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] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
Featured articles and news
Specifying rendered external wall insulation for fire safety
How to interrogate the evidence provided to the specifier.
The benefits of writing articles for your organisation
How to create a profile for your organisation and publish for free.
No Falls Week. The importance of safe working at height
What to expect and what is on offer to avoid accidents.
Scottish Government action to reach net-zero targets
Retrofit expert group highlight critical actions needed.
A forward thinking, inclusive global community of members.
From engineered product life-spans, to their extension.
Circular economy in the built environment
A brief description from 2021. Where are we now?
Mental Health Awareness Week with ABS
Architects Benevolent Society programme of activity.
CLC publishes domestic retrofit competency framework
Roadmap of Skills for net zero.
May 13-19: Moving more for our mental health.
Understanding is key to conservation.
Open industry engagement survey seeks responses
Institutions and the importance of engagement.
National Retrofit Hub unveils new guide
Digital Building Logbooks and Retrofit: An Introduction.
Enhancing construction site reporting efficiency
Through digitisation and the digital revolution.