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Image: Dr. David Fisher / Dynamic Architecture

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Moscow and Dubai look to rotate - 25 June 2008

Emerging markets and cities on the up are the prime targets of some of the most innovative architects on the planet as they seek to make their mark on the world, and create a name for themselves in a location where some of the planning laws may be a little more relaxed than elsewhere. With the announcement of a new project that will be built in both Moscow and Dubai, the boundaries of modern building design look set to be pushed even further.

Architect David Fisher has submitted designs for the world’s first rotating towers to be built in the two cities, with completion of the first project expected in 2010. The rotation of the towers will involve each individual floor moving independently, and is to be controlled from a central computer intended to make a changing shape of fluid design from the outside.

The towers, which are to be made from pre-fabricated floors constructed in Italy and arranged around a static concrete core, will be 80 stories tall in Dubai, and 70 stories in Moscow. Buyers of the penthouses and complete floors will have the opportunity to control the movement of their own floor through voice commands in order to get the views they want at any time of the day.

The designs have attracted a full range of comments from the public and professionals alike, with some people praising innovation and new opportunities, and others claiming the buildings will be nauseating or even impossible to engineer. One comment was that the wind effects at the top of the tower may make the rotation of the floors too difficult to manage, possibly speeding up the turning motion.

Fisher admits that he has never designed a skyscraper before, but claims the prefabrication of the floors will save up to ten per cent of the construction costs. The towers are designed to be efficient as well – solar panels on each of the floors will produce electricity to power the turning and the supply to the individual apartments by using the 15 per cent of the ‘roof’ of each floor that will be exposed at any one time. Fisher has also designed a horizontal wind turbine that will sit between each floor to generate further electricity, and claims the towers will be electrically self-sufficient.

Dubai should get another iconic building and a world first from this project, and Fisher is planning to bring the concept to other cities across the world should this prove to be the success he anticipates, in much the same way as the London Eye has been copied across the globe.

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