CUBIC CoverDec08.indd - Colliers

ICONIC BUILDINGS
Left: Innovation Towers
Right: Wave Tower
HONG KONG, INNOVATION TOWER
In true Zaha Hadid vision, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s new
campus extension is a gleaming fluid structure that describes movement and
grace, suggesting all the energy and potential in its students. The building,
which looks a little like a tilting stack of shiny CDs, is Hadid’s first permanent
work in Hong Kong – her first award-winning design for The Peak Club in
Hong Kong was never built. However, the designs that were built – such as
the Vitra fire station and the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art – have
earned Hadid much recognition and respect, making her the first woman to
receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
With the same dramatic deconstructionist flair, Hadid’s take on the
Innovation Tower is a dynamic one. Made of dark glazed glass and steel,
the tower of translucent layers – expected to be completed in 2011 – has
also integrated a spacious column-free public foyer on its podium that can
act as a showcase forum. Clearly forward-looking, and symbolically apt for
a school of design, the Innovation Tower also promises to project a vision of
the future of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
www.polyu.edu.hk/ www.zaha-hadid.com
DUBAI, WAVE TOWER
Like a delicate sea blossom, the Dubai Wave Tower is yet another amazing
addition to the Dubai skyline – or seafront. Rising like an elegant stem
from the waters of the Dubai waterfront and linked to the shore with an
undulating bridge, the 370-metre tall tower – designed by Spanish architects
A-cero – will be located on the coastline of the Madinat Al Arab District, the
downtown and central business district of Dubai.
Architects Joaquin Torres and Rafael Llamazares envisioned a building
that evoked movement and flow. Indeed, the soft curves of the tower and
its bridge appear in concert with the waves of the Gulf Sea. “A-cero’s design
is based on the concept of the intervention between sea and land. The
tower ‘grows’ gently inland to create the forceful sight of a tall building that
mimics the waves of the Gulf Sea,” says Torres.
Built at a cost of some US$170 million, the mixed-use Tower has been
constructed to be opaque in the day but transparent at night, resembling
a lighthouse. With interior sky gardens, silk-screened glass skin, energyefficient
technology and a purification plant for the tower’s water needs, this
“seascraper” is as green as its blossom-like design. When ready, the 92-floor
building will contain offices, commercial malls and high-end residences.
www.a-cero.com/
22 January 2009 |