Al-Hamra ~ The Tallest Skyscraper is Ready in Downtown Kuwait City

Photo credit: Arab Times

Arab Times (Link), Kuwait City, Nov 11, 2011, By: Iddris Seidu : A celebration for finishing the construction phase of the main structure of the much awaited Al-Hamra Tower took place in Sharq Friday at the premises of the tower, with a huge lighting display.

The event which attracted a huge crowd of onlookers as well as the media was jointly coordinated by personnel of Smart Spectrum of Canada which executed the special lighting contract led by the CEO Baker Baker and Al-Hamra Real Estates Company, led by Deputy Manager Abdul-Aziz Al-Humaidi.

The special lighting was turned on after the countdown clock on the huge trapezoidal LED display reached zero right on 7.00pm.

Project

According to Baker, the one million dollar lighting project took about four months to complete and had every single glass fitted with one pixel of LED light, in addition to the giant 1600X1880 pixel trapezoidal shaped LED display at the main entrance. The 200 square meter trapezoidal display can also be used for live video animation.

Standing at 412 meters and 77 levels high, the Al Hamra Tower which took six years to build, is the tallest skyscraper in downtown Kuwait City and occupies an area of 195,000 square meters. It is also said to be the tallest sculpted tower in the world.

The Al Hamra Tower which comes with over 70 floors of office space, a rooftop restaurant and a spa also boasts of a shopping center that includes a 10-screen cinema complex with IMAX theaters.

The design and construction of the tower defied conventional wisdom which held that skyscrapers must be symmetrical in design or risk collapse. The owners, in an attempt to dispel the theory, constructed the 412 meter high tower with a 100% asymmetrical exterior that included a façade of 130-degree sweeping turn with two fins sprouting from the top and bottom of the structure in opposite directions.

The building isn’t only aesthetic; it also serves a practical form. The twisting shape ensures optimum views, while the opposite stone clad wall acts a protective skin from the desert sun where temperatures top 55 degrees. The 77 story tall concrete wall insulates the building.

The south wall conceived as a tall protective stone element, forms the structural spine of the building and contains a sky bridge connecting the east and west office wings on each floor. The sky bridges present a unique spatial experience with deeply sculpted openings in the south. Strategically located south wall openings allow for dramatic views towards the city, and the infinite desert beyond, while controlling the strong solar radiation from south.

Dramatic

On the ground floor, Al Hamra’s transparent north façade opens up and welcomes tenants with a soaring 20m-tall highly articulated lamella structure inside the lobby. The geometry of the lobby area is generated by applying the principles of lamella structures. The continuous structure acts as a completely integrated strengthening component in the lobby, while creating a dramatic lobby experience for Al Hamra’s visitors.

Steel is the material of choice for most modern skyscrapers. But to deliver the molded sculpture of Al Hamra, they needed a more malleable material. They chose concrete. One of the contractors’ biggest challenges which they finally overcame was pumping 500,000 tons of concrete a quarter mile vertically.

Hermes in Al-Hamra...Hayati's in trouble! :P

Take a tour of the famous Skyscraper: Al-Hamra Link

What it's missing? A Hotel! Why? Why? Why Al-Hamra? That's a BIG mistake! This American Princess wants to shop, eat, go to the cinema, spa it and sleep. :(