Dubai's Rotating Towers: Visionary Monument of the Future or Future Monumental Failure?

When it comes to real estate most people would probably consider a great view to be high above everything else, with the ability to see in all directions at all times. For a citybound high-rise resident, watching the sun rise from one's living room in the morning, and then watching it set from that same room in the evening that same day would be the ultimate. That may become a commonplace occurrence for many people in the future if the dream of Italian architect David Fisher becomes reality in the Middle Eastern city of Dubai. Already home to the world’s tallest free-standing structure, Dubai is considered to be on the cutting edge in terms of ambitious architecture and novel innovative real estate development. The latest and most unique project, and scheduled to begin construction soon, incorporates an extreme and revolutionary idea in the world of skyscrapers. The Dynamic Tower is a single high-rise structure with individual stories that are able to rotate independently of the building’s central core. Each floor will rotate approximately once in about ninety minutes, changing not only the view, but also the shape of the building and its appearance. Although the untested technology of dynamic architecture is sure to have setbacks, and will undoubtedly encounter obstacles in moving off the drawing board into the real world, its cultivated and functional design, combined with the prospect of producing inexpensive and environmentally clean energy for cities, may radically alter and enhance life in the cities of the future.

The Dynamic Tower will be an 80 story building. Plans call for the top 10 floors to be used for luxury style apartments, below which will be another 35 floors of apartment accommodation, followed by hotel rooms, with the 20 lower stories be used as retail space. With the rotation of individual floors occupants and visitors will enjoy a 360 degree view from wherever they choose. According to one designer “It will be continually in motion, changing shape and giving residents the ability to choose a new view at the touch of a button. The form of the building would constantly change as each floor rotates separately giving a new view of the building as it turns.” Rotating Wind Power Tower to begin construction in Dubai Mahesh Basantani;The Tower was designed by David Fisher of Dynamic Architecture, who hopes to be a trend-setter for cities of the future, and is planning to adapt his tower for sites in London and New York. According to Fisher, “Today's life is dynamic, so the space we are living in should be dynamic as well, adjustable to our needs that change continuously, to our concept of design and to our mood, buildings will follow the rhythms of nature, they will change direction and shape from spring to summer, from sunrise to sunset, and adjust themselves to the weather, buildings will be alive….From now on, buildings will have four dimensions, the fourth dimension is ‘Time' to become part of architecture…”

A second Dynamic Architecture tower is set to start construction in Moscow, by the end of 2008. A unique aspect of this first building in motion is in the construction itself; each floor will be prefabricated in a factory in Italy, and then be shipped directly to the site. Dr. Fisher believes that floors will be then able to go up as quickly as one every seven days, allowing for the tower to be built in about 18 months. With the prefabrication of modular structures elsewhere, the core of the tower will be the only piece that needs to be built, conserving on-site workers and pushing more of the construction off-site and into the factories. Fisher believes assembly of the Dynamic Tower will require only 80 technicians, thereby saving tens of millions of dollars on a building with a price tag of $700 million. In addition to the architectural beauty and purely aesthetic value to occupants and residents of the city, as well as the economic benefits of off-site assembly, Fisher claims that the design will have a structural advantage in the event of an earthquake. “According to Fisher, the building ensures a very high resistance to earthquakes as each floor rotates independently.”

While the beauty of such a building along with the functional benefits for anyone wealthy enough to live in one are all arguments in favor of Fisher’s vision, the most striking potential benefit is environmental. The building is designed not only to produce enough power for its own needs, but for surrounding buildings as well. The design will utilize the high winds which surround large structures, as well as the large surface area of the building. The Dynamic Tower is intended to be a true green power plant, using wind-powered turbines as well as photovoltaic cell technology to collect power from sunlight. The tower will be powered by roof solar panels and cells placed on the top surface of each floor, along with 79 wind turbines located between each of the rotating floors, which will be capable of generating 1,200,000 kilowatt-hours of energy from each level. If all goes as planned the building will create 10 times the energy it needs, giving the ability to produce energy for other nearby buildings as well.

While the revolving tower’s creator makes many promises, and there are many people who praise its potential, there are still questions about whether it will deliver. Is the revolving tower even technologically feasible? Will it be killed off by cost overruns and unexpected problems? One major criticism is the expense involved for the first building in Dubai. Some detractors raise the question of whether the tower will benefit only the wealthy. For example, writer Alstair Donald, of Spiked, a self-described "independent online phenomenon dedicated to raising the horizons of humanity by waging a culture war of words against misanthropy, priggishness, prejudice, luddism, illiberalism and irrationalism," calls it “a seven-star hotel compound for the rich serves to magnify the gap between rich and poor; the workers who build these compounds and service their inhabitants are confined to encampments on the edge of the city.” However, the more compelling arguments and criticisms focus less on societal implications and more on feasibility. The implementation of the concept may prove to be much more difficult to achieve. Will a combination of unproven technology and overly ambitious goals render the design unworkable or too costly? David Fisher’s creation is essentially a gigantic machine with innumerable moving parts, and yet he is not expecting anything to go wrong. Critics are quick to point out that he has never designed a skyscraper before, and argue that the as yet untested technology will present insurmountable technical problems. "Dubai 'shape-shifting skyscraper' unveiled"

Will the revolving tower go the way of failed inventions of the past which were acclaimed as the wave of the future? Will the revolving tower become a symbol of complete failure and blind ambition? Or will it be the first building of the world's future? Admittedly, if the critics are correct, many of the technical and engineering aspects of the dynamic tower concept create problems which have apparently not been tested or worked out. However, there is no reason to assume they will be insurmountable, if there are men and women with the vision and the patience to find solutions. Nor is there any reason to believe that even failed attempts at making this idea workable will not inspire others to seeking alternative solutions to accomplish the same goals, including clean low cost energy and self-sufficiency. One thing is certain. We cannot keep doing business as usual as our resources dwindle and global energy demands increase, and mega-cities continue to grow all over the globe. Maybe the Dynamic Tower is an idea whose time has come, and if not, perhaps its vision of environmentally clean and economic energy production will inspire other designs and other technologies which will ultimately help transform the cities of the world to a better future.