North Europe recently gets its largest and most significant whirlpool-shaped aquarium 'The Blue Planet' in Denmark which is expected to become an internationally acknowledged destination attracting guests from all over the world.

Located on the shores of Øresund, only eight kilometres from the Copenhagen City Hall Square, The Blue Planet is a building of high complexity with a welcoming and fascinating framework for the guests' encounter with both animals and nature while it houses a well-adapted ecosystem suited for some of the world's most sensitive animal species.

Being inspired by whirlpool and with its location next to Øresund, the aquarium brings land and sea together and pulls both nature and visitors down into the depths. It is equipped with the latest advanced AV technology to create a complete experience which pulls the visitors into an atmospheric underwater universe that can fascinate and seduce both adults and children alike. The swirl shape creates different sections and is a practical answer to the desire to expand the aquarium as one can expand in the swirl shaped arms.

The Blue Planet is Northern Europe's largest aquarium with room for over 20,000 fish and marine animals. The circular foyer is the starting point for the tour around the aquarium. From here one can select which river, lake or ocean to explore. He/she can get close to the animals both below and above water in the humid and hot rainforest. In addition, they can visit the Faroese bird cliff and meet colorful puffins and Nordic icy sharks. In the ocean, tank one can see a bunch of hammerhead sharks and elegant rays.

At a Glance
Project	: The Blue Planet, Kastrup, DK
Prizes	: The prize 'In-Situ Prisen 2013' awarded by the Danish concrete association, Dansk Beton.
Client	: The Blue Planet Building Foundation (Realdania, Knud Højgaards Fond, Tårnby Kommune)
Function	: Aquarium
Gross Floor Area	: 9,700 m2
Completed	: 2013
Architect	: 3XN Role
Engineering	: Moe & Brødsgaard
Exhibition Design	: Kvorning Kommunikation og Design
Landscape Architect	: Henrik Jørgensen LANDSKAB
Picture Courtesy	: Adam M¢rk

The whirlpool

Inspired by the shape of water in endless motion, Denmark's new National Aquarium, located on an elevated headland towards the sea, north of Kastrup harbor, is shaped as a great whirlpool, and the building itself tells the story of what awaits inside.

Its distinctive shape is clearly visible for travelers arriving by plane at the nearby Copenhagen Airport. The facade is covered with small diamond-shaped aluminum plates, known as shingles, which adapts to the building's organic form. Just as water aluminium reflects the colors and light of the sky and thus the buildings expression varies with the changes in its natural surroundings.

Out of the World Experience

Visitors reach the entrance by following the first and longest of the whirlpool's whirls. With a smooth transition, the landscape surpasses for the building, while the outdoor ponds mark the unique experience that awaits the aquarium visitors as they enter The Blue Planet: the whirlpool has pulled them into another world - a world beneath the surface of the sea.


According to Kim Herforth Nielsen, Creative Director, 3XN and architect of the building,"Our wish was to bring our visitors all the way down to the world of the fish. Therefore, the design of The Blue Planet is based on the story about water and life under the sea. We visualise the construction as a whirlpool which draws visitors into the depths to the fascinating experiences waiting among fish and sea animals from all over the world."

Flexible Movement Between Exhibitions

The circular foyer is the central point of navigation in the aquarium. Here visitors choose which river, lake or ocean to explore. By enabling multiple routes the risk of queues in front of individual aquariums is reduced. Each exhibition has its own theme and entrance from the foyer, where sound and images are used to introduce the atmosphere of the different exhibition areas. The restaurant enjoys a magnificent view of the sea, which begins just a few meters away.

Chairman of Denmark's Aquarium, Professor Flemming Frandsen, is looking forward to The Blue Planet as a centre for new experiences in the Øresund region. He stated, "Our ambition is to welcome 700,000 guests each year, thus being one of Denmark's five largest tourist attractions. Now, we have an aquarium, which compares to the world elite of aquariums and that brings us close to the biology of the sea and strengthens our interest in natural science".

During a tourism conference "A New Way to Grow" 2012, the Blue Planet was chosen as Denmark's best lighthouse project within experience economy, because of its potential for growth, influence on regional development, innovation, realization as well as its uniqueness and 'reason to go'.

Eight Pointed Star-Shaped UN City, Copenhagen

3XN, founded as Nielsen, Nielsen and Nielsen in Aarhus in 1986 by the architects Kim Herforth Nielsen, Lars Frank Nielsen (partner until 2002) and Hans Peter Svendler Nielsen (partner until 1992), the studio, today, is famous for two things--their preference for social and humane architecture, and projects demanding a high level of detail and employing workmanship of the highest quality.

The studio emphasizes on curiosity, originality and poetry and creates architecture for people through a complex approach tailored to users and clients. They translates visions into reality and is continually committed to making today's work tomorrow's architectural heritage.

Based on their this design philosophy, the Studio designed many prestigious projects including its latest projects 'The new regional head office of the United Nations in Copenhagen' and The Blue Planet in Denmark that have won many accolades and recognition worldwide.


UN City has been designed with clear references to the UN's identity and values. It is a building that physically reaches out to all parts of the world, while the sculptural staircase in its core reflects the UN's work to create global dialogue. Being completed and delivered in two phases: Phase 1 in 2012 and phase 2 in 2013, the project was officially inaugurated on July 4 2013 with the participation of the General Secretary of the UN.

Bringing together the various agencies and functions of the United Nations regional offices in Copenhagen, the new UN City is located at Marmormolen (The Marble Pier) north of Copenhagen's city center. 3XN's design is a response to the UN's wishes for an iconic building expressing the organization's values and authority. More specifically, the design reflects the independent, efficient and professional nature of each UN unit, while at the same time clearly rooted in a mutual set of values - Delivering as One.

High security and accessibility standards have been central considerations in the design of the new main office building. The UN City must live up to the most stringent requirements, providing a protected and safe environment, while at the same time appearing open and accommodating to the city.

Located on an artificial island, the building is naturally separated from its immediate surroundings, while still being highly visible from both the city and the water.

The Star

From above, the eight-pointed star shape is a clear visual reference point, which, like the UN, reaches out to all corners of the world. Similar to the surrounding rusty pier edges, the UN city has a dark burnished steel base from which the white main building rises. This is a reference to the elegant white ships that characterize this part of the Copenhagen harbor.


The building has a façade cladding of white perforated aluminum shutters, developed by 3XN and contractor Pihl specifically for the UN City. The shutters ensure solar shading without blocking the view or the daylight. Since the facade is divided into three meter long modules, it is possible for the employees to control the sunshade from their computers. The result is an improved indoor environment, and a dynamic façade expressing a building full of life.

From the core of the star-shaped building, a daylight filled atrium connects the lobby level containing all common functions, with the office levels, where the various UN agencies are distributed.

From the atrium a central staircase binds all levels together. 3XN has created the staircase as a dramatic spatial sculpture, which is to be seen as a symbol of the UN's work to create dialogue, interaction and positive encounters between people in all parts of the world. In the daily life, the sculptural form inspires the UN employees to use the stairs, and thus the staircase also forms the basis for dialogue, cooperation and informal meetings between the various UN organizations.

The main office building has more than 90 meeting rooms including a number of flexible rooms on each floor that staff can use for various purposes. The auditorium is a conference facility with a total capacity of 450 people. For smaller conferences and meetings, the auditorium can be divided into smaller rooms by using specially designed partitions.

Sustainability

All office levels are characterized by an open and flexible layout encouraging knowledge sharing and interaction as well as individual immersion. Work stations are ensured plenty of high quality daylight and a good indoor climate. The working environment is further improved by an overall health policy including green recreational areas and a number of sustainable features including.

Air quality - The building has been designed to limit the use of chemicals and pollutants during both its construction and its use. The building is entirely ventilated with filtered outside air. This ensures that only clean, fresh air is present in the building and helps balance the interior humidity level.

Solar panels - more than 1,400 solar panels are lining the roof of the building to support the goal of generating renewable energy onsite. With an estimated total production of 297,000 kWh/year, the solar panels significantly reduce the need for electricity from the grid.

At a Glance
Project	: UN City, Copenhagen
Client	: FN Byen p.s. (Copenhagen Port & City Development)
Architect	: 3XN
Engineer	: Orbicon a/s
Landscape	: Schønherr
Contractor	: Pihl A/S
Interior Design	: PLH / UN Common Services
Size	: 45,000 m2 office and public facilities + 7,000 m2 archives and secondary facilities
Capacity	: 1700 employees
Budget	: Approx. 134 mio. EURO
Picture Courtesy	: Adam M¢rk

Sea water cooling - Cold seawater pumped into the building's cooling system, almost entirely eliminating the need for electricity to power the cooling cycle.

Water efficiency - Innovative aerators have been placed in the taps in kitchens, toilets and showers throughout the building. The low-flow taps reduce water usage. In addition, pipes on the roof capture almost 3,000,000 litres of rainwater annually, which is almost enough to flush the toilets of the entire building without using potable water.

Solar shades - Sophisticated solar shades on the building's facade can be opened and closed to either trap or reflect the sun's heat.


Reflective roofs - The roof of the building has been coated with a white, recyclable membrane, made from plant-based materials. The environment–friendly coating reflects sunlight and reduces the solar warming of the building.

The UN City is expected to become one of Denmark's most energy efficient buildings with an annual energy consumption of less than 50 KwH per m2 (Danish Energy Class 1). The UN City is registered with the LEED sustainability ratings system with the certification goal of LEED® Platinum. UN City has been awarded the prestigious Green Building Award 2012 by the European Commission.

Real estate prices continue to rise and so is the rise in demand for better accommodation. Each house is sold as a dream come true where they promise proximity to nature, bringing in a forest in the form of a landscape that surrounds a swimming pool. So that's a jungle inside a concrete-jungle for you!

We do understand the aspirations of those who have enough disposable incomes to demand such super luxurious supersized designer apartments. We also are aware of the new demand created by those who would want to reconstruct their old-style villa to match the latest lifestyle trend.

What we don't understand is the lack of awareness amongst these people about a sustainable living. One should be conscious of certain facts like how a badly constructed house that consumes more than the required amount of electricity and the water guzzling swimming pools inside them can cause great imbalance to the natural resources of the already crowded urban areas.


Talking about the most important component of life; water, is already an area of contention amongst many Indian states. While the government is trying its best to regulate usage, we all must understand that water is too precious to be wasted.

While we tap water for leisure, we should know that a badly constructed swimming pool can prove too expensive for the environment as well as for you, as a consumer. Each one of us needs to be better aware to demand quality.

The Indian Plumbing Association, in collaboration with the US-based International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), has drawn up a code for swimming pools in India.

One such code was the need of the hour as the National Building code never had any norms for swimming pools at present. In March 2011, the ‘Uniform Swimming Pool Code – India' was documented. The code provides information on materials to be used, water heating, vents, chlorinators and the piping standards that ought to be followed.

While the manufacturers and construction organizations shall refer to this code, we as consumers should also make sure we do not compromise on quality and standards.

They still don't issue licenses to practice swimming pool construction in India. There are many players crowding the market who commit to projects without knowing the scope of what they are undertaking. Then in order to quote less to bag the project, they mindlessly compromise on quality. The worst part is, they keep the consumer in the dark and by the time your pool is up and working, your costs go up by almost 50%.

For instance, if there are constant problems with filtration, then though the maintenance charges would take care of it, the fact remains that the quality was compromised right at the outset. But, the customer had incurred all the cost for it.

Environmentally, a malfunctioning filtration system proves disastrous. Where the plumbing and filtration cannot efficiently handle the cleaning of pool water, one is stuck with water that is always riddled with dirt and potential disease causing germs. Now cleaning this, would consume high amounts of electricity as the pump for the filter is required to run for a longer duration.

One may decide to sanitize the pool, ending up dumping too many chemicals into the water. This will bring in its own set of problems, and at last you would have no option but to change the pool water. This is what makes you deplete the ground water levels in your area, for your leisure.

The repercussions of not having chosen the right pool builder, is not just limited to frequent draining out of pool water, of late this has resulted into much fatal consequences. Most of us are aware of a recent accident where a gentleman lost his life to electrocution in the pool.

Use of energy efficient lighting is also important. Hardly any one of us is aware of the fact that in an ideal situation there shouldn't be any electrical device operating at more than 12 volts in the entire pool surrounding area. One can ensure safety by adhering to quality standards.

Let's not blame the pool owners alone. We need to be better aware to demand the best quality and ensure that our lifestyle in urban India is not becoming a threat to the other half.

Premium Pool's innovative approach towards sustainability

Be assured that achieving sustainability doesn't mean loss of luxury. It's all about creating a demand for sustainable homes of which innumerable benefits accrue by the way of reduction in water and electricity bills.

