- Address: 30 Street, Embassy District (Al Safarat), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
For almost 150 years, various countries have been competing for the highest skyscraper. Designing and erecting high towers one by one, architects and builders try to create not just another super-high-rise, but the most beautiful, perfect and unique skyscraper. This is how you can describe the famous building of Capital gate in Abu Dhabi .
Features of the tower
The name Capital gate belongs to a very unusual Abu Dhabi skyscraper in the UAE , otherwise it is called the Falling Tower. Territorially, it is located on the waterfront on 30th Street and adjoins the National Exhibition Center. In translation from English, "Capital gate" literally means "Gateway to the capital".
The height of the Falling Tower is 160 m, and this is one of the tallest buildings in the capital of the Emirates. The tower was erected by the National Exhibition Company Abu Dhabi, she is also the owner of the building, according to the project of the London architectural bureau RMJM London. According to the financial report, the construction budget required $ 2.2 billion. The skyscraper began to be built in 2007 and finished in 4 years.
Currently, the Capital Gate is located business class hotel Hyatt at Capital Gate 5 *, in which in a suite with a magnificent view of the Persian Gulf can stop anyone who wants, as well as other office and office space. The tower has 35 floors and a total area of 53.1 thousand square meters. m, the hotel is located on floors 19 to 33.
Raisins of the architecture of the Falling Tower
In the construction of Capital gate, the technology of a diagonal grid-shell was used, which allows to give buildings unusual and even unnatural shapes. In the Middle East, this is the first structure, the structure of which absorbs and redirects the forces of winds and seismic activity as much as possible. Similar skyscrapers are in New York (Hurst Tower) and in London (Mary-ex).
Under the Falling Tower there are 490 piles driven into the ground to a depth of 30 m. The frame shell is located above them: it is made of reinforcing steel. Further in the grid are built 728 panels of glass in the form of rhombs, which are specially made for this project. Panels stand at special angles, so as not to disturb the physics of balance. The diamonds themselves have the form of faceted diamonds, are made up of 18 panes and have a total weight of 5 tons.
Capital Gate has installed over 12,500 large windows that can significantly save on lighting and illuminations. In addition to the light inside the tower, a tall (60 m) conical atrium is built. The use of modern technologies makes it possible to significantly save on air-conditioning:
- all the skyscraper windows block the sun's rays, thereby the internal surfaces are heated much less;
- wave-like design of external walls is a protection against substantial heating from the outside;
- On the south side of the Capital gate a steel visor is installed, its task is to reduce the stream of directional solar heat by about 30%.
Guinness Record
The unique shape of the Falling Tower drew the attention of experts of the Guinness Book of Records: in June 2010, the Capital gate was recognized as the building with the largest slope in the world. And indeed, to the west the skyscraper is tilted by 18%. For comparison: the Leaning Tower of Pisa has an inclination angle of only 4% - this is 4.5 times smaller.
The designers explain this by the fact that a special engineering approach was applied: up to the 12th floor, all the plates of the building floors were fixed strictly vertically one to one, and above were already superimposed with some gaps. Their size is from 30 to 14 cm, which resulted in such a large slope.
How to get to Capital gate?
The falling tower in Abu Dhabi stands out prominently against the background of neighboring buildings. If you do not live nearby, which allows you to walk on foot, then it is more convenient to take a taxi. If you are traveling alone on a leased vehicle , head to Al Khaleej Al Arabi St (same as 30 St.).