INTERVIEWS / Projects

Flights of fantasy

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There have been reports questioning your qualifications saying that you did not receive your degree from where you say you did, is this true?

I have not seen the reports, but I heard about them and I am not bothered. I received my degree in architecture from Florence Design University on April 13 1976 and now I teach and give lectures and have been invited to speak at several universities including Harvard and Columbia. So if somebody has doubts, they should check their history better. I can only say what I know and have done, these people are just trying to be smart or have some other interest. Besides I don’t think the project should be judged on a personal basis, it has the biggest engineering firms in the world working on it, it has Boshe, which is a US $72 billion (EUR58 billion) company of high technology, our MEP and fire engineers have worked on the tallest towers in Dubai – so maybe someone should question them as well.

Some people have said that you don’t have the necessary experience to design such a building, having a background in pre-fabricated bathroom units and no previous tall tower experience, what do you say to those critics?

Well, besides practicing
architecture, I was in construction with a partner and built hotels and industrial buildings. We went into development as well. I went into an industry related to construction, so I went all the way around and think I have enough experience to do this tower. I don’t think the partners, the investors or the engineering companies have any doubts about myself and my people’s ability to build this tower. Those that do, should just wait and be patient. When this building is built, that will be my best response to critics. I would also like to point out that to design this building is so simple, to build it is going to be so simple. I know some people say it is impossible, how can a building move? How can you build it? How can you lift up the floors? But it is so much easier than a normal construction site and it is so much easier to design it because all the floors are the same and the shape of the building is determined by the movement, not by the imagination of an architect.

What do you say to people who say this building is a fantasy?

Before the first aircraft was invented people thought it was a fantasy and going to the moon was a fantasy and having a laptop was a fantasy.
This is much easier and much more simple and cannot compare to what I just mentioned. I honestly have no doubt this building will be a reality within the next two years.

How is the project progressing?

As soon as we have the final land approvals we should start construction. We have just started producing the first pre-fab units in our factory in Italy.

Any idea on when construction might start?

When everything is in order, hopefully in the next two to three months we will start excavations. We should be ready in any case to lift the first floor, which will actually be the top floor, in about 13 months from today. That means having the foundations and the core of the building finished by then. The construction will take only 22 months to complete from the time we start excavations, so the entire tower should be completed two years from now.

How will you construct the building?

We will first build the core of the tower, then we put the floors together on the ground and then we lift the whole floor up to the final position where it is connected to the core. The first floor to be lifted will be the top floor and the next will be the second highest floor, and so on. The last floor to be installed and connected to the core will be the ground floor.

Has the enabling and piling works been awarded?

We are talking to one of the big companies in the UAE to do the foundation and the site preparation and everything that is conventional. Also the core, which is quite conventional and has been built before for non-rotating
towers – it’s a proven technology.

What is the current cost of the building and has it increased?

No, it has not increased. The total cost is something like $700 million.

Will each apartment rotate independently?

If you have an entire floor then yes, of course, it will be voice
activated. It will not be the owner of one single apartment who gets to choose the position unless we decide, which has been suggested, that once a week each owner will be able to rotate the apartment where they like at dinner time to show friends.

Will they ever get dizzy up there?

No, not at all, the movement is very slow and there is no vibration. There are enough tests about movement, in terms of air simulators and so on, to make sure that nobody feels dizzy.

Some industry experts have questioned how you are going to service the apartments with plumbing and electrical, can you explain how this will be done?
I can tell you that on each floor there is a smart connection that allows a fixed pipe to move all around and the important thing is that we will have normal water pressure and fresh water flow to all the floors. We found a technical solution to the problems and will explain it further once it is installed and we no longer have to hide it. But now I can only say it is a very simple smart connection for water and for waste that will continue to operate regardless of the rotation.