With pools, a simple way to ensure happiness is by taking care of durability, comfort and long-term cost benefits. This can only be done by choosing the right builder at the onset.

We at Premium Pools are confident of being an unrivalled pool design and construction company that has helped several green buildings achieve better energy and water efficiency.

World over, this industry is operating within stipulated guidelines and following strict standards with respect to safety and quality. In India, surprisingly, what gets the least attention is safety itself.

With our commitment to make any and every swimming pool safe and clean, we decided to partner with international experts.

Having the distinction of collaborating with America's No. 1 pool builder – Premier Pools and Spas in addition to a tie-up with Europe's largest swimming pool builder, Albixon, for the state-of the art equipment, we have always been inspired to deliver projects that have distinguished themselves in numerous ways.

We are also confident of a great team on board that has to its credit, hands-on experience with some of the prestigious projects internationally, making it easier for us to stick to our commitment to quality.

Working close to such standards, every year, we have turned down projects looking on to the psyche of Indian customers and people involved with a swimming pool. Sadly, the mindset remains restricted to treating a pool as a commodity. In fact, we can go on to the extent of saying that it's better not to have a pool than end up having something which is a great financial as well as environmental burden.

This industry remains unregulated with no entry barrier and it is upon us to help streamline things to help the industry gain a proportionate capital share to help every business concern sustain itself to offer the best of swimming pools that are a good investment in every respect.

Currently, the industry can't look within to compete as there is lack of expertise and hardly would you find someone living upto the claims of making a good pool.

In fact, a great way to help the industry see new heights is by coming at par with other industries where people are tapping luxury in every way looking on to the kind of incomes at their disposal.

Unique Projects Undertaken

Aahana Resort

Jim Corbett National Park situated at Nainital district Uttrakhand is one of the oldest Tiger Reserves known for the preservation of the endangered Bengal tiger enjoys unique geographical features that have made it one of the most sought after tourist destinations in Asia. It is just a 4 hour drive from Delhi NCR. Tourists apart from exploring the beauty of the jungle through nature walks, jeep or elephant safari also enjoy the world class human innovation i.e. the resorts.


While you have almost all the resorts along the river, Ahana – The Corbett Wilderness broke the conventional tradition as it touches the forest of Corbett all along its entire length on the north-eastern boundary. The founder of the property Mr. Kamal Tripathi while creating his resort had in mind to make it a spa destination incorporating in it all the five elements of nature i.e air, water, sky, fire and earth, and hence ensuring it to be at par with any world class spa destination. Therefore, the challenge before Premium Pools was to design the entire Landscape in a way that the pool completely blended with the forest in the backdrop, giving an impression like it always existed there and is not a man-made structure.

With the innovative approach that Premium Pools follow, the end result has been that the pool completely blends with the jungle creating a reverse infinity effect on its back, and the vanishing edge of the pool towards the side facing the restaurant gives it a floating restaurant effect.

Pools at The ATS Village, Noida

The ATS Village pool brought out our best in terms of our creative efforts. This pool, like many others, has certain distinctive features.

The ATS Village mega pool is a sunken pool. This means it is built below the land level. We planned everything down to the tiniest detail, including the kind of plantation that would surround it, the colours that would best go with the spirit of the housing group, the way sunlight would fall on the structure and so on and so forth.

We also brought in tiny twists that would make the pool a conversation piece in its own right-the bubbling water, for instance. Water bodies are equally loved for the distinct bubbling sound they make as for providing refreshing coolness. At ATS, we built little bubblers into the pool and constructed a stone set-up to have waterfalls cascade.

So, just sitting by the poolside relaxes busy people back from a hectic day at work.

We also built 39 individual pools for penthouse and row house owners. These pools are family hangout junctions which add an exotic element to the living space. At night, the pools provide a party point for the residents and add luxury to everyday living.

The ATS Village pool was a turning point in the Premium Pools story, as it catapulted us into a different creative zone.

Mr. Gitambar Anand's faith in our abilities helped us push many creative boundaries. With this project, Premium Pools started functioning on a wider orbit.

Wave Pool at Paramount Golf Foreste, Greater Noida

A wave pool is a swimming pool with wave generator fixed at the deeper end, that creates waves in the water by compressing the water beneath, with the release of air through air compressor. With the wave being generated at regular intervals the swimmers in the pool get a tacit feel of swimming in ocean. The earliest wave pools date to the 1940s in the United States, and the concept has since spread widely across the world.

Now we have a few of these being done in India as well, with the latest one being at Paramount Golfforeste which was a big challenge in itself, as we had to do away with the conventional funnel shape [funnel shape is given to the wave pool as the wave is generated at the narrow end of funnel and it terminates at broader shallow end] but still had to have the wave of same intensity. The shape of the pool was a constraint as this was the first wave pool in the country, which was to be used as group housing pool, hence apart from the technical prerequisites, even the aesthetic aspects of landscape were not to be compromised with. This pool is spread over an area of 8000 sqft and boasts of one of the finest landscape architecture.


Apart from creating the waves in the pool, various other features like having sunken bar attached to the pool, having a small pool for toddlers which had to remain immune from the waves that were generated, and incorporating all this, given in the shape which we had been restricted to, was a task to reckon with.

Eckert & Ziegler AG relocated to the new 5,000 m² headquarters last year in time for their 20th anniversary, which was designed by Berlin architecture firm Hofmann Architekten. With its unique architecture, it is a true eye-catcher: The conference room, located in the elliptically shaped roof, projects 4.5 meters over the façade and features huge glass elements. In order to maintain the exceptional appearance of this part of the building, the owner and the architect decided against an external shading system and instead voted for dimmable solar control glass by EControl-Glas. The solar factor and light transmission can now individually be adapted to the amount of solar irradiation.

The Eckert & Ziegler group is one of the worldwide largest manufacturers of radioactive components for medical, scientific and metrological applications, with locations in Great Britain, France, India and the US. Due to increasing numbers in sales and employees, the company started a contest for a 5,000-square-meter extension of its headquarters at the biomedical science campus Berlin-Buch in 2011.

The owner wanted to incorporate its company logo - an ellipse encased by a rectangle - to be structurally integrated into the design. This was fulfilled by Hofmann Architekten in the form of an energy-efficient design, featuring an exposed conference room in the geometrical shape of the logo. "With the extending roof and the rectangular, red-painted roof elements, the building is clearly recognizable as the Eckert & Ziegler headquarters, even from the air," explains architect Jan Hofmann. The conference room, with all-around and nearly room-high glazing, offers a 180-degree view over the Berlin district of Buch.

Credits board
Project	: Eckert & Ziegler headquarters, Berlin, Germany
Building owner	: Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG
Architect	: Hofmann Architekten, Berlin, Germany
Façade construction	: Hauk Metallbau und Sicherheitstechnik GmbH, Nauen, Germany
Glass product	: ECONTROL 48/9
Photo Credit	: Linus Lintner Fotografie/ EControl-Glas

Why Dimmable Glazing?

Due to concavity and southern orientation of the building, approx. 60 square meters of façade glazing are exposed to direct sunlight almost all day long. In order to keep the room from heating up as well as to prevent distracting glare, highly efficient solar protection was needed. "A variable external shading system would have been difficult to install and maintain due to the shape of the building. Rigid solar protection, however, does not let enough light during the winter months. The solar gains are minimal then," explains Hofmann.

Also of major importance were the aesthetic demands of the owner, "The outside of the building had to be as smooth as possible. A shading system would have ruined the conference room's optical representation of the Eckert & Ziegler logo. We thus opted for the dimmable solar control glass ECONTROL 48/9," says Hofmann. Its solar factor is continuously adjustable between 33 and 9%. This eliminates the need for additional shading and the view from the conference room remains unobstructed. The transparency at maximum coloration is still 13%.


And this is how it works: The internal nanostructured coating of the EControl glazing is tinted blue by the so-called "electrochromic effect," as soon as a low voltage (3 volts) is applied. When set at 'light', 48% of the daylight will enter the room, a good value for modern solar control glazing. At a Ug value of 0.7 W/(m²K), ECONTROL 48/9 also provides excellent protection against heat losses.

"EControl glazing has proved to be the perfect solution for our energy-efficient and optically sophisticated concept. The innovative electrochromic technology also perfectly fits a modern, future-oriented company such as Eckert & Ziegler", adds Hofmann.

The new office of Eckert & Ziegler AG has an extending roof with rectangular, red-painted roof elements.

Green Tree Homes and Ventures' latest luxury villa project spread across 3.16 acres, Greenn Athens offers 40 exclusive villas set amidst alluring surroundings with best-in-class amenities.

As the real estate adage goes: "The three most important things about real estate are: location, location and location." Without doubt, this is a dictum that the promoters of Chennai-based Green Tree Homes and Ventures Pvt Ltd have always borne in mind in each of their projects.

The thoughtful emphasis on location by Green Tree Homes comes through clearly in their latest offering – Greenn Athens. The pristine project is ideal for home-seekers weary of noisy city centres, but still keen to live within striking distance of amenities found in metro cities. Such thoughtfulness is not surprising with Green Tree Homes and Ventures, considering the promoters' track record. Promoted by a group of veteran architects and designers with more than two decades' experience in real estate projects that include integrated townships, Green Tree's team of experienced consultants fand developers employ global best practices and international standards of mechanized construction to ensure speedy delivery and absolute customer satisfaction with all projects.

Till date, Green Tree has numerous residential and commercial projects to its credit, covering more than one million square feet. The painstaking planning, strict adherence to building laws and regulations, with dedication to complete the projects ontime ensures customers that they are always offered excellent value for money. Moreover, Green Tree Homes endeavours to provide eco-friendly homes to customers at no extra cost.

Old-World Charm

Greenn Athens now augments the company's exemplary track record. The project name embodies some of the old-world charm of the ancient Greek city. One of the world's oldest cities, Athens has been renowned for its breathtaking architecture, comprising an eclectic mix of avant-garde design and culture. With its independent luxury villa community spread across 3.16 acres, Greenn Athens recreates just that nostalgic feel – right within the precincts of Chennai.


Hidden in a quiet corner of Chennai's Kelambakkam – nestled between the scenic East Coast Road (ECR) and the fast-developing Old Mahabalipuram Road – Greenn Athens offers home-seekers the best of both worlds, old as well as new, through the peaceful backwaters of ECR and the bustling industry of Chennai's IT valley. But that's not all, Greenn Athens is located close to the Muttukadu Lake. Which apart from being so pleasing to the eye, the lake is fast emerging as a hot tourist destination for water sports. Given its excellent location, both naturalists and adrenaline junkies will feel at home.

In this unmatched ambience, Greenn Athens presents an elegant canvas of 40 regal, pearl-white villas. Ensconced within a spacious 4,000–5,000 square feet, each of the 40 villas will have four bedrooms and three car parks, including an exclusive terrace, swimming pool and private elevator. Inspired by contemporary Greek architecture, Greenn Athens' villas display refreshing blue highlights, eye-catching Greek motifs and simple-yet-elegant lines. Blended harmoniously with the surroundings, the premium project recreates a Paradise-like image of Greece that enraptures every onlooker. As one walks through Greenn Athens, it becomes clear that there is so much to experience – across all four floors of each villa.

Enchanting Experiences

The magical experience starts to unfold the moment one enters the complex gates. On entering, one first notices that the lanes between villas are skillfully elevated to conceal the car park at the stilt level and provide two unique bridge-walks for leisurely strolls. Besides, the ample car parking space, the stilt level has a lap pool and deck for residents to relax within and to keep their bodies toned. From here, an in-house elevator carries residents to any floor they wish to visit including the beautifully landscaped terrace. Despite being indoors, the soothing sprays of green and open spaces sprinkled throughout the villa transform the indoor experience into a bright, airy, enchanting encounter.

The close attention to detail ensures each home is perfect with plenty of flourishes for residents to flaunt that could undoubtedly floor visitors. Some of these include: in-house passenger elevator, lap pool, landscaped gardens, home theatre, Jacuzzi in master bath, bridge-walks, imported marble flooring, teakwood doors and architraves, and imported modular kitchen, among other amenities.

With imported marble skirting in living rooms, rustic tiles on the balconies, laminated wooden flooring in bedrooms, granite, ceramic tiles and best-in-class kitchen and toilet fittings, Greenn Athens is a dream home which has come true. Furthermore, it assures guilt-free indulgence as the project's contribution to the ecology has already been taken care of. Other amenities include: a 90-cm electric chimney, four-burner cooking hob, microwave, and dishwasher. All the rooms are provided with split AC ducting and the entire complex is Wi-Fi enabled. With 100% power back-up, including air-conditioning, all residents are assured that the scorching Chennai heat will barely make its presence felt.


