In this modern era and advanced world, the great cities need great buildings, and a tower symbolizing the city’s progress and evolution would definitely fit the bill for a city like Abu Dhabi. The Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi is a skyscraper completed in 2011 with a height of 165 m (540 ft) and 36 stories with offices in the lower half and a hotel in the upper half. The building is a focal point of Capital Centre (one of the largest developments on the main island of Abu Dhabi) made of a business district and inter-connected with the thriving Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC). A helipad on the Capital Gate building makes it the first commercial tower in Abu Dhabi to receive the license from Dubai Civil aviation.
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)which is the world’s leading body of professionals and experts of the design and operation of tall buildings and future cities, recognized Abu Dhabi’s Capital Gate Tower as a ‘First of a Kind’ skyscraper. For its unique shape and lean, it was a nominee in the 2011 CTBUH Awards Program. The building (Design Architect RMJM admired for their technical achievement) features an innovative architecture that’s completely asymmetric in shape and no two rooms are the same. What’s also unique about Capital Gate Tower is that it was purposely constructed so that it inclines 18 degrees to the west, and due to which it has won the title of “world’s furthest leaning man-made tower”. The magnificent and eye-catching architecture of the Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi makes it stands out on the skyline where it can be clearly seen dominating the waterfront at the western edge of the ADNEC complex. Why would anyone want to explore this signature tower? As its official website points out, it has “far-reaching views across Abu Dhabi and the Arabian Gulf”.
The 35-story asymmetric structure stands on an extremely dense mesh of reinforced steel. The tower was drilled 30 meters below the ground level to balance the gravitational, wind and seismic pressure that is caused by the lean. In order to install the cladding of thousands of honey cone-shaped panels, the designers erected a Cuplok system scaffold birdcage up to the ninth floor. This was to facilitate a punched scaffold access that followed the structure’s curved and inclined facade. The access scaffold was erected up to the cantilevered ‘tea room’ structure on the 30th floor.
From here, we were able to construct a hanging scaffold that consisted of puncheon beams that supported the working platform below. The scaffold was tied to the structure to enable specialist glass units to be installed without compromising the scaffold decks. The Capital Gate houses a luxurious five-star Hyatt hotel which has 188 bedrooms and 15 floors for office space. Mace provided project management services to deliver the efficient scheme and our facilities management business, Macro, ensuring a smooth handover of the project — reducing normal handover time by 50%. The building is super energy efficient as its cardinal facade is more than 50% efficient than a standard typical facade in restricting solar heat to the building. This reduces its energy consumption by 15% through the ventilation air conditioning system. The building’s efficiency is increased by the cooling criteria being based on average year-round summer and winter conditions, so the outdoor ventilation rate changes every hour to accommodate fluctuating temperatures. The building also boasts an efficient potable water and plumbing system for extra efficiency.
Want to explore more? Then what are you looking for? Plan trip to Abu Dhabi with friends or family and have fun!
