The future of London's architecture is not short of ambitious projects. In the works already are the Shard, the Boomerang Tower, the Pinnacle and Alain de Botton's proposed "Temple for Atheists", but a building announced this week trumps them all in terms of eye-candy.
News comes to us (via Construction Digital) of a new 80-floor skyscraper (8 more than the Shard) which incorporates a unique feature, namely independently-rotating floors. Actually, it's not that new. The project was initially planned for Dubai — admittedly, not a place short of a ridiculous building or two — but is now being touted for London.
Whether anything will happen is dubious, to say the least. Originally called "The Dynamic Tower", the concept was first announced in 2008 with a stated completion date of last year. And architect David Fisher admits to having limited credentials.
Indeed, no details are given about an intended building site, planning permissions, funding, or potential tenants, and we suspect the notion is more spin than twist.
Below is the official video envisioning this latest addition to the London skyline.
PS, We checked the calendar and April Fool's Day is still some way off.
Social displacement and the aesthetics of theme parks fuse together so that the muppets who celebrate a London that will price them out within a generation can go "oooh" and pretend it means something.
That's going to need alot of WD40. I'd hate to pay the service charges in that building. .
I wouldn't mind the one in the still (if it wasn't moving).
OMG I love that building it looks very sexy it looks like the curves of a womans body when the building stands still & I like the illustration of it moving it looks as tho the building is a woman & she is moving her body in a seductive way. Very sexy.
Both comments from @WolfgangMoneypenny and @jamesup are really amusing. I think this building is not practical in any way. Both cost of maintained and movement. Maybe if it was to move really slowly as I've been in a revolving restaurant in Kampala, EAC but a revolving restaurant perched upon a tower and a swiveling, dancing building are two different things.
Both comments from @WolfgangMoneypenny and @jamesup are really amusing. I think this building is not practical in any way. Both cost of maintenance and in the movement of the building. Maybe if it was to move really slowly as I've been in a revolving restaurant in Kampala, EAC but a revolving restaurant perched upon a tower and a swiveling, dancing building are two different things.
The linked article mentions "Giant wind turbines installed between every floor" and promises that "lifts will allow penthouse residents to park their cars right at their apartments". Great!
What a (preumably) phenomenal waste of electricity.
Is this necessary?
Interesting, but surely a building moving anywhere near that speed would be impossible to work in.
Each time it stops and moves back on itself that's pretty much like putting the brakes on in a car, and then reversing ... every 5 or 6 seconds! Anything that wasn't nailed down would fly off your desk. And if you were on a wheelchair...!
A constant rotation would be more workable unless you had to walk toward the centre of the building where you would feel slightly nauseous as the effective tangential speed changed, increasing the closer you get to the end.
Nice, but is it really feasible? Even at slow speeds?
Great. A building that screws itself into the ground.
HA! Just looking at this gives me motion sickness. Yuck.
What is that fabulous music? I'm being serious - I'd love to know ..
This is just fabulous, i must see it built before I die. Please. Small minded naysayers move to Salford, we want this city to inspire as like New York has Manhattanites for a century.
and the point of that building is?