The residents who are still in search of an exclusive experience and seek to add a personal touch to their homes, Greenn Athens offers the option of doing exactly the same. Whether it's picking up an East or West-facing villa, or deciding from multiple layout alternatives, Greenn Athens offers customers various options to decide how their home should look like. If customers don't wish to exercise their grey cells on the interiors, preferring to leave this to the experts, Green Tree can arrange to have their interiors done up by the super-skilled designers of a sister concern, Sumana Dinesh Associates. In such a scenario, home owners only need to pack their belongings and move to a beautifully crafted villa.

Finally, for all the opulence and luxurious living on offer, each villa is reasonably priced at Rs.3/- crore only, offering customers absolute value for money. Considering all the alluring amenities, it would come as no surprise if Greenn Athens becomes another best-seller for Green Tree Homes and Ventures.

Green 201: Eco-friendly Towers

Prior to Greenn Athens, Green Tree Homes has had other best-selling projects to its credit. The company gave Chennai its first entirely eco-friendly green residential complex in the IT Hub – Green 201 – constructed to high international standards and with eco-friendly features. The 15-storeyed building with five towers comprising 565 apartments has an exclusive garden on each of its floors, no wall sharing between apartments, a leaf-shaped amphitheatre and a rooftop clubhouse.

A fully-landscaped terrace, rooftop swimming pool, gymnasium, tennis

Harpa Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Centre in Iceland gathers inspiration from the northern lights and the dramatic Icelandic scenery. Designed by the Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects in co-operation with Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and the engineering companies Rambøll and ArtEngineering GmbH from Germany, the structure consists of a steel framework clad with irregularly shaped glass panels of different colors.

Project at a Glance
Architects	: Henning Larsen Architects & Batteriid Architects
Locations	: Reykjavik, Iceland
Client	: Austurnhofn TR – East Harbour Project Ltd.
Project Year	: 2011
Project Area	: 28,000 sqm
Photo Credit	: All Images - Nic Lehoux
Façade design and development	: Olafur Eliasson and Studio Olafur Eliasson in collaboration with Henning Larsen Architects

The Concert Hall and Conference Centre is part of an extensive harbour development project in Reykjavik - the East Harbour Project. The project was initiated in 2004 as a PPP competition, which means that the competing project groups - consisting of both private and public parties - are responsible for investments, construction and operations themselves. However, due to the difficult economic situation that Iceland has found herself in since autumn 2008, the municipality of Reykjavik and the Icelandic Government has attended to the completion of the project themselves. As the name indicates, the overall objective of the project is to expand and revitalize Reykjavik's eastern harbour with a new downtown plaza, a shopping street, a hotel, residential buildings, educational institutions and mixed industry. The overall intention is to generate life in the area and to create a better connection between the city centre and the harbour.




Situated on the border between land and sea, the Concert Hall stands out as a large, radiant sculpture reflecting both sky and harbour space as well as the vibrant life of the city. The Concert Hall of 28,000 m² is situated in a solitary spot with a clear view of the enormous sea and the mountains surrounding Reykjavik. The building features an arrival and foyer area in front of the building, four halls in the middle and a backstage area with offices, administration, rehearsal hall and changing room in the back of the building. The three large halls are placed next to each other with public access on the south side and backstage access from the north. The fourth floor is a multifunctional hall with room for more intimate shows and banquets.


Seen from the foyer, the halls form a mountain-like massif that similar to basalt rock on the coast forms a stark contrast to the expressive and open facade. At the core of the rock, the largest hall of the building, the main concert hall, reveals its interior as a red-hot centre of force.

Facades

Henning Larsen Architects has designed the facade of the Concert Hall in close collaboration with the local architectural company Batteríið Architects and the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson.


As the rest of the building, the design of the facades is inspired by nature. In particular, the characteristic local basalt formations have provided the inspiration for the geometric facade structure.

Made of glass and steel in a twelve-sided space-filling geometric modular system called the 'quasi-brick', the building appears a kaleidoscopic play of colors, reflected in more than 1000 quasi-bricks composing the southern facade. The remaining facades and the roof are made of sectional representations of this geometric system, resulting in two-dimensional flat facades of five and six-sided structural frames. In order to develop these ideas the team worked with three-dimensional computer models, finite element modeling, various digital visualization techniques as well as maquettes, models and mock-ups.

Light and transparency are key elements in the building. The crystalline structure, created by the geometric figures of the facade, captures and reflects the light - promoting the dialogue between the building, city and surrounding landscape.

One of the main ideas has been to "dematerialize" the building as a static entity and let it respond to the surrounding colors - the city lights, ocean and glow of the sky. In this way, the expression of the facade changes according to the visual angle. With the continuously changing scenery, the building appears in an endless variation of colors.


The new concert hall in Iceland, Harpa, is one of five projects that have been announced as finalists for one of the most prestigious awards in architecture, the Mies van der Rohe Award. It is only the second time in the history of the award that a Danish designed project is in the final.

Project facts
Location	: Brooktorkai, HafenCity, Hamburg, Germany
Client	: Robert Vogel & Co.
User	: Spiegel Group
Gross floor area	: 50,000 m²
Year of construction	: 2008 - 2011
Architects	: Henning Larsen Architects and Höhler+Partner
Landscape	: WES & Partner Landschaftsarchitekten
Engineers	: Ingenieurbüro Dr. Binnewies, DS-Plan and ISR Schlegel und Reuβwig
Façade builder	: Schindler Fenster & Fassadenbau GmbH, Roding
Glass processor	: Interpane Belgern
Light Design	: Kardorff Ingenieure
Photo credit	: Cordelia Ewerth and Andreas Gehrke

The new Spiegel headquarters and the neighboring office complex, the Ericus-Contor, a fourteen and nine-storey building pair, expand the gallery of internationally recognized architectural works in Hamburg. The publisher's headquarters and office block, two impressive examples of glass architecture, stand together on the same brick base. The buildings, nestled in the Ericusspitze, with their irregular trapezoidal ground plan, were designed by the Danish firm Henning Larsen Architects. Seen from the north side, the 61-metre-high Spiegel editorial building looks like a window on the town and lets the viewer see deep inside. The glass shell can be used for multimedia projections; it is also part of the reason for the building's outstanding energy balance. ipasol neutral 68/37 solar control glass and iplus E thermal insulation glass from Interpane ensure that the rooms are flooded with daylight, without overheating in the summer sun or losing heat on cold days.


"Location, location and location" The Ericus Quarter is a prime waterfront setting near Hamburg's "Docklands" the "Speicherstadt" just minutes on foot from the city centre and the central station. Visitors appreciate its maritime flair and the sight of the old façades around the Brooktor port. Here, at the north eastern entrance to the "Harbour City", the headquarters of the Spiegel Group and the Ericus-Contor which emerge out of a common brick base have an unbeatable panoramic view of the port.

Structural Design

Henning Larsen Architects has chosen a two-part composition to create hierarchy and openness on the site and has integrated the complex urban spaces that meet at Ericusspitze in their design. The two buildings are designed as large U-forms that embrace the urban space they are directed towards. The Spiegel building embraces an internal space with a more urban character because of its direction towards the city. The Ericus building embraces an open, green outdoor space as it directed towards the large open Lohsepark.



The two buildings form two plazas: an arrival plaza for pedestrians, cy-clists and drivers towards Brooktorkai and an open public plaza, which has a direct connection to the waterfront promenade.

With total space of 30,000 square meters, the new Spiegel office building is one of the largest in Hamburg which comprises 13 stories. Its windows are framed with white metal and the glass facades resemble austere grids, but the north side of the building is more open to which the architects call it a "window to the city." Besides these, the building to its inside has an atrium as high as the building itself, flanked by galleries and crossed by nine staircases and four bridges. Here, too, the architects wanted to create an image of networks, transparency and communication.

Outstanding Sustainability

Spiegel Headquarters has been awarded with the prestigious award 'Hafencity Umweltszeichen Gold'. The building is certified with a gold medal in the certification system of HafenCity for meeting the highest sustainability requirements for buildings in Germany. The certificate is awarded for sustainable utilization of energy and public resources, the use of environmental-friendly building materials, the consideration of health and comfort aspects and also for the sustainable construction and operation of the building. The calculated energy consumption of the Spiegel building amounts to only 80 kWh/m²/year.

Energy consumption, sustainable materials and a good indoor climate are the factors that have been carefully examined since the design phase. During the selection of materials and products for the buildings, all of them have been carefully examined and evaluated on the basis of their performance (easy to clean and should not be allergenic) to ensure a good indoor air quality.


With its unusual construction, built by façade builders Schindler Fenster & Fassadenbau (Roding), the headquarters plays in the premier league energetically as well as optically. Almost all the façades of the building are covered with triple insulation glass in a beam-and-column construction. On the ground floor, in the highly transparent structural glazing façade of the central part of the building and in the wide roof, ipasol neutral 68/37 solar control glass ensures colour-neutral transparency and an outstanding energy balance. Because of the low total energy transmittance (solar factor = 37% according to EN 410), the rooms behind the glass warm up less, removing the need for exterior shading. Nonetheless, lots of daylight (tV = 68%) reaches them. Light reflection on them is minimal, leading to a particularly colour-neutral appearance and maximum transparency. The light reflection from inside is also minimal, ensuring an outstanding view to the outside, even with the internal lighting turned on. The neighboring Ericus-Contor is protected with iplus E double insulation glazing and ipasol neutral 68/37 solar control glass.

The heating and cooling system is also clever: ground heat exchangers and photovoltaic panels reduce the need for non-regenerative energy; the glass façade is naturally rear ventilated - making classical air-conditioners and radiators unnecessary. Radiant heating and cooling panels on the office ceilings regulate the climate through gentle radiation, improving the sensation of well-being. The whole building is heated and cooled in this environmental-friendly manner, without preventing the manual opening of office windows.

Buffer Zone of Light and Fresh Air

The glass-covered atrium which spans all floors, creates a pillar of light and air surrounded by galleries. Whenever the employees move from office to office, or walk over the many bridges and stairs to another level, they have a clear view of the sky. The architects have succeeded in creating the perfect image of transparency, networking and communication. The colour concept of the interior is marked by white, often removable, wall panels, grey carpeting and lots of natural wood. Only the already almost legendary "colour explosion" of the snack bar from the old building consciously falls outside this mould. The designers shipped this homage to earlier times to the fifth floor: coloured prisms of fabric, wall-mounted and hanging lamps, mainly in bold orange and purple. It is safe to assume that this is the place where new recruits will be introduced to the myths of Spiegel history. An alternative is the cafeteria on the ground floor - with its terrace right by the water.

Dr K M Soni, Chief Engineer, CPWD, Western Zone II, Nagpur. Er Piyush Soni, Amdocs, Pune

"Floating" term in the foundation engineering is used when the soil beneath the footing does not experience any extra load, as the load of the structure is equal or less than the soil displaced. Floating houses are similar in concept and can be defined those houses which are constructed on water in a way that the load of the structure is equal or less than the uplift force of the water which helps in floating the house on water. Traditional houses like houses on boats have mobility while now floating houses are considered those houses which are used as living spaces on water that are minimally mobile other than moving vertically with the tide. Unlike a houseboat, a float house is not self-propelled though some smaller float houses can be propelled by attaching an outboard motor to them. Holland has many float houses as they have started using water as a resource for construction of houses.

Traditional floating houses, normally houseboats, were built in various countries in the places prone to floods, near coast lines and on the lakes and rivers. In Australia, especially on the Murray River and the sunny coastline of Queensland, there are many motorised pontoon based houseboats with two or more bed rooms, some of them even have multi-storeyed structure. Houseboats are also in Lake Eldon in Victoria and in Hawkesbury River near Sydney. Similarly floating houses/houseboats are available in Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Laos, New Zealand, Serbia, UK, USA, Thailand and India. In India, houseboats have been traditionally constructed in Kashmir, Kerala and in Assam. Houseboats are also very popular for recreational activities for groups of people of all ages but for residential purposes, it is Holland where houses are designed, constructed and are in high demand.


Floating houses are now constructed which float only during floods. Thus, there are two types of floating houses, one which permanently float and other that float only during flood waters else get placed on ground, particularly during dry season when there is no water. Some houses which were constructed on stilts or piles due to safety requirements during floods in many parts of the world and in India too, like in West Bengal, Assam and other parts, are not actually floating houses in true sense. Floating houses are in true sense are those which do not require foundation and are based on the principle of buoyancy thus are also called buoyant homes. Thus the base of the structure needs to be such that it helps in floating as well able to take the dead load of the house, live load and other loads to be encountered by the house. Thus the house may be constructed on boats, hollow pipes, light weight pads and similar materials which help in the floating as well taking up loads. Flotation Systems now being used include log floats, solid Styrofoam encased in rubber, foam filled steel pontoons, positive concrete, concrete ferrocement pontoons, concrete and foam, wood and foam, polyethylene shell with solid core polystyrene block moulded inside, fibreglass etc.

