DUBAI | Rotating Skyscraper | 30 FLOORS | VISION

[bucks native]

Dubai plans first rotating skyscraper

Posted 11/29/2006 12:14 PM ET

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Arab city with the palm-shaped islands and the sail-shaped hotel is adding to its eclectic skyline by building the world's first rotating skyscraper, a 30-story apartment tower that revolves on its base.

The tower, announced Wednesday, will use the Persian Gulf's abundant sunshine to power the building's slow rotation that brings it full circle once a week, said Nick Cooper, a British engineer designing the rotation mechanism.

"This will be a fair building," said Cooper, of M.G. Bennett and Associates Ltd. of Rotherham, England. "Everybody will have the same views for the same amount of time, so you won't have certain rooms with the best view."

The 80,000-ton building with 200 apartments will sit on a giant bearing 30 yards in diameter, coated with a nearly frictionless polymer, Cooper said. Twenty small electric engines will turn the building a few degrees each hour, Cooper said.

"It will be indexing around on the hour," Cooper said. "It moves very slowly. It's not a theme park ride."

Work on the rotating tower is supposed to begin in June.

"Not only will it defy the laws of gravity and momentum, but also it stands to redefine the standards for luxury living in the region and the world," said Tav Singh of developer Dubai Property Ring.

[bnk]

Its been done before.

Suite Vollard

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/pc/?id=136410&aid=8

This building is the only one of its kind in the world, as each of the 11 apartments can rotate 360?.
- Each apartment can spin individually in any direction. One rotation takes a full hour.
- The facades are composed of double sheets of glass, in different colors (blue, gold, and silver) on different floors. This gives a spectacular effect as the floors turn in different directions.
- The apartment rings rotate around a static core used for building services, utilities, and all areas which require plumbing.
- Suite Vollard was a case study for more than 30 companies in Brazil and one from Germany.
- Each apartment was sold for approximately R$ 400,000.00 ($US 300,000.00).
- The first two floors of the building are an Executive Center.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=...uritiba-brazil

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=182727

[bucks native]

extremely COOL, thanks.

[LSyd]

not a skyscraper per se, but it rotates 360.

Glasgow Tower



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[Matty]

Originally Posted by bnk

Its been done before.

Suite Vollard

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/pc/?id=136410&aid=8

This building is the only one of its kind in the world, as each of the 11 apartments can rotate 360?.
- Each apartment can spin individually in any direction. One rotation takes a full hour.
- The facades are composed of double sheets of glass, in different colors (blue, gold, and silver) on different floors. This gives a spectacular effect as the floors turn in different directions.
- The apartment rings rotate around a static core used for building services, utilities, and all areas which require plumbing.
- Suite Vollard was a case study for more than 30 companies in Brazil and one from Germany.
- Each apartment was sold for approximately R$ 400,000.00 ($US 300,000.00).
- The first two floors of the building are an Executive Center.

http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=...uritiba-brazil

http://www.emporis.com/en/il/im/?id=182727

The Dubai building will rotate entirely, not just floor by floor. That's why it's unique.

[LSyd]

Originally Posted by Matty

The Dubai building will rotate entirely, not just floor by floor. That's why it's unique.

the Glasgow Tower does that. sorry Dubai, the Scots beat ya.

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[Matty]

Well, yes, but the Glasgow tower isn't a full-on "building", it's more of a structure. It's elevators that bring you up to an observatory.

[Rejinx]

The Dubai building will rotate entirely, not just floor by floor. That's why it's unique.

If this is true, how would the pipes and cables work?

[spyguy]

http://www.timeresidences.com/prediogira.swf

[Paintballer1708]

Seems very interesting.

[Lecom]

After a day of living there I'd spend much of my time hanging out of the window, spreading vomit on an even circular path as the building goes around.

[AltinD]

Originally Posted by Lecom

After a day of living there I'd spend much of my time hanging out of the window, spreading vomit on an even circular path as the building goes around.

The tower will NOT be continously rotating. It will be in intervals.

[zaphod]

What if you built one of these and it could go really really fast, like those carnival barrel rides?

The physics could be used to make it where the walls become the floor you'dutilize specially designed curved furniture. This would eliminate the need for elevators since you could just walk in a spiral pattern up the tower. Water would also be made to flow up using some sort of gently curving screw like in a concrete mixer drum.

As for waste, the drain pipes would run just to the outside of the tower walls and the waste would fly out because of the same force that holds you to the walls. Of course this would necessitate the tower be built out on its own island, and some sort of covered dock or underwater access tube lest people approaching the building be sprayed in pookie.

[malec]

^^ Holy crap! If you get so sick in a building that turns one rotation a week I wonder what you'd be like in a rollercoaster


The building:

[Lecom]

Originally Posted by malec

^^ Holy crap! If you get so sick in a building that turns one rotation a week I wonder what you'd be like in a rollercoaster

Spending a minute on an adrenaline-pumping coaster vs spinning for a week in a disorienting building... I'll take the former.

[JMH_Architecture]

now that is dumb all the extra up keep for it to rotate

[DANTHEDISCOMAN]

^^^ All I have to say is...assesments?...GOOD GRIEF! I can not begin to fathom how much maintainence this is going to require.

[Biff]

Um...But the bathroom pipes and electricity on the rotating floors need to be hooked up to these cables and pipes in the non-rotating core.

[aaron38]

For handling the utility interconnects:
All electrical power and communications could be sent through slip rings located in the base. This would just be an AC version of the brushes on a DC motor.

Sewage could also be handled by a slip ring type system. The rotating waste pipes would open onto a circular drain of some type. You'd get an effect similar to Lecom's circular vomit ring.

For potable water, water could pour from a stationary spigot into a rotating circular tank. From there a pump would lift the water to a holding tank on the roof for pressure.

The main drawback is that these slip ring systems will be large and take up a lot of room in the base of the core, and maintainence probably sucks. But they are technically doable.

[Nowhereman1280]

I actually kinda like the design, but then again I don't think it will glow and shoot off rays of multicolored light like that in real life.