Zaha Hadid has unveiled this 200m-tall tower in Bucharest, Romania.

A new skyscraper has been proposed for the capital city of Romania, Bucharest. Coming from the drawing boards of Zaha Hadid Architects, it will stand at a height of 200 meters and be named the Dorobanti Tower.

The tower will be situated in the heart of the city, and opts for a classic oblique diamond shape that mixes it with a highly distinctive patterned façade creating what the architect hopes will be an iconic focal point for the city.

From its base the tower rises gracefully developing a slight bulge before beginning to taper inwards up to its flat peak. The facades will be glazed with the mesh like patterning changes at certain levels that indicates a change in use within the multi- use tower. Behind the glazing in sections curved balconies feature adding further detail to the decorative tower.

The project will be made up of 34,000 square meters of a 5-star hotel this will include top notch restaurants, the usual fun stuff like gyms and spas and a convention center, something that seems to be increasingly added to towers these days to draw in extra pennies.

There will also be 35,000 square meters of luxury apartments who will probably be allowed to use the hotel amenities. Perhaps most importantly the scheme also will offer 4,600 square meters of shoe shopping space on its lower levels. This area is planned to become a unique public space is hoped to become a major attraction within the city as a new and fun public meeting space and urban plaza.

The original timeframe for this scheme was a 2008 start and a 2013 completion date but as of yet the tower is yet to be approved and with the currently global economy in tatters it could be a while before this striking tower sees the light of day.

Some more information from Zaha Hadid Architects:

Architectural Concept:

The brief called for a 100,000 square meter mixed-use, high-rise development in the centre of Bucharest. The project comprises of a 5-star hotel, luxury apartments, retail areas, a business center, a casino and underground parking.

The Dorobanti Tower was designed to establish an iconic presence in the heart of Bucharest. The new tower is a unique mix of a distinctive form, ingenious structure, and spatial qualities of sky-high living. The purity of its form – a chamfered diamond like structure – will be a new landmark in the center of Bucharest. Zaha Hadid Architect’s design concept is a synthesis of architecture and engineering, which integrates a distinct meandering structural lattice.

Urban parameters, site constraints and the program generate the building’s elegant tapering profile. The new tower establishes a distinctive identity while avoiding sterile repetition through its dynamically changing profile. In order to maximize lighting and views for the neighborhoods, the elongated curvilinear shape reduces its perimeter towards the top, while the offset to the inside at ground floor level shall create a generous public realm and an appropriate entrance plaza in front of the tower.

Facade / Structure:

Bucharest is within a vulnerable seismic zone and therefore the structural concept was crucial to us from the beginning of the design process. Placing the primary structure at the exterior not only maximizes the structural footprint but also allows for column free interior spaces.

Concrete filled stainless steel profiles follow in sinus waves from the ground level to the top of the tower, creating a distinctive identity, complementing the tower design. The concrete filling will give additional strength to the structure and it will provide fire protection to the steel profiles. The facade structure expresses the various programs and it adjusts from bottom to top according to the changing structural forces. The secondary structure, which is integrated between the main steel tubes, gives additional strength to the primary steel mesh and it also works as a damper in case of earthquakes.

At the bottom, the façade grid has denser amplitudes according to the structural requirements for a tower of this height, providing the required load bearing capacity and stiffness to the structure. At the technical and recreational levels, the structure condenses creating almost solid knots. On the top floors, the primary structure has been reduced to the minimum according to the structural requirements in order to maximize the views and lighting for the luxury apartments.

Landscape:

The public realm adjacent to the tower will be unlike anything else in Bucharest, representing a major attraction within the dense urban character of the City, offering an important new meeting space and urban plaza. Metaphorically speaking, the landscaping can be understood as a warped concrete ‘carpet’ with one continuous surface connecting the three surrounding streets. The landscape is sculpted to create seating areas, water basins, fountains, green areas including trees and a raised terrace.

Program: 5 Star Hotel and Apartments
Client: Smartown Group
Design: Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher
Project Architect: Markus Planteu
Project Team: Dennis Brezina, Naomi Fritz, Susanne Lettau, Thomas Mathoy, Goswin Rothenthal, Rooshad Shroff, Seda Zirek

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