Houses which get uplift during floods and move down during conditions when no water is there are guided vertically, telescopically. A steel frame that holds the flotation blocks is attached to the underside of the house. There are four 'vertical guidance' poles not far from the corners of the house. The tops of the poles are attached to the steel frame. The poles telescope out of the ground, allowing the house to move up and down.

Need of Floating Houses

In low lying country like Holland, planning was focused on separating and maintaining the division between land and water by reclaiming land from the sea by building dams and heightening dikes. But the need to construct safe and economic houses where two-thirds of the population lives below sea-level, Dutch planners started looking to make use of water as a resource itself. Problem became further acute in the last decade due to global warming leading to rising water coupled with several unusually dry summers. The sea level is said to have risen by 20 centimetres in the last century and is expected to rise by three times that amount in the 21^st century. Therefore floating houses is becoming a necessity in the coming years.

One Dutch construction company, recognising the growing scarcity of land in the Netherlands started to build houses on water. Ooms Bouwmaatschappij has built the first eight of 500 planned floating houses on the outskirts of Amsterdam, the capital of the world's third most densely populated country. The houses, which are designed to withstand gales, are built on floating platforms. Frits Schoute, a former professor at Delft University, is working on a stabilising platform that would permit communities to live in the middle of oceans, unaffected by waves. He expects colonisation by these floating cities to take place in the next 20 years.

Basic Principle of Construction

Generally there are two basic principles for making floating houses. First is the pontoon principle in which one makes a solid platform, lighter than the water and the other based on the ship in which a hollow concrete box is created which is open on the top. The pontoon principle has the benefit of its use in shallow water, compared to the hollow concrete box while the concrete box has the benefit of higher space utilisation within as a part of the building. Both type of floating houses are connected with a flexible connection to the quay, so the houses can rise with the water when the tide changes. When needed the floating system can be moved elsewhere at short notice without leaving any scar to the environment. Instead a new house can be placed in to the old situation which makes it the most sustainable and durable way to build. The floating houses built by +31architects are based on the hollow concrete box.

The house is sited within a wet dock comprising retaining walls and base slab. When flooding occurs the dock fills with water and the house rises accordingly. Similarly when water subsides, houses come down. All the pipes, ducts and wires for water, gas, electricity and sewage disposal in such "amphibious" homes are flexible, designed to remain functional even when the house rises several metres from its usual position. Amphibious homes that rest on land are also built for rising conditions. As per the designers, Factor Architecten, when the river has the flooding conditions, their houses will float as much as 18 feet and floats back down as the water subsides.


Providing services in a floating house is a challenge which includes water supply, electricity and toilets. Therefore, green building concept has to be followed in the floating houses which use non conventional resources for energy, make use of waste products, and recycles the water. Net zero energy buildings are more useful as they do not require additional energy from external source and total energy demand is met from on site generation power. Normally solar panels are provided for the energy requirements. Due to aesthetic requiurements as well energy efficiency, roof garden is also becoming popular. Other measures like incinolet toilets to burn waste, geothermal pond loops into the floor, and filtration unit for drinking water collected from rainstorms. 'New Water', Netherland planned for using 25% less energy than a conventional building due to the use of water cooling techniques.

Life in a Floating House

If some one is fond of relaxing atmosphere, romanticism and living on the water, there are plenty of reasons to live on a floating home. Recurring cost on electricity and water though high, may be reduced through providing non-conventional energy sources. The calming nature of living on the water takes such house owners away from the hustle and bustle of city life but the main advantage is the safety during floods being a necessity in some of the areas like in Netherland. Also such houses can be integrated with beautiful landscape and comfort conditions with minimum energy bills and a small carbon footprint. These can be workshop made high quality homes delivered to site complete with required interior and exterior finishes, windows, doors, fixtures, and appliances.


The most prominent con of life on the water is the drastic changes in the lifestyle. There is limited space particularly for storage therefore possessions has to be kept to a minimum. Main problem is the cost and inconvenience of heating in the winter time and maintenance and repair if required.

Floating Structures

Though there are several floating structures now existing and in planning stage, few planned big structures are mentioned here.

Floating island Seoul: In Han River in Seoul, South Korea, the floating island has the stunning structure includes a 700 seat convention hall, restaurants and arcades - all powered by solar energy (http://inhabitat.com/worlds-first-solar-powered-floating-island)


Floating hotel: The connecting bridge is planted with trees, giving the impression of land projecting into the sea and is designed by the Giancarlo Zema Design Group for an Arabian commission. www.giancarlozema.com

Floating city: Planned for 2015 completion in the Maldives. The green covered star-shape building symbolizes the Maldivian innovative route to conquer climate change. This will become a location for conventions about climate change, water management and sustainability. Architect Koen Olthuis--Waterstudio.NL. Developer Dutch Docklands--www.dutchdocklands.com.


Miniature Taj Mahal: The most famous of the Sausalito houseboats, a miniature version of the Taj Mahal in India has been for the last four decades a private home, although it was a bed and breakfast for a few years, now it's a private home again. www.flickr.com

Moving Houses

It brings into picture the thought of combining studio apartments-offices-commercial hubs under single roof. Highrise buildings, long working hours, traffic congestions, polluted roads and densely populated areas—ideally define a metropolitan city. The so called "speediness" has ravished the real essence of life. People from small towns migrate to cities for a healthy lifestyle, but often find themselves stuck in the amidst of rush and tensions.




The war is about the grip on the rat race, to survive, to boost one's ego by possessing a dream flat and a car in a well heeled part of the city. We hardly spend time with friends, an occasional forwarded sms generally takes care of that. Celebrations have transformed into the once in a while formal get together. A normal day in most of our lives usually starts from a prescribed breakfast by the friendly dietitian, work out in the gym under the vigilant eyes of the trainer, rush to the office (if you have a car you are perhaps the luckiest one, else wait for the public transport and prepare yourself for the routine fight of finding a seat in a bus), come back home after long hectic travelling hours and spend some time with your family (if your body authorizes that), go to sleep and start all over again the next morning.

These cities have become so populated and polluted to its optimum level that eradicating long travelling distances between work, home and amusement, is a contemporary necessity of the young professionals.

So, more desirable travel patterns have given rise to a new concept called Work-live and play, which is a boon and can fulfill all the present day needs, making life more trouble-free and joyful. It ideally means, obtaining three vital components of any working professional's lifestyle, that is, a convenient place to live, a suitable place to work, and an exciting place to enjoy, located inside one estate. In a straight line, it shows an easy escape from the dusty, polluted and noisy traffic hours.


That's something most of us strive for, and the new trend for achieving that goal is to move in such localities. This idea may sound untried, but it has been around since the 1980s in spirit and is banging again in many metropolitan areas.

A Complete Recreational Package

Undoubtedly, life in big cities has become faster and people are always bound in a specified time frame but developers now a days are busy building such an infrastructure which can cater all the recreational facilities and a home to stay, closer to the office premises. Reports of the health organizations reveal that most of the people in the metropolitan cities suffer from respiratory problems due to high levels of pollution.


Although these cities provide many employment opportunities but they fail to provide a peaceful life. The time wasted in jams and congestions reduces the competence of the people and leaves no space for leisure. Higher education, extreme ambitions, efficiency —the basic attires of todays workforce, have raised the momentum of work-live-play concept in India.

Developers are pattering into the growing demand for this concept by reconstructing all the infrastructure for building industrial estates and thus transforming them into the "elite class business parks" with a whole set of lifestyle facilities, including gymnasiums, grocery stores, movie theaters, walking trails, dog parks and the like. A suitable framework of active behavior, not only for adults but also for kids.


In addition, live-work-play communities are no longer limited to the metropolis. Now, they even pop up in suburban areas as a way to taste the conveniences of urban life.

Benefits of Work-Live-Play

The economy may go through cycles of peaks and troughs, but demand for real estate, in particular housing will always be there in India, till every single working professional dreams of owning a home. No matter how many jobs are sacked from a company, there will always be a need for a place to live. And considering the constant rise in the population of our country, realty market is bound to find a way out to bring people out of this competitive environment.

It's an easy option to get rid of this frantic life and moving in close proximity to the family. Moreover, sharing the neighborhood with the people you work would be a great opportunity to build some lifelong healthy relationships. Parties, small trips and frequent visits at each other place would help to fabricate a strong social life. Maintaining balance between professional and personal life will be far simpler, as one can ever think.

In other words, this concept of work-live-play brings into picture the thought of combining studio apartments-offices-commercial hubs under single roof. It's time to enjoy life and get everything you need in one convenient place!

At a Glance
Project	: Wuhan Greenland Center, Wuhan, China
Architectural firm	: AS+GG Architecture
Engineer	: Thornton Tomasetti
Client	: Greenland Group
Function	: Mixed-Use
Height	: 606 m height
Start of Construction	: 2012
Estimated Completion	: 2017

The Wuhan Greenland Center, at 606 meters (1,988 feet), is likely to become China's third-tallest and world's seventh tallest building, when completed in 2016. AS+GG Architecture in conjunction with Thornton Tomasetti Engineers won the design competition to build the 125 storey tower which comprises about 300,000 square meters of floor area, including about 200,000 sm of offices, 50,000 sm of luxury apartments and condominiums, a 45,000 sm five-star hotel, and a 5,000 sm, 27-meter-tall private club with spectacular views at the tower's penthouse level.

The tower features a uniquely streamlined form that combines three key shaping concepts-a tapered body, softly rounded corners and a domed top-to reduce wind resistance and vortex action that builds up around supertall towers. The building's extremely efficient aerodynamic performance will allow it to minimize the amount of structural material (and the associated embodied carbon) needed for construction.

Frame Work

The major structural system of Wuhan Greenland Center Main Tower consisting of robust composite walls, giant slightly sloping composite SRC columns and curved belt trusses, is adopted to resist the lateral loads (wind or seismic) effectively. The locations and geometry of structural components have carefully been optimized to not only provide enough strength and stiffness but also to integrate with the architecture seamlessly.

The tower's three corners rise from its tripod-shaped base and taper upward, culminating in an arched tip above the dome at the top. The corners will be of smooth curved glass, contrasting markedly with the more textured curtain wall cladding the body of the tower. The curtain wall will enclose a composite concrete core with steel framing. Apertures in the curtain wall at regular intervals will assist in venting wind pressure against the tower; the apertures will also house window-washing systems and air intake and exhaust systems on mechanical floors.

Tower Crown Structure

The top of the Wuhan Greenland Center Main Tower is an expression of the project design philosophy. As the tower reaches into the sky, the cladding splits at the line between two architectural components known as the body and the shield. This separation was created to help alleviate tower top wind forces and thus significantly improve building behavior. This simple but powerful statement about the effectiveness of coordinating architecture and structure in Supertall building design has become the building's most iconic feature and is certain to create a landmark on the city skyline.


Rising from gently tapering tower wing tips, the taper steadily and continuously increases to the point that the tips converge on the tower centerline to form a unique 61m tall crown. Tapering of other building surfaces defines a 35m tall dome. Cleaning of the dome glass will be performed by equipment suspended from the crown above. Cladding of the outer crown is supported by a special tripod structural system. Because crown tripod leg framing is concealed within opaque cladding, support structural design was based on material efficiency and constructability. Each crown tripod leg, a half-arch in profile, is trapezoidal in cross-section or plan. The four faces of each leg are trusses following simple surfaces, with the upper/outer and side trusses triangulated for shear stiffness and the lower/inner truss a Vierendeel without diagonals. Pipes up to 500 mm diameter are used for truss chords and smaller diameter pipes are used for web members and braces. The inner truss Vierendeel configuration and the hollow tripod leg design without internal diaphragms were both selected to work with the window washing machine within. The side trusses taper nearly to a point at the crown base, landing on the super columns at wing tips and connecting directly to the embedded steel columns in the super column for secure load transfer.

The tower dome structure posed different design challenges. Dome cladding is transparent but substantial cladding support framing is required at long spans and high wind pressures. Viewing up through the peak of the dome is desired. Dome structural framing will be visible to visitors so a dramatic sculptural appearance is desired.

Sustainable Elements

The tower has several other planned sustainable elements that include: Energy recovery using an enthalpy wheel integrated into the ventilation system; this captures energy from the building's exhaust systems and uses it to pre-heat or pre-cool air entering the building.

