parts will be assembled at a factory and the completed units will then be attached to the structure’s concrete center.
Fisher says, “An architect should design buildings that adjust to life. They should adapt to our space, our functionalities and our needs that change continuously–and even to our sense of beauty, itself in continuous motion.”
Fisher is planning similar buildings in London, Paris, New York, and Moscow. He says, “These buildings will open our vision all around, to a new life.”
