Zaha Hadid Architects have designed a high-rise building for the center of Bucharest, Romania, which has a structural, lattice façade.
It will contain a five star hotel, a business centre, a casino, retail areas, apartments and underground parking.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2013.
See all our stories about Zaha Hadid Architects in our special category.
Here’s some text from Zaha Hadid Architects:
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Architectural Concept:
The brief called for a 100,000 square metre mixed-use, high-rise development in the centre of Bucharest. The project comprises of a 5-star hotel, luxury apartments, retail areas, a business centre, a casino and underground parking.
The Dorobanti Tower was designed to establish an iconic presence in the heart of Bucharest. The new tower is a unique mix of a distinctive form, ingenious structure, and spatial qualities of sky-high living. The purity of its form – a chamfered diamond like structure – will be a new landmark in the centre of Bucharest. Zaha Hadid Architect’s design concept is a synthesis of architecture and engineering, which integrates a distinct meandering structural lattice.
Urban parameters, site constraints and the programme generate the building’s elegant tapering profile. The new tower establishes a distinctive identity while avoiding sterile repetition through its dynamically changing profile. In order to maximise lighting and views for the neighbourhoods, the elongated curvilinear shape reduces its perimeter towards the top, while the offset to the inside at ground floor level shall create a generous public realm and an appropriate entrance plaza in front of the tower.
Facade / Structure:
Bucharest is within a vulnerable seismic zone and therefore the structural concept was crucial to us from the beginning of the design process. Placing the primary structure at the exterior not only maximises the structural footprint but also allows for column free interior spaces.
Concrete filled stainless steel profiles follow in sinus waves from the ground level to the top of the tower, creating a distinctive identity, complementing the tower design. The concrete filling will give additional strength to the structure and it will provide fire protection to the steel profiles. The facade structure expresses the various programmes and it adjusts from bottom to top according to the changing structural forces. The secondary structure, which is integrated between the main steel tubes, gives additional strength to the primary steel mesh and it also works as a damper in case of earthquakes.
At the bottom, the façade grid has denser amplitudes according to the structural requirements for a tower of this height, providing the required load bearing capacity and stiffness to the structure. At the technical and recreational levels, the structure condenses creating almost solid knots. On the top floors, the primary structure has been reduced to the minimum according to the structural requirements in order to maximise the views and lighting for the luxury apartments.
Landscape:
The public realm adjacent to the tower will be unlike anything else in Bucharest, representing a major attraction within the dense urban character of the City, offering an important new meeting space and urban plaza. Metaphorically speaking, the landscaping can be understood as a warped concrete “carpet” with one continuous surface connecting the three surrounding streets. The landscape is sculpted to create seating areas, water basins, fountains, green areas including trees and a raised terrace.
Program: 5 Star Hotel and Apartments
Client: Smartown Group
Design: Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher
Project Architect: Markus Planteu
Project Team: Dennis Brezina, Naomi Fritz, Susanne Lettau, Thomas Mathoy, Goswin Rothenthal, Rooshad Shroff, Seda Zirek
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Posted by Zaynab D. Ziari
July 17th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I have never been a great Zaha fan but I do kinda like this building !
July 17th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
As with most of her projects, Zaha does not design buildings but objects. I’m sure it will make a nice perfume bottle if scaled down, but it has no sign of architecture in it. Pure kitsch.
July 17th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
whats wrong with hadid, .. i can´t say something bad about´ this project
.. maybe nouvel was a good inspiration…
July 17th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
To be christened ‘The Luffa’ apparently.
July 17th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
This is a great design!
July 17th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
….would perfectly fit in the emirates or for a new vase for alessi.
July 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
It seems to be about 3-4 times taller than the rest of the city – I wonder what kind of planning\zoning laws they have in Romania.. It’s interesting that the presentation includes no internal views or drawings – presumably the building is only meant to be seen as an ‘object in the landscape’?…
July 17th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
“Chamfered diamond like structure” is my favorite line. Let’s try, “simple primitive box converted into a NURBS object”. This would look great in my living room as a vase, my front lawn as a water feature, or fantastic in the kitchen as a pulsating trash can.
Don’t worry Richie, it’s an elite 5 star hotel, so we could never be allowed to see the interior views anyways. Maybe Bucharest is hoping for many other chamfered shapes to fill the empty skyline. Aren’t all Romanians basically chamfered shapes?
July 17th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
AWESOME!