It will have a greywater recovery system which takes waste water from the hotel laundry, sinks and showers and reuses it in the building's evaporative cooling system. Water-conserving low-flow plumbing fixtures, has been selected for this building which reduce the total amount of potable water required as well as the associated pumping energy.

Besides these, a high-efficiency lighting system has been planned which uses low-energy-consuming ballasts and lamps to reduce required power consumption. It has also a daylight-responsive control system, which automatically turns off electric lights when sufficient daylight is available.

In addition, the AS+GG Interiors studio is developing the tower's fluidly sculpted interior public spaces, many of which reflect the tower's exterior silhouette. The conical silhouette is visibly echoed in the entrances to the primary elevator bank from the main lobby, as well as in the shapes of the elevator cabs and other public spaces. The lobbies and other amenity spaces within the tower also feature sweeping, fluid lines and a neutral blue-gray palette that recalls the reflective glass of the exterior wall. The transparency of the ground-floor lobby wall allows views from inside toward the entry canopy drop-off areas, establishing a seamless relationship between the interior and exterior.

At a Glance
Project	:	Qintai International Tower, Wuhan, China
Architectural firm	:	AS+GG Architecture
Client	:	Hubei Tobacco Company
Function	:	Mixed-Use
Height	:	248 m height
Lighting Designer	:	Office for Visual Interaction (OVI)

Qintai International Tower is AS+GG Architecture's winning design for an international competition to design a 248-meter (814-feet) tall, high-performance corporate headquarters tower and related podium structure in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China.

The Tower's total constructed area is 146,000 square meters, including a 5-star hotel and office space to be occupied by the client, CNTC Hubei Provincial Tobacco Corporation, and other tenants. The tower will be connected via a plaza and an above-grade pedestrian bridge to the podium, which will contain retail, restaurants and a conference center with a ballroom. At the top of the tower, a special executive lounge and restaurants will offer spectacular views of the surrounding cityscape.

The tower’s unique form is both culturally and environmentally contextual to the city of Wuhan. The genesis of the form in the competition phase related to the Qin, a traditional Chinese musical instrument similar to a zither, featuring strings that are stretched over pegs that form a raised S curve over a rectangular wooden frame. The instrument is similar to the one featured in a Chinese legend with deep significance to the culture of Hubei, which in turn inspired the design process.


Sustainable Design Features

During the ongoing concept design phase, the cultural influence of the building has been developed in relation to the building’s energy performance. Informed by a rigorous parametric analysis, the façade now bows outward in a diagonal line that ascends northwest up the tower. This shape has been adjusted to optimize self-shading and minimize solar heat gain, an effect augmented by the fact that both the tower and podium’s narrowest exposures are mostly to the east and west, from which the sun is harshest. In addition, the tower’s smaller floor plates allow for greater use of daylight harvesting, which in turn reduces the building’s energy consumption for artificial lighting.


Floodlights are carefully aimed at the tower’s facade in order to softly catch the building’s elegant central curve, drawing the eye upward toward the shape of the glowing top-floor restaurant. Sparkling water features and glowing tea pavilions create moments of brilliance amongst the dense landscape of softly illuminated curving pathways, creatively lit by fixtures concealed in the branches of flowering trees.

Qintai International Tower is oriented to maximize views of Wuhan’s great bodies of water, including Moon Lake to the east and the nearby Hanshui River to the north. The building will also enjoy a perspective of the AS+GG-designed Wuhan Greenland Center, a supertall tower now in the early stages of construction about five miles from the Qintai site.


The cultural importance of Moon Lake and the city’s two rivers are emphasized on Qintai International Tower's 25,863 sm site by a series of pools and other water features that surround the tower and podium. The water features are also performative elements of the design, making the air feel fresher to building users in Wuhan’s hot climate. Water for these elements will come from stormwater and/or recovered condensate from the complex.

Other sustainable features being explored for the complex include: Solar hot water roof panels; A high-performance exterior wall featuring passive shading and vertical fins on the east and west facades; An operable louver system with internal shading blinds that are responsive to the solar path; Natural ventilation systems; Storm water and condensate collection systems besides Natural filtration through landscape features.

Project Brief:
Location	:	Sriperumbudur – Thiruvallur Highway, Pollivakam, Thiruvallur
Client	:	K. V. Balasubramanium
Architect	:	Ar. M.Murali

The site is located in a serene locality off the main road at Pollivakam in Sriperumbudur, taking you away from the noise and hustle bustle of the Thiruvallur to Sriperumbudur highway.


A very prominent entrance with its lively play of colours and shadows promises a wonderful and worthwhile time to be spent at Vishwaksena School. You feel you have reached the heights of awe as you enter under the amazing cut-outs and pergolas with the shadows painted on the walls, there is more than this. As you walk down the beautifully landscaped path to reach the admin block of the building, you just can’t miss the bright colour shades of green and white and yellows that play with your mind in addition to the greenery and landscaped surrounding.

One can imagine how a child would be lost in the world of colours and shapes as the building itself reflects liveliness and activity among the children. When you are done looking up at the niches and shapes, down on the floor one finds numerous interesting lights and shadows created by the cutouts on the wall. It makes the child think of such possibilities and how different it looks from the usual concrete boxes that they are so used to seeing everywhere they go.

One gets a feel of excitement, as if entering a theme park where they need to explore the space and satisfy their curiosity. There is ample sit out spaces on the window ledges and near the courtyard railings that allows a lot of interaction among the kids even as they remain under their teachers’ supervision.


The buildings life emanates from its central elliptical courtyard that connects all its levels and provides a mesmerizing view from everywhere and lights up all the spaces connected to it. The courtyard brings nature inside the building and blends well with the colour and mood of the surroundings and keeps kids close to nature. It’s a suspense that opens out while entering the school main building.

In the upper floors great care has been taken to ensure utmost safety measures without hindering a child’s view and play. Natural lighting has been to every nook and corner of the building and ventilation that promises nice breezy winds in the mornings and evenings. This is a boon to the atmosphere created at the corridors and classrooms.

The design builds up an innocent simplicity in experience with simple elements and effective use of materials like paint on concrete and glass. Structurally it keeps us wondering how such a design can be conceived without imagining the building on a highly three dimensional scale.

Even further inwards the design also shows how a curved wall has been treated beautifully with niches amongst which toilet ventilators were well camouflaged. The niche wall with its colourful bright patterns on a curved space extends three floors high and captures dynamism of a rectilinear and circular shape. The internal spaces classrooms, staff rooms, toilets and corridors also are well defined if not restrictive.

Project at a Glance:
Chief Architect	:	M. MURALI
Consultants	:	Mr. Kanagavel - Structural Consultant Mr. Sumanan - Electrical Consultant M/s. Ganga consultants - Plumbing consultant
Client	:	Mr. & Mrs. Vasuki Rajagopalan Residence
Area	:	8500 sqft
Total Cost	:	Rs. 1.7 Crore
Year of Completion	:	2009

Murali architects has designed and built the 8500 sq.ft residence of Mr. & Mrs. Vasuki Rajagopalan green with the use of sustainable and highly energy efficient building materials meeting rigorous green building standards.

Located at Manapakkam, Chennai, the Villa is formed by simple planar geometry and varying levels combining office with a residence. The residence is designed for a family of five, giving a contemporary look. The clarity was the paramount for the design mass and good integration with the landscape.

As the client believe in living harmoniously with nature, the principle of Tamil Nadu science ‘aayam’ has been followed in this project.

Entering the house is the foyer with the flight of steps taking to the raised living. The huge living, dining with double heights extends from front to the rear surrounded by landscape and the shallow pool.


A Central court yard in the house increases the proximity of the building with nature, which allows good amount of natural light into the spaces. The double height spaces links the various spaces thereby creating a united entity. The yoga room located at the first level amidst the green landscape and bamboo pergola gives divine feel to the space. The toilets in this residence have green courts.


Based on the demand or wish list of clients, the resident has a wind catcher. Natural material for the skylights has been used. Even the basement floor, though it does not have an opening to the outside, it is lit by the central light court and stay pretty cool too for the same reason, therefore minimizing the use of artificial lighting and resources. Venturi effect is applied blowing the hot air upwards in the court yard, with a continuous air draft.

Effective use of Natural materials is one of the reasons that make the building more energy efficient. Bamboo pergolas in the terrace giving a pattern of shadows in the terrace, creates a pleasant feel. Red oxide cement flooring, clay tiles in terrace flooring, wooden floor are majorly found.

The rooms are naturally ventilated in a good manner through cross ventilation. Solar panels are incorporated, through which solar energy can be well captured thereby reducing the artificial power consumption.

Car drive is designed with a regular pattern of grass and stone paving therefore allowing water percolation through which recharges the ground water table regularly. The clear defined masses and a well delineated geometry of the building gives it a grand façade and an effective system for low building maintenance too.

Client	: Marvel Realtors
Location	: Pune, India
Floor Area	: 10,000 Square Metres

Sentinel represents a synthesis of form, environment and function. At over 70 metres in height, the building will be one of Pune’s tallest structures. The vision of creating Pune’s premier office development required that practicality and adaptability were packaged in a compelling envelope.

Sentinel is composed of a series of vertical elements, breaking down the massing into clearly legible components which help to accentuate the vertical elegance of the design. Double-height terraces provide a welcome outdoor space for offices to use. A custom-designed operable sunscreen ensures that the use of these areas is extended as light, rain and wind can be carefully tuned and filtered according to requirement.

Intelligent office planning systems are integrated into the basic structure of the building, allowing tenants to design their own office environments, while still adhering to a common design concept.

2 Sky terraces break up the building massing, while offering double-height outdoor gardens as communal areas for the occupants. In addition, the base and the top of the building are celebrated, both in form and function. A lobby café forms a compelling backdrop to the main entrance. A rooftop bar and terrace provide a fantastic venue for evening drinks, whilst a high-end restaurant serves as a most fitting venue for a meal with superb views over the city.

Facades & Glazing

The facades have been studied in terms of solar exposure and view planes. Where required, double-glazed units with a low-E coating have been deployed, reducing the penalty of excessive heat gain.


Full-height glazing creates a seamless relationship of the interior with the views outside. Sun shading screens allow for careful modulation of external light. Sophisticated curtain wall systems give a maximum of light penetration to the interiors, whilst projecting a distinguished and elegant exterior and minimising long-term maintenance problems. The tenancy operated sun shading screens will give the building its unique appearance: multi-layered and variable, it will help to humanise the face of the building, expressing the presence of its different occupants.

Structural Design

The basis of the design is a simple core sandwiched between two office plates. This allows for great flexibility in the ways the office floors can be arranged and/or broken down.

Access from the central lobby is direct and clear. The floorplates, at less than 10m depth, are designed to maximise the use of daylight, reducing dependency on artificial lighting. A simple modular planning grid has been adopted to allow the greatest flexibility to tenants in terms of internal planning and the selection of building systems.

The building cladding module has also been chosen for its adaptability to office design. A floor-to-floor height of 3.96m yields a generous clear interior height within the office. Double-height offices are provided on certain levels to cater to occupants who want a dramatic entry condition. The central core contains 2 sets of lift banks which keep waiting times to a minimum, also allowing a division of the core into exclusive domains relative the offices they serve. Toilet facilities have been centrally planned in the core, but to cater to on-floor executive needs, provision for additional toilets have been made within the tenancies.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill (AS+GG) Architecture has won Mumbai's Imperial Tower competition with a 400-meter aerodynamic design. The Imperial Tower, which could become the tallest in the city if constructed, was designed to "confuse the wind" by minimizing the negative effects of wind in the low-rise city.


At 116 stories and 400 meters tall, Imperial Tower was designed to be the tallest building in the city and a prototype for Mumbai, a densely developed but mostly low-rise metropolis whose urban future revolves around tall residential towers.

The softly curvilinear form of this tall, elegantly slender tower is aerodynamically shaped to "confuse the wind," minimizing the negative effects of wind action on the tower. Wind vortex shedding is also mitigated by the north- and south-facing sky gardens, which break up wind currents around the tower. The sky gardens also provide unprecedented access to light, views and connection with the natural world that are unprecedented in Mumbai.


The 76,272- square-meter tower includes 132 residential units of between 195 and 1,115 square meters, along with service apartments of between 72 and 252 square meters. All of the upper-story condominiums offer breathtaking views of the Arabian Sea. Imperial Tower will offer the most spacious and luxurious residences in Mumbai.

Architecturally, the exterior wall provides a strong visual contrast with the heavy masonry cladding of most surrounding buildings. The exterior wall is highly sustainable, blocking heat gain and diffusing direct sunlight in the hot and humid climate of Mumbai.

