Turning Torso
See the full list of Unusual buildings of the week here.
Turning Torso is a neo-futurist skyscraper in Malmo, Sweden. Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and completed in 2005, it was based on his own white marble sculpture of a twisting human being. It was the world’s first ‘twisting’ tower and at 190 m (623 ft), it is the tallest building in Scandinavia.
The tower formed by nine irregular pentagonal segments of five storeys. These units twist around the vertical core as the building rises. The top segment is twisted 90-degrees clockwise relative to the ground floor. Following the twist of the building, the façade consists of curved aluminium panels and windows that lean either inwards or outwards.
The building’s exoskeleton is formed by tapered white steel tubes. Horizontal and inclined tubes between each segmented module fix the exoskeleton to steel anchors embedded in shear walls at the rear corners of the building. In this way, the exoskeleton provides wind resistance and dampens vibrations, while the spinal core takes vertical loads.
The bottom two segments provide commercial office space, while the rest of the building is residential, with apartments which have unique layouts depending on their position in the building.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
Government could be failing in its human rights duty over combustible cladding, warns watchdog.
Conservation in the heritage cities of Venice and Liverpool.
Which room is the most fun to design? Find out the 'Grand Designs' presenter's unusual choice in our interview.
Full suite of speakers are announced for this year's BSRIA Briefing event.
Book your place for the Architectural Technology Awards 2018.
There are many ways of classifying types of building. Have a look at our range of building articles.
BSRIA have launched the 'major update' of the go-to design framework guide for building services.
How to get results with building life cycle assessment.
Government publishes a prospectus inviting proposals for new 'garden communities'.
The Morandi motorway bridge in Genoa collapses during rainstorm while undergoing maintenance works.
'Developed design' is a phrase coined by the RIBA for their 2013 Plan of Work. But what does it actually mean?