World-famous skyscrapers: Al Hamra Tower: "The Spiral to Heaven"
Both strategic and historical locations
This originated in the premises of the first Cinema in Kuwait. For decades the famous landmark of the city, which now attracts citizens and visitors to enjoy their leisure. It is the Kuwait’s tallest building. It serves primarily as office-space, a business centre or for restaurants. The Al Hamra Tower is located in one of the most important quarters of Kuwait City, i.e. Sharq. What it is possible to say about the tower is that in the heart of the city Al Hamra is the gateway to the Kuwaiti business node.
A luxurious icon of pride
The Al Hamra Tower stands as an icon that symbolises Kuwait’s national pride. The shape of the building appears to be cut off from a prism with an empty centre, whereas each floor plate rotates counter-clockwise around the core. The result is a luxurious spiral geometry that stretches to the top.
The southern part of the façade exposing the central cavity is covered with stones with angular window slices to respond to the intense solar conditions of the area. The same material handling is also applied to enlarge walls that cover curved surfaces along the edges of the spiral cavity, without any windows opening. The concrete construction of these elements also allows them to act as a thermal mass wall, in order to slow down heat during the day and to release heat that was stored at night. The curved eastern, northern and western façades are housed in a visionary luxury glass and provide clear views of the surrounding city and of Kuwait Bay.
The technical parameters of the skyscraper are as follows: height 414 m., number of floors 80, number of lifts 43. The building was designed in 2005 and completed in 2011.
What is at the top?
At the top of the tower there is a 40-metre long space with a fine restaurant and a panoramic terrace that provides far-reaching views of the city. In order to create these unrestricted views, a bracket steel fastening system was used to support the roof and the façade glazing, thereby reducing the number of the columns that were required in the space. Do you experience that as representing luxury?