The sustainability of Imperial Tower is also evident in its treatment of water, one of the area's most precious resources. Water from mechanical systems is collected and treated as greywater; rainfall is also collected for re-use by the units. High-efficiency mechanical systems, a green-wall podium and the use of native plants in the landscaping and sky gardens also adds to the project's sustainable performance. The most intriguing is the possibility that the apartments' kitchens and bathrooms could be prefabricated by a local factory.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill (AS+GG) Architecture points out that though, they are a competition winner but its future is not certain as the project is on hold and most likely will not get built.

Client Vision & Requirement

When the officials of Bhavishya Nidhi Bhawan project approached Architect Harish Tripathi & Associates, it was their requirement that the office must be able to cater to the needs of the people who visit regarding their PF related issues and to provide ideal working conditions and environment for the employees.

Besides these, the building had to cater to the needs of security, privacy, hierarchy of usages with modern office management systems and planning. It had to be a green building which uses maximum natural light and ventilation with a win- win situation for all the user groups. The EPFO wanted to provide a courtyard in the center of the building (Brahmsthan) to facilitate maximum light and ventilation. Moreover, the office building had to be designed in such a way that it caters to future requirement and has all the flexibilities in the usage pattern. In this view the building was designed with no fixed partitions inside. Last but not the least, the client's ever increasing storage needs had to be catered with modular and efficient storages system near the work places.

The Structural Design

The Planning Concepts and Structural Design have been done by the architectural firm through its Structural Engineer Mr Anil Shukla. Based on the client's requirement, the firm has designed a 6 story Building including lower ground floor which is utilized for Parking. The front has a setback of 12 m. This is utilized for driveway as well as landscape area. The side setbacks are of 6.74m. Ramps have been provided on both sides of setbacks to connect front upper part to rear lower part. The rear setback of 11.35 meters is utilized for parking as well as services.

The Ground floor has a Main entrance and a Public dealing hall. First, Second and third floors have various offices. The top floor had to be utilized as Guest house for visiting officials of the organization.


The plan of the building is a juxtaposition of 3 rectangles. Thus, with all the rectangles the grand rectangle of the office block is complete. The first rectangle is the front service core which houses staircase, lift, lift lobby and toilets. The Second Rectangle is the main office Hall which has only two columns in it thus providing a lot of flexibility in internal designing. The third rectangle has a fire staircase and public toilets.

This juxtaposition leaves two more rectangles; one at the front and other at the back to complete the grand rectangle. The front rectangle is used as a huge arrival area which acts as a podium. The entire arrangement increases the volume, light, and ventilation of the building.

The planning and the structural system have been integrated in such a way that they derive maximum benefit out of each other. The service cores at the front and back require less spans hence more number of columns are provided in those areas, whereas the hall area has only two columns in it. This provides maximum utilization of the space without compromising with the economy of the structural system.


With large spans also due to its arrangements, the economy of the structures was achieved. The challenge has been to provide sleek 18 m height column in the front supporting sleek RCC pergolas at the top level in the front as well as back. The structural system and designs were vetted by The Dean Civil Engineering Department, Jamia Millia Islamia (University) New Delhi.

Aesthetics & Ambience

The Architectural Style has been kept contemporary with straight and simple lines to project a changed progressive imaging of the EPFO. The monumentality in the building has been added by providing huge column in the front and back. Also, most of the features including boxes all around add to the verticality in the building.

In spite of being a public building, special care has been taken to incorporate VASTU elements considering the sentiments of the users as well as overall benefit derived from them.

The aim of the design was to provide a green building which utilizes maximum natural light and ventilation from all the directions depending on seasons and sun movements. Various arrangements in the form of Projections, Pergolas have been done to cut direct sun in the building. The structural glazing has been provided strategically to enhance the aesthetics of the building.

The ACP cladding has been done to provide a permanent finish to the structure. The cladding acts as Insulating layer all around the building thus decreasing the heat gain and reducing overall energy consumption in the form of electricity.

The efficient water management has been done in the building. Rain water harvesting system has been provided in the campus to recharge the rain water. No high energy consumption material has been utilized in the campus adhering to Green Building Guidelines.

The colour scheme of the building has been kept the same, which was recently approved by EPFO headquarters for all offices throughout India. All these add to the ambience of the building and give the building a decent look.

Economy in Construction

The economy in construction was achieved through best management practices. The Material Management and Procurement was centralized and the construction agency (U.P. Jal Nigam) got best rates due to their excellent payment plans and financial capacity.


The time management had also been a key feature. The project was completed 'Before Time,' therefore it could control all kinds of leakages in costing. Although, the overall cost index increased tremendously, the team could finish the project at the same cost due to their time management and excellent project planning.

The fund management and fund flow of EPFO has been excellent, which enabled the construction agency to go for commitments in the material managements hence they could achieve economy in construction.

All the architectural, structural, electrical, plumbing and fire fighting drawings, designs, client approval, and government approvals were ready in advance so that there was no delay in work due to this reason. Hence, the project had a very smooth run which resulted in timely completion and economical construction.

Designed by Chaney Architects, Ruby Hall Clinic is an iconic healthcare project in Pune where ambience created is spiritual and comfortable that alleviates the spirit of the patient.

At a Glance
Project & location:	Ruby Hall Clinic, Wanowrie, Pune
Architect:	Chaney Architects , Pune
Client:	Grant Medical Foundation
Design team:	I. Chaney, N. Sapre, I. Murlidhar, S. Paithankar, Alka Setty
Consultants:	R.S.Kulkarni (ACMV), Abhiyanta (Electrical), E.C.P.H.C.P.L ( Public Health), Shishir Kulkarni and Associates (Structural)
Contractors:	Bharucha & Motivala (POONA) PVT.LTD. (Civil work), Padam Interiors (Interior work)
Built-up area:	135,000 sq.ft.
Cost of project:	Rs.85 crores (approx.)
Year of completion:	2012

It is no longer enough for a hospital to be functional only as the trend is changing and it is believed that thoughtful architecture and a beautiful environment support the healing process. The uncomfortable situation of having to be in a hospital meant to change with as much normalcy as possible so that despite their illness, patients should feel good and comfortable in the building.

Since its inception, Ruby Hall Clinic has established itself as one of India's most advanced hospitals comparable to the best in the world. It has state-of-the-art facilities in Cardiology, Neurology, Nuclear Science Center, Diagnostic Center, Intensive Care Units, a Blood Bank and Cancer Centre.

Ruby Hall Clinic has now constructed yet another healthcare facility located in Wanowrie. The areas of Wanowrie, Kondhwa, Lullanagar and Fatima Nagar have been Pune's recently developed residential areas. Wanowrie is developed as an exclusive enclave for the elite in the southeastern part of the city.

The hospital as conceived, meets the functional requirements of a high-tech medical facility while creating a healing and emotionally reassuring environment. The 130 bed hospital, exploits a number of environmental aspects and functions as a satellite hospital of the main hospital. It incorporates facilities like 3 operating theatres, blood bank, physiotherapy department, chemotherapy, dialysis, cath lab, ICU's, OPD's, dietary services and a healing garden.


The building design and distinctive profile are guided by a number of factors, including the narrow site, the need for large open floor plates and perfect planning that simplify the circulation of varied users in the hospital.


Two distinct parts of the building are the entrance atrium in glass and solid floor plates. The tall glazed atrium provides visual connectivity while the solid floor plates balance the building visually. There are two basements designed for parking and other services. The upper level basement has CSSD, dietary facilities and AC plant, while the lower basement is reserved for maintenance services and parking.

The interiors are designed to international standards. Sophisticated materials such as glass and steel used in the building are a break-free of the distressing feel usually attached to a hospital.

The design is visualized in bright and soothing colors with the concept as "Nature". This is achieved by using motifs of natural elements like birds, bamboos and flowers in the flooring, furniture and wall finishes that are easy to maintain.

Green building concepts are incorporated. The efficiency with which the building uses resources, energy, water, and materials while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better design, construction, operation and maintenance, is increased.

Barrier free environment and accessibility design takes into consideration urban design (external environment), as well as, building design (internal environment).

Fact sheet
Product	Companies
Glazing / Facade	Alcob
Lighting	Wipro
Flooring/tiles	RAK, Forbo, Tarkett
Laminates	Merino
Elevator/lift	Hyundai
Interior	The Carpenters, Padam Interiors
Bird Mobile & Signage	Migo
False Ceiling	Armstrong
Modular Furniture	Amber, Godrej

The design principle comprises a variety of spaces for both solitary and group occupancy. Prevalence of green material is maximized. Hard landscape is minimized and plant materials dominate the gardens that encourage walking and help in reducing stress levels in patients.


The pristine interiors of the building compliment the urbane exteriors with use of glass and steel. The ambience created is spiritual and comfortable that alleviates the spirit of the patient. The planning, design and final architectural expression in the healthcare project is reflective of the gradual shift in outlook of healthcare institutions from merely treating the sick to a concerted approach to harness healthy living.

At a Glance
Owner:	True Value Homes India Private Limited (TVH)
Design Architect:	John Portman & Associates
Local Architect:	KSM Consultants Private Limited
Structural Engineers:	MMP Engineering
Mep Engineers:	Specialized Engineering Consultants
Site Area:	145,000 sf (13,47.1 sm)
Gross Building Area:	530,000 sf (49,239 sm)
Stories:	17
Project Components:	108 residential units, club amenities, fitness, spa and entertaining amenities

Atlanta based architectural firm John Portman & Associates designed TVH Entelechy for True Value Homes (TVH) as an urban retreat in Chennai which consists of approximately 108 luxury residential units in four buildings. Inspired by the exclusivity of penthouse living, the units range in size from 4,000 to 6,000 square feet (400 - 600 sm). Each unit has its own elevator entrance, and the residences are stacked high with open floor plans.


Moreover, the open floor plans, many with individual lap pools, will offer spectacular views of Chennai, the Adyar River and the Madras Boat Club. All units occupy a full floor in each of the buildings, adding to the exclusivity. The buildings are connected together by sky bridges that afford the residents spectacular views along with fitness, spa, and entertaining amenities. Once completed, TVH Entelechy Residences will set the benchmark for exclusive club living.

The architects while working on this project were inspired by the famous and colorful Madras woven textile pattern in the creation of the tower facades. The four luxury residential towers use color variation and pattern in the contemporary glass facades to distinguish each tower. Individually operated sun/privacy screens provide owners the ability to personalize their units, while adding a kinetic quality to the facades.

When comes to building materials and technologies selection for the project, the architectural firm remain open to advancements being made in building materials as science is at work creating lighter materials that can bear greater loads. With the help of 3D modeling and computer-aided design, architects and structural engineers devise new and better ways to design and build tall towers, such as greater integration of structural and design elements. Facades are evolving as light, strong, and translucent materials are developed that improve upon glass and incorporate controls for natural light, heat, ventilation, UV radiation, etc.

The most energy intensive task for this particular building is to remain cool throughout the year – a challenge due to its setting in a particularly hot part of India. According to the firm, the design, with its full floor residential units, allows for maximum airflow through the units to minimize the use of cooling until it is badly needed. The moving sunscreens can also be positioned to provide relief from the sun. As with all its projects, the firm strives to provide the most economic solution, considering material choices, construction techniques, as well as operational efficiencies. The project is currently in the sales process.

Designed by the renowned architecture firm John Portman and Associates, the premium luxury hotel 'Park Hyatt,' which has come up on three acres of land in upscale Banjara Hills in the heart of Hyderabad city, impresses guests from around the world with an atmosphere of easy elegance, five-star facilities and amenities and discreet service. This modern eight-storey hotel which is designed to international standards, took three and half years to construct, and caters to the discerning individual seeking the privacy, personalized service and luxurious elegance of a contemporary hotel.

At a Glance
Client:	Gayatri Hi-tech Hotels
Design Architect:	John Portman & Associates
Local Architect – Technical:	P.G. Patki Architects
Local Architect – Hyderabad:	T.V. Virani & Co.
Interiors:	HBA
Structure:	Sterling Engineering Consultancy Services Pvt, Ltd.
Contractor:	Gayatri Projects Limited
Site Area:	130,689 sf (12,141 sm)
Gross Building Area:	599,550 sf (55,700 sm)
Building Height:	89 ft (27 m)
Stories:	8
Project Components:	200+ Room Hotel, 42 Serviced Apartments, Ballroom and Meeting Space

Drawing inspiration from traditional Indian architecture, the design for the Park Hyatt Hyderabad was conceived as a microcosm focused around an interior courtyard with terraced gardens, descending into a reflecting pool. The result is a modern-day oasis – a place of cool, calm serenity and tranquility – a refuge from the intense traffic, hot climate, and parched landscape outside.

