Re: New 24-Story Tower Proposed for Northampton Square Complex (Albany St)
Overall it's not bad, but I'm kind of getting bored of the facade designs. they're all just kind of blending together at this point, nothing really interesting. This is a decent design for the area, but everything I've seen proposed either looks like this, or is glass. I'm dying for something tall, and something with an intersting facade.
I came across this rendering for a building in NY, and in my opinion is interesting without being outrageous....
looks like a kinda krappy rip=off of the Turning Torso Tower in Malmo Sweeden
From the wiki article
[QUOTE}HSB Turning Torso is the tallest skyscraper in Sweden and the Nordic countries, situated in Malmö, Sweden on the Swedish side of the Öresund strait. When completed, it was the tallest building in Scandinavia. A similar, taller skyscraper featuring a 90° twist is the Cayan Tower, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Prior to the construction of Turning Torso, the 86‑metre (282 ft) Kronprinsen had been the city's tallest building.[5]
The project was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 feet) with 54 storeys - 147 apartments, relax/lounge/spa/gym, wine cellar followed by around-the-clock concierge service 365 days a year....
The vision of HSB Turning Torso is based on a sculpture called Twisting Torso, which is a white marble piece based on the form of a twisting human being, created by Santiago Calatrava.....
In 1999, HSB Malmö's former managing director, Johnny Örbäck, saw the sculpture in a brochure presenting Calatrava in connection with his contribution to the architectural competition for the Öresund Bridge. It was on this occasion that Johnny Örbäck was inspired to build HSB Turning Torso. Shortly afterwards he travelled to Zurich to meet Calatrava, and ask him to design a residential building based on the idea of a structure of twisting cubes.....
This is a solid immobile building constructed in nine segments of five-storey pentagons that twist relative to each other as it rises; the topmost segment is twisted 90 degrees clockwise with respect to the ground floor. Each floor consists of an irregular pentagonal shape rotating around the vertical core, which is supported by an exterior steel framework. The two bottom segments are intended as office space. Segments three to nine house 147 apartments. The apartments were initially supposed to be sold, but insufficient interest resulted in the apartments being let. The owner has several times unsuccessfully tried to sell the building. The construction costs were almost double the estimate.[citation needed][/QUOTE]
