Twisting Buildings

In August 2016, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) published a new study, Twisting Tall Buildings, examining the recent proliferation of spiralling towers being developed around the world.

The report defines a building as ‘twisting’ if it progressively rotates its floor plates or its façade as it gains height. It is usual that each plate will be similarly shaped in plan, and turned on a shared axis a consistent number of degrees from the preceding floor.

Not only are these ‘twisters’ often aerodynamic and energy-efficient as a result of their design, they are able to incorporate a wide variety of textures, view angles and ripple effects.

The History Of Fabric Structures

The origins of fabric structures

The origins of fabric structures can be traced back over 44,000 years to the ice age and the Siberian Steppe, where remains have been found of simple shelters constructed from animal skins draped between sticks. It is likely that structures of this type were the first dwellings actually constructed by humans, and it has even been suggested that simple textiles were used for spatial division and shelter before they were used as clothing.

Initially associated with nomadic peoples, one of the earliest and most successful types of fabric structure was the loosely woven black tent. The black tent spread throughout the civilised world during the Arab conquests of the eighth century, and its descendants are still in use today.

Black tent.

From these nomadic origins, more permanent urban shading systems evolved. These were initially used to provide cover over streets and domestic courtyards, but later, larger 'velum' or 'velarium' were developed, primarily to provide shelter at theatres. In more recent times, simple cable stayed, prestressed fabric structures were used to provide decorative shelter for special events. These 'toldos' or 'envelet' were particularly popular at the end of the nineteenth century in the Cataluna region of Spain.

The Big Bend, New York

In March 2017, architecture studio Oiio released designs for an ambitious skyscraper in New York City. The concept of The Big Bend grew from considering what would happen if New York substituted height with length, and what if buildings were long instead of tall?

Super-slender

Introduction

In June 2016, New York's Skyscraper Museum released an online tool that tracks the growing number of ‘super-slender’ towers in the city.

The interactive chart compares the heights and silhouettes of 18 'skinny' towers now complete or under construction in New York.

What is ‘super-slender’?

A new form of skyscraper has evolved in New York over the past decade: the super-slim, ultra-luxury residential tower. These pencil-thin buildings of 50-90+ storeys use a development and design strategy of slenderness to pile their city-regulated maximum square feet of floor area (FAR) as high as possible to create luxury apartments with spectacular views.

The defining characteristic of these new towers is not height, but slenderness. A tower can be very tall, but not slender, and it can be slender without being very tall.

New York Horizon

On 23 March 2016, 'New York Horizon' was announced as the winner of the eVolo Skyscraper Competition, an annual competition that invites architects and designers to imagine futuristic structures.

Google King's Cross Campus

On 1 June 2017, Google submitted an application for planning permission to Camden council for its proposed King’s Cross Campus. This building will be the first, wholly-owned and designed Google building outside the United States.

Construction of the purpose-built 11-storey 'groundscraper' building, providing 1 million sq. ft, of accommodation will commence in 2018. The building will be longer than The Shard is tall.

Designed by Heatherwick Studio and Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the building will feature a natural theme, with all materials sourced through Google’s healthy materials programme. The new building, combined with the current building at 6 Pancras Square and an additional third building, will create a Google campus with the potential to house 7,000 employees.