The project built by Gayatri Heritage Hotels, a Gayatri Group company, with an investment of Rs.700 crore, has joined the select group of Park Hyatt hotels in the world.

Modern Facilities and Amenities

The sleek and modern eight-story structure is clad in natural Madurai granite from South India and features expansive glass windows. In addition to the indigenous granite, the façade elements acknowledge India's intense sun with the use of metal sunscreens, low E insulated glass and architectural accents.

This 5-star super deluxe Park Hyatt hotel features 185 guestrooms and 24 suites, in addition to 42 fully-serviced apartments. This building has a lobby and mezzanine levels, plus four floors of guest rooms topped by two floors of high-end serviced apartments. An atrium rises through all eight floors.


The lobby features an original John Portman sculpture that was commissioned by the owners. The sculpture is a twenty-seven foot high (8.23 meter) undulating form in a matte white finish prominently positioned at the end of a 131 foot long (40 meter) linear reflecting pool that runs the length of the lobby. Serving as a contemplative counterpoint to the dramatic atrium space, it is mounted on a thin reflective stainless steel platform that creates the impression that the sculpture floats just above the surface of the water.


The hotel includes a business center/board room, health club/spa, swimming pool, dining and other related amenities. The lobby offers the hotel´s registration area with controlled access to the guest rooms and serviced apartments. A ballroom, meeting rooms and pre-function areas are located off of the lobby. The conference center is located one level below the ballroom.

Marina Bay Sands is a 929,000 square meter (10 million square-feet), high-density and mixed-use integrated resort complex that brings together a 2,560-room hotel, a 120,000 square meter (1,292,000 square feet) convention centre, a shopping mall, an Art & Science museum, two Sands Theatres, six restaurants, and a casino. Located in Marina South, a peninsula of land reclaimed from the sea in the late 1970s across the bay from Singapore's central Business District. Conceived as not just a mere building project, but as a city microcosm rooted in Singapore's culture, climate and contemporary life, the $5 billion project anchors Singapore's waterfront, creating a gateway to Singapore and providing a dynamic setting for vibrant public life.

To design this project, Safdie Architects was approached by Las Vegas Sands Corporation to come up with a design to help it win the bid to build the city's first integrated resort. According to Ar. Moshe Safdie, the lead designer and head of Safdie Architects, "Our challenge was to create a vital public place at the district-urban scale, in other words, to address the issue of mega-scale and invent an urban landscape that would work at the human scale. A major factor in the project selection for the competition was the design of the resort and the developer's capability. Moreover, there were very explicit terms on what the resort had to have, including a promenade, view corridors, and transportation connections. We had this shopping list of objectives, but I knew that beyond that, they were looking for an architecture that was so strong and memorable that it would represent Singapore, as the case with Sydney Opera House, everybody says Australia when they see it."

At a Glance
Location	: Singapore
Design Architect	: Moshe Safdie
Structural Engineers	: Arup
Client	: Marina Bay Sands Pte. Ltd.(A subsidiary of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation)
Site Area	: 154,938 square meters / 15.4 hectare (1,668,000 square feet / 38 acres)
Gross Floor Area	: 581,400 square meters (6,258,000 square feet)
Total Area	: 845,000 square meters (9,096,000 square feet)
Height	: 57 stories / 195 meters (640 feet)
Total Cost	: US $5.7 billion, including land cost

Multi-functional Urban Structure

Safdie designed an urban structure that weaves together the components of a complex program into a dynamic urban crossroads and public meeting place. Inspired by great ancient cities that were ordered around a vital public thoroughfare, Marina Bay Sands is organized around two principal axes that traverse the district and give it a sense of orientation placing emphasis on the pedestrian street as the focus of civic life. This new urban place integrates the waterfront promenade, a 74,000 square meter (800,000 square-feet) multi-level retail arcade, and the iconic Museum of ArtScience on the promontory. Located along the network of public paths are also two theaters with a combined 4,000 seats, a casino, a 9,000 square meters (96,000 square-feet) convention and exhibition center, and a hydraulically adjustable public event piazza of 5,000 square meters (54,000 square feet). Combining indoor and outdoor spaces and providing a platform for a wide array of activities, this vibrant, 21st-century cardo maximus, or grand arcade, also connects to the subway and other transportation.

Structural Design & Concept

Conceptually, the project has three towers where its each tower is composed of two slabs of east and west-facing rooms. The double-loaded towers spread at the base forming a giant atrium at the lower levels and converge as they rise. The tower slabs also give further character to the massing and relate to the site context: the glazed west side faces the city centre while the east side is planted with lush bougainvilleas facing the botanical gardens and ocean beyond. In plan, as the parcel varies in width, the cross section is decreased from one tower to the next. The tree void spaces are connected by one continuous and conditioned glazed atrium, filling the space between the towers with restaurants, retail spaces and a public thoroughfare. Each tower slab form is also twisted slightly in relation to its pair, creating a dance-like relationship between the two parts and accentuating the slenderness of the buildings, resulting in the appearance of six towers, rather than three.

Facades

Architect has given great emphasis on designing a solution for façade as the largest amount of heat gain occurs on the west façade. According to him, it was of paramount importance that an innovative solution be developed to maintain energy efficiency without limiting the view from the hotel rooms to Singapore's downtown.

The design solution proposed and implemented was a custom double-glazed unitized curtain wall. The energy efficient double-glazed units rest in a frame suspended from the edge of the slab. Perpendicular to the façade, glass fins were installed to provide shading. The outer skin follows the natural curved shape of the building, and the use of reflective glass creates a taught mirrored façade. One of the keys to achieving this aesthetic was a minimal spandrel panel at the floor slabs with a continuous double-glazed unit spanning the full 3 meters.

The east façade handles heat gain differently, utilizing deep planted terraces which follow the sloping radial geometry of the building's profile. The planters help to create microclimate cooling and the deep overhangs of the balconies naturally shade the hotel rooms from direct sun.

Layered Parks

A series of layered gardens provide ample green space throughout Marina Bay Sands, extending the tropical garden landscape from Marina City Park towards the Bayfront. The landscape network reinforces urban connections with the resort's surroundings and every level of the district has green space that is accessible to the public. Generous pedestrian streets open to tropical plantings and water views. Half of the roofs of the hotel, convention center, shopping mall, and casino complex are planted with trees and gardens.


In collaboration with Aedas, Ar Safdie created the hotel as three 55-storey towers instead of just one, so as to open up views between the city's downtown and its harbour. The towers anchor the district and are connected at the top by the 1 hectares (2.5acre) SkyPark. An engineering marvel 200 meters (656 feet) above the sea, the SkyPark spans from tower to tower and cantilevers 65 meters (213 feet) beyond. It accommodates a public observatory, gardens, a 151 meter-long (495 feet-long) swimming pool, restaurants, and jogging paths and offers sweeping panoramic views, a formidable resource in a dense city like Singapore.

Shielded from the winds and lavishly planted with hundreds of trees, the SkyPark celebrates the notion of the Garden City that has been the underpinning of Singapore's urban design strategy.

While the highrise hotel towers and SkyPark made MBS an iconic architecture, Mr Safdie also humanised and made legible, such a mega-scale project. It is an important principle in his design philosophy. It was not a project requirement, but he decided to set the highrise buildings back and away from the waterfront. He drew inspiration from ancient Roman cities that were ordered around a vital public thoroughfare — the cardo maximus and decumanus. The MBS is organized around such major urban spines, the centre of public, civic, cultural and commercial activities.

The resort's retail arcade, the ArtScience Museum, the waterfront promenade, theatres, a casino, convention and exhibition centre, are all integrated into this new urban place. "I felt the best scheme would be for all these low-rise programmes to be near the water, and the highrise would be pushed far back to the other side," says Mr Safdie. "It makes it a much more humane place, not having the shadows of towers above you."

These design approaches have helped to make the MBS a popular destination in the city since it officially opened in early 2011. Not only tourists come, but also Singaporeans, notes Mr Safdie. While many regard this project as designing another integrated resort like those in Las Vegas and Macau, Mr Safdie begs to differ. With its variety of uses, including shopping, he sees the MBS as an urban centre for Singaporeans as much as it is for tourists. "Integrated resorts have been in towns with not much going there. In Las Vegas, everybody is a tourist, same in Macau, but that's not true in Singapore," he says. "With Marina Bay Sands, I wanted to create a mixing bowl between Singapore and the world, a place that Singaporeans and tourists alike would enjoy and be inspired by. It appears that the design has succeeded in achieving this objective."

"We are now basking in something that is very rare: an architectural success story that is also a commercial success story," adds Mr Safdie. "It doesn't come together very often."

Large-Scale Public Art

Moshe Safdie selected five international artists to create eight monumental public art installations for Marina Bay Sands (James Carpenter, Antony Gormley, Ned Kahn, Sol LeWitt, and Chongbin Zheng). The artists worked closely with Safdie to ensure that the site-specific commissions complement the architecture and energize the public spaces.


"Singapore's public art incentive program offers an extraordinary opportunity for commissioned works in which art and architecture are complementary and seamlessly integrated," said Mr. Safdie. "It has been a privilege to collaborate with the artists to achieve installations which enrich the environment and inspire the public. Each of the works resonates in a particular way with the architecture while presenting the artists with an extraordinary palette of their creations."

Marina Bay Sands has been given the honor of 'Design of the year' at this year's President Design Award in Singapore. The President's Design Award is Singapore's most prestigious design accolade. It recognizes excellence across all design disciplines including advertising design and visual communication, architecture and urban design, fashion design, furniture, interior, and so on.

A first-of-its-kind king-size residency in Mumbai with pools and other amenities in each flat to experience the whole world within. Swimming pools have been designed within a flat which appeals like an Oasis in ones dream home.


Legend Siroya (formerly known as Siroya Developers) is a real estate company which boasts a diversified project portfolio spanning across luxury residences, hospitality, commercial, redevelopment and mixed-use ventures across the country. With currently over 60 projects in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, the company in a first-of-its kind venture, is coming up with its premium residency project Worldin which include a swimming pool, bar and barbeque area available in each apartment of the 40-storey project, ranging from 2.5 BHKs to the Grande 8-bedroom duplex Condos. Realizing the importance of a pool not only to take a bath but also as an excellent place to relax and let your tensions wash away, the group has gear up with this concept.


The group believes in perfection and always strives to understand what and who is really important for them and what need to be done rather than doing things as per industry or trend going on. It has many firsts to its credit as it directly interacts with the customers and based on their requirement it comes up with the project. It has announced a residential project Worldin for those who prefer to live life king-size, the 4, 6, 8 bhk residences along with the additional amenities of a grand double-door entrance, a separate al-fresco party area and also a sprawling spare space that can be converted into a private cinema hall, game room, library, art room, gym, studio or just about anything else that can be imagined.

Worldin promises a well-deserved escape from the hectic, clustered and crowded life of Mumbai as one return to his/her spacious and elaborate apartment each day. The smallest flat in the project will be about 1,700 square feet, a rare feature in residencies of the city. Along with swimming pools, each apartment will also boast of its own attached terraces, walk-in wardrobes and a service space that can be used as a laundry room or abode for the domestic help, sanitary fittings by UK-based luxury brand Villeroy and Boch among other amenities.

According to Mr. Rishabh Siroya, Director, Legend Siroya, "The project is an attempt to provide the customers with a 'flat that comprises the entire world'. In a metro like Mumbai, spacious houses are a rare luxury. We believe in giving this luxury to our customers."

Also, Worldin is one of the few constructions in the city that will boast of its very own helipad. The 10 storeys dedicated to parking can accommodate over 400 cars. The project also comprises a gymnasium with state-of-art equipment in the premise and a swimming pool for the residents.


The developers also have a unique feature of customization for the apartments. "We have given the option of re-designing the apartment to suit the need of the buyer. Also, the plan offers ultimate flexibility as empty areas and spaces made available can be utilized as required to increase living space vertically or horizontally without the need of any structural changes," Mr. Siroya added.



With a variety of royal amenities under one roof that very few projects offer even separately in the city, the 3,50,000 square feet project intends to create a benchmark in fashionable living crafted with its unparalleled designs and innovative structures. Mr. Mukesh Bahadur, the principal architect of this project says, "The design of this building has been developed taking into consideration the needs of large and small families with utmost flexibility in design of spaces while encompassing natural elements and bringing them all together as one solution. The aerodynamic form with a central core provides direct light and ventilation to all rooms. The simple concept of the building as an object brought into light is matched here by well-mannered form that is striking but unimposing, non-intrusive in the air stream and at ground level."

