Futuristic Rotating Tower Skyscraper in Dubai

Extravagant plans were unveiled yesterday for the world's first swirling skyscrapers, with each floor rotating up to once an hour to form an ever-changing profile on the skyline.

The first two towers are to be built in Dubai and Moscow in what the architect describes as a new era of dynamic architecture. David Fisher, who admits never having designed a skyscraper before, said: "My buildings are unique because they are the first ones to rotate - to be dynamic - every second."

The rotating floors will be made of prefabricated units that spin around a concrete core. Most of the floors will be controlled from the architect's laptop, so that they are synchronised to make undulating architectural forms. Owners who buy an entire floor will be able to use voice activation controls to command it to rotate at will, so that they can pick their view.

Production of the prefabricated units is scheduled to begin in the next few weeks at a factory outside Bari, in Italy. Mr Fisher said that buyers should be able to move into the completed building in Dubai by the end of 2010. Details of the financing remain unclear because the developers are relying on pre-sales for at least part of the $700 million (£355 million) cost of building the 80-storey skyscraper.

The project is being handled by a British-based company, Rotating Tower Dubai Development, Mr Fisher said. The 70-storey Moscow project will be developed by the Mirax Group in the new area of the city inside the third ring road. Mr Fisher said that he hoped a third "dynamic tower" would be built in New York and others eventually in cities such as London.

The buildings have to overcome several technical challenges such as connecting the plumbing with the same kind of shut-off valves used when refuelling aircraft in flight. To take the lift, residents have tostep from the rotating floor into the stationary central core.

By prefabricating the rotating units, Mr Fisher said, he can save at least 10 per cent of normal construction costs. He estimates it will take only six days to assemble each floor around the concrete core.

Plans require the buildings to be self-powered by horizontal wind turbines that spin between each floor to generate electricity. Solar power will be provided by photovoltaic cells on the roof of each rotating floor, 15 per cent of which will be exposed to sunlight at any one time.

Source