| Fact file |
When built: Began 2001 and completed 2005
Height: 190m
Workforce: 175
Timescale: 4 years
Number of elevators: 5
Capacity: 25,000 cubic metres of concrete
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Taking design-led engineering to a whole new level – 54 of them, in fact – the Turning Torso will be Europe’s highest residential building. After his sensational design for the World Trade Centre transportation hub, Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has surpassed himself with his plans for this dynamic building.
Calatrava has a unique approach to architecture and engineering. His signature is combining artistic figurative forms with strict geometry and modern materials.
A succession of nine cubes, each six storeys high, are cantilevered from a central concrete core. They twist from bottom to top, through 90 degrees, like vertebrae on a human spine. Alongside the cubes are slender, stabilising spines, which turn the entire composition into a gigantic truss.
Work started in February 2001 and freezing, dark winters and brutal North Sea winds have hampered the construction. After tests, the Turning Torso swayed 0.8m in high winds – enough to be felt by the residents, so the 1,850 tons of reinforcing iron was increased to 4,400 tons. Costs escalated accordingly, rising by 25%, but movement was reduced by more than half.
In addition to the Turning Torso’s outward appearance, it’s also uniquely innovative on the inside. Its energy requirements will supplied by entirely renewable sources – from the sun, bedrock, wind and water.
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