Expatiating on the structural design the other he said that we have ensured that every apartment of Worldin has a good view and adequate ventilation, which is a rare and novel thing for a residential tower in Mumbai. Also, the design allows users to customize apartments as per their requirements without making structural changes. Wide open decks in each apartment give the feeling of openness and oneness with the overall element, and also provide scenic view.


He added that we have mainly used RCC frame structure for this project and to break the homogeneity, we have utilized glass cladding in a contemporary manner to achieve visual warmth, delicacy and hierarchy of scale.

Talking about the main determinant of the design process for their architectural firm he elaborated that their most important aspect is functionality. We take into consideration the site conditions and use basic technology to achieve functional efficiency. Another crucial facet is innovativeness. Along with the exterior, the internal design of the project must be considered. It offers greater efficiency to the overall planning. While you do all this it is also very important to understand its effects on the end-user and his immediate environment.


Sharing his views about sustainable architecture he said that in metros, sustainability is a difficult task to achieve. However, we try to make our designs as environment-friendly as possible. There are two geometries, one being the suns geometry on its east west path and the other being the geometry of the site in relation to the roads that is the contextual geometry. These geometries don't coincide but have to make them coincide and come up with an optimum solution for the problems of present day congested living like in "MUMBAI. Design of wordlin is such an example which has a gamut of facilities, besides a plethora of multiplexes, spas, good educational institutes, upscale shopping areas and malls, hi-tech hospitals, business centres, clubs et al.

Chicago's Aqua tower with its rippling facade and vast green roof is the tallest building in the world to be designed by a woman. Ar Jeanne Gang, a forty-eight-year-old Chicagoan, had figured out a way to make a silky line with a fairly conventional rectangular glass slab, and then transformed it by wrapping it on all four sides with wafer-thin, curving concrete balconies, describing a different shape on each floor. More than having a pretty face, special emphasis has been given on innovative green design and energy-efficient features in the structure such as heat-resistant and fritted glass, rainwater collection systems, and energy-saving lighting systems which address environmental concerns on a large scale.

The 86-storey mixed-use Aqua tower includes a hotel, apartments, condominiums, parking and offices. Unlike a tower in an open field, new towers in urban environments must negotiate small view corridors between existing buildings. In response to this, the Aqua Tower is designed to capture particular views that would otherwise be unattainable. A series of contours defined by outdoor terraces extends away from the face of the tower structure to provide views between neighboring buildings. These outdoor terraces, cantilevered up to twelve feet, differ in shape from floor to floor. The terraces inflect based on criteria such as the view, solar shading and size and type of dwelling. When viewed together, these unique terraces make the building appear to undulate, presenting a highly sculptural appearance that is rooted in function. Aqua creates a strong identity through its architecture and has become a landmark addition to the Chicago skyline.

The name 'Aqua' was assigned to the building by the developer Magellan Development Group LLC. It fits the nautical theme of the other buildings in the Lakeshore East development, and is derived from the wave-like forms of the balconies; the tower's proximity to nearby Lake Michigan also influenced the name.

Located on the 200 block of North Columbus Drive, and surrounded by highrises, Aqua rises from a podium on the 179,946 square feet site near Millennium Park. The architect Jeanne Gang has given swirling architectonic form to this 1.9 million square feet structures' envelop while working with the building's rectangular footprint. As a mixed-use structure that contains 55,000 square feet (5,100 square meters) of retail and office space, in addition to 215 hotel rooms (floors 1-18), 476 rental residential units (floors 19-52), and 263 condominium units & Penthouses (floors 53-81), Aqua's entrances serve a variety of users and residents. Canopied walkways lead visitors to the building's main entrance while two grand public stairs bring pedestrians from Upper Columbus Drive down to a park at grade level, providing access to Chicago's downtown area and lakefront. The tower also connects to Chicago's extensive underground pedway system, linking users and residents to restaurants, retail, cultural activities and jobs in the Loop and on the Magnificent Mile. Additional consideration was made when designing the tower's garage exits below grade to minimize congestion at pedestrian levels. To further reduce traffic and confusion, the garage's three levels have different access points that correlate to the tower's specific uses and users.



The outdoor terraces which are cantilevered up to 4m (12ft) and have a depth of 23cm (9in), thins out towards the edge of the cantilever to assist with water drainage. The challenge of constructing unique floor plates was solved by implementing a computerized civil engineering and surveying software program and digital CAD files for inputting the coordinates of each unique slab to a robotic station used onsite. This system was used to set in place light-gauge steel plate edge-forms according to the contours. After the concrete had set, these steel forms were removed and easily reshaped according to the contours of the next level. The result is a highrise tower particular to its site that allows residents to inhabit the facade of the building and the city at the same time. Early and close collaboration between architect and builder, as well as the use of contemporary digital tools, allowed the variation in the shape of the floor slabs to be achieved without increasing the building's construction timetable.

Aqua Tower was recognized as a finalist in the 2010 CTBUH Awards Program. According to Mun Summ Wong, CTBUH 2010 Awards Juror, and WOHA Architects "The differential cantilevering balconies on Aqua transform a standardized glass box into a sublime amorphous form."

Project at a Glimpse
Location:	Chicago, IL (Chicago River Watershed)
Gross area:	1,900,000 ft2 (176,516 m2)
Cost:	$475 million ($300 million, construction)
Completed:	2010
Program:	Hotel, apartments, condominiums, parking, retail, restaurants, offices, green roof terrace with outdoor pool, running track, and gardens
Architect:	Studio Gang Architects; Loewenberg Architects (architect of record)
Owner:	Magellan Development Group
Landscape architect:	Wolff Landscape Architecture
Environmental consultants:	Khatib and Associates (energy); Advance Mechanical Systems (geotechnical)
General contractor:	James McHugh Construction Company

Sustainable Designs

Sustainability was an important factor that was considered in Aqua's design. Among building's notable features is the green roof terrace atop its plinth-which at 80,000 sf is one of Chicago's largest-that contains an outdoor pool, running track, gardens, fire pits and yoga terrace. From below, Aqua's plinth navigates the site's complexity by spanning over pre-existing elements, such as an electrical substation, and by aligning with existing infrastructure, including an adjacent three-level roadway. The plinth physically connects pedestrian areas with stairs and elevators linking street level to park level and the lakefront.


The tower's east–west orientation maximizes its winter solar performance. Its balconies extend further on the southern façade to provide shading, reducing solar exposure in summer and allowing passive warming in winter.

In addition to low-E coatings on all glass, the design team modeled seasonal sun patterns to identify remaining areas of glass that needed higher performing glazing to increase energy efficiency throughout the tower. Glass on the east and south façades are reflective in areas without a protective balcony, while glass facing west has a tinted coating that improves its shading coefficient. In total, Aqua employs six different types of glass: clear, tinted, reflective, spandrel, fritted and translucent, the placement of which is determined by the orientation and function of interior space. Fritted glass is used and combined with handrail design to minimize bird strikes.


"Aqua Tower was shaped by an organic, site-specific design process. Rather than starting out with the goal of creating an icon, we let the climate and views shape the building, weaving it into its surroundings and treating the building and its environment as interconnected not separate. Even though it may appear to be formally expressive, it is equal parts data and imagination" –– Jeanne Gang, Design Principal Architect.

In addition, detailed wind tunnel studies were also done to confirm the performance of the structure under high winds. Initially, it was thought that a supplemental tuned mass damping system may be required to appropriately manage the effects of the wind on occupant comfort. However, during the testing, it was discovered that the undulating slab edges disrupted or "confused" the flow of wind around the tower, effectively reducing the wind demands, and this, combined with the effectiveness of the structural design, eliminated the need for a supplemental damping system.

Inside the dwelling units, the architects selected materials and equipment with sustainable features such as renewable and recyclable bamboo for the floors, plumbing fixtures including toilets, faucets, and showerheads that cut down on water use, plus Energy Star-rated appliances.

Safdie Architects announced that it has been selected to design a 10-million-square-feet mixed-use complex for a historically significant site at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, in the inland Chinese city of Chongqing. The project, which is spearheaded by development partners CapitaL and, CapitaMalls Asia, and Singbridge, will feature residential and office space as well as retail and cultural facilities, a service residence, a hotel, restaurants and clubs, a park, gardens, and hubs for land and water transportation, including ferry docking and landscaped boardwalks.



The project is a little resemblance to Safdie's previous Marina Bay Sands project in Singapore and in contrast to Marina s' three glittering pillars, Safdie's latest creation comprises six key columns - two identical towers in the centre and two shorter towers in a semicircular arc on either side.



The design for this gateway site, by international architect Moshe Safdie, is inspired by the image of sailing ships on the river, and is intended to serve as a symbol of both Chongqing's noble past as a trading center and its fast-growing future as one of China's largest and most important modern cities. The outer curving glass facades of the project's six towers, placed in a prow-like arc, will face the water to the north, while decked hanging gardens and a generous public park will link the complex to the city immediately to the south. As a whole, the complex will consist of:

Chongqing Chaotianmen project, Chongqing, China. Aerial view (modal view). Image courtesy of Safdie Architects.	Chongqing Chaotianmen project, Chongqing, China. Aerial view at Night (modal view). Image courtesy of Safdie Architects.

• Two central, identical towers that will house a service residence, a hotel, private residences, and office space and that will be linked midway by a distinctive garden bridge, containing within it the hotel lobby and restaurants.
• Four residential towers

All four residential towers terrace to the south, forming a continuous green façade toward the city. Beneath the park, the project will also feature four levels of shopping gallerias, as well as a conference center, theaters, and other cultural spaces.

The project, which is expected to have a total development cost of about $3.1 billion, will front upon what was once the foremost of Chongqing's traditional city gates, where officials received imperial decrees from the Emperor. As the city's initial dock area on the Yangtze, the location also represents the great tradition of the shipping highway, which has stoked this major inland city's development from its beginning and now drives its contemporary evolution.

Client:  Raimon Land

Location:  Bangkok Thailand

Area:  200,000 m2

Status:  Completed 2012

At over 200'000 m2 of development, The River is one of Thailand's largest inner city developments, comprising twin towers of 72 and 44 stories thus making it also one of Bangkok's tallest structures. Designed by architect Hans Brouwer, this new iconic landmark affords a high degree of variation within nearly 1,000 residential units in terms of type, location, orientation and height.

In the Heart of City

The origins of great cities can always be traced back to their significant geographical landmarks. Like London, Paris and New York, Bangkok's history is inextricably linked to the river that flows through it, the Chao Phraya. It remains in many ways the pulse of this great city and continues to play a key role in the life and growth of Bangkok.

Modern international cities are seeing a rediscovery of the dynamic lifestyle associated with inner city living. Whether one is dealing with the Seine in Paris, the Thames in London or the Hudson in New York, these environments are offering the ability to live right in the heart of the city, whilst still enjoying the associations of waterfront living.

It is the unique setting of The River that distinguishes this project and sets it apart from any other in Bangkok. Located in a prime area of the city, opposite some of Bangkok's most prestigious addresses and commanding stunning views back towards the skyline, The River presents a unique challenge in terms of design.

When investigating the best design for the site a premium was placed on the ability to create an environment of space, privacy and luxury. Building position and orientation were extensively studied in order to ensure unobstructed views out from every unit. The Chao Phraya is not only an exciting and dynamic context for the development, but also provides an unprecedented level of privacy and exclusivity afforded by its over 200-metre width.

Architectural Aspects

The towers have been designed with a different architectural articulation for the two principal sides. A slick curved curtain wall on one side whereas a deliberately articulated series of "pigeon holes" on the other.


The design of the apartments within The River is based on the belief that sophisticated end-users demand a wide range of choices when it comes to choosing their living environment. Units range in size from compact studios to the large duplex units with a plethora of living arrangements based on unit layout, floor level and the views afforded.


As part of the in-depth design process, the sitting of the building and orientation were extensively studied to create an environment of space, privacy and luxury with unobstructed views from every unit. Careful modulation of scale, articulation and detailing are reflections of a design philosophy that embraces intelligent, responsive design in turn reflected in both the interior planning and external appearance of the building.


The central core arrangement ensures that all main living and sleeping areas will enjoy prime, unobstructed views, and kitchens and bathrooms are typically open plan. A structural system employing long span, flat slabs coupled with a full height, floor to ceiling glazed facade gives rise to urban, highrise living at a previously unprecedented scale in Bangkok.


The towers have been carefully sculpted and the elegant interplay of curved and orthogonal facades delineates different forms and emphasizes the vertical expression of the towers. The curved glazed wall of the taller tower is translucent by day and dramatically illuminated by night. The River, being a 265-metre-high masterpiece, won Best Luxury Condo development at the Thailand Property Awards.