STATUS
IDEA
CLIENT
First Hotels
TYPOLOGY
Hospitality
SIZE M2/FT2
20,000 / 215,278
SHARE
The first stages of project development at BIG always involve a careful study of the site and the programmatic requirements. In the case of the Escher Tower, the site was an orthogonal intersection of an east-west highway and a north-south subway line, populated by a department store and a medical business. The program was 1000 identical hotel rooms with the only interesting activities to be placed in a single floor at the ground.
With limited site and programmatic restrictions BIG decided to take this opportunity to create an identity for the Scandinavian skyscraper.
Above a certain height, the primary structural challenge of a tower shifts from gravity loads to wind loads, from vertical to horizontal stress.
As a result, most skyscrapers are built like thick columns providing an equivalent foothold to a given wind load, square plans with deep spaces.
BIG was asked to design a Scandinavian skyscraper with views and daylight in abundance.
BIG designed a structurally complex yet visually simple volume which would appear as an unstable monolith due to the windloads and the tower's minimal foothold.
In response, BIG devised a tower that consists of 3 square towers merged into one.
The resulting shape acquires a series of distinct silhouettes depending on the position of the viewer.
BIG devised a tower that consists of 3 square towers merged into one. The resulting shape acquires a series of distinct silhouettes depending on the position of the viewer: a bottle, an hourglass, a cup and a drawing by M.C. Escher. However, while Escher depicts buildings that are impossible constructions, BIG’s tower is based on logical structural requirements and common sense.
Bjarke Ingels Bo Benzon Matias Labarca Clausen Niels Lund Petersen Marc Jay Krestian Ingemann Hansen Wataru Tanaka Mikelis Putrams Imke Bahlmann