July 17th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
nice urban lamp
July 17th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
opulence and lack of respect for what used to be called “the small Paris”. that is what bucharest is today and what romania became after we all “got loose”, 20 yrs ago.
to be finished in 2013? only if they import workers.
i love my country. i hate most of my people.
July 17th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
i guarantee this is all going to turn out the way early 70’s architecture has – it is not timeless, it will not age gracefully, and it does not lend itself to reinvention when this godawful trend is over.
July 17th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I like it. Welcome back Ms. Hadid
July 17th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
This building is amazing!
July 17th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
actually, this is at least one year old and it did not pass the planning authorities and it is not going to be build.
July 17th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
there is no stop to this lady!!
July 17th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
This site building is in a great debate in Romania, it is actually in the protected area, but this is not such a big problem if it would have a strategy of reviving the surrounding but it hasn’t any.
July 17th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
i often like the way zaha hadid deals with the transition between ground and buildings, but here i dont see anything particular
i like hadid’s work, but i find this one quite simplist and strange in its environment
July 17th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Hey i thought Dezeen didn’t publish comments like “AWESOME!” anymore, maybe a subtle joke in this case ?
July 17th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
A BUILDING FOR HER CRITICS – this project is a proof that zaha can design any type of building apart from usuals which has fluid forms…completely goes with the city…. HATS OFF TO YOU
July 17th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
A very modest design by Zaha. I like it.
July 17th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
this is so un-bucharest-like.
July 17th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
In the worlds of the ***GREAT*** Eric Owen Moss, ”Where do architects and designers get their ideas?” The answer, of course, is mainly from other architects and designers, so is it mere casuistry to distinguish between tradition and plagiarism?”
Zaha has consistently wowed the viewing public with her rigorous approach to the forever powerful and illusive research topic of Men’s Electric Razor design. Please consider….
HQ481 Travel
Series 7- 790cc Pulsonic
5790 Contour System
cruZer Z-50
MS2-390 Microscreen Rechargeable
Norelco 6940LC Reflex Action
Bravo!
July 17th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Using fog in the renders isn´t the solution to the lack of scale ZAHA!!! I can´t undestand how people like her architecture. Another loss for zaha.
July 17th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Well as skyscrapers are concerned [which I have a few issues with - side topic] I think the exterior shell is light and intricate. [New flash skyscrapers are objects to those that dissed her being object oriented] However if i was her I would have made something that referenced the female form vs such a phallic form. Female architects represent – come on Zaha
July 17th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
T Sandwich:
Very interesting analysis of Zaha’s work RE: electric razor design. I am particularly interested in this project vis a vis the cruZer Z-50. Obviously a conceptual precedent. What does it mean for a razor to be situated in a urban environment with bushy trees? Fascinating tension here between a beautiful “”"GREEN”"” building and formal TENSIONS for shaving trees???????? WHAT IS ZAHA TELLING US?!?!?! VERY COMPLEX PROJECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also great to see one of the greats of contemporary architecture quoted.
July 17th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
i love the decoration.
July 17th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Wilson: seems you’re confusing Dorobanti Tower in Bucharest with Lilium Tower in Warsaw. Lilium Tower (and NOT Dorobanti Tower) was placed on hold in January ‘09.
July 17th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
I’d wear it as a sock
July 17th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I like it, but I think it’s completely inappropriate for the scale of the city, if the rendering is at all accurate.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
WOW Zaha makes people mad. And she seems to have the effect of untethering her critics from their rational faculties. I’ve never heard a more bizarre and logic-free set of “criticisms.” So what if it would make a gorgeous vase– did I miss the memo that vases are supposed to look like “X” and skyscrapers are supposed to look like “Y”?
I know it’s too easy to cry “sexism,” but she does make people viscerally angry in a way that no other starchitects seem to do.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
“The brief called for a 100,000m2 project” – it seems that this client wanted a tower, regardless of the urban fabric. According to the text, the facade is structurally and reflects the programme. Well, I would say that Zaha once more has done an excellent design.
July 18th, 2009 at 12:51 am
i feel arabic.
July 18th, 2009 at 7:09 am
as it is, Bucharest is a nightmare when it comes to traffic… there’s no infrastructure for something with such scale in the historic center, not to mention that it’s totally out of place concerning volume and style! They really shouldn’t make such compromises… not even for Zaha Hadid!
July 18th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Zaha Hadid’s designs were totally awesome. I really trust her design. As what God said, “Everything is Impossible.”
July 18th, 2009 at 10:37 am
as a romanian i would say this tower puts bucharest on the map. thanks zaha – well done!
July 18th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Zaha´s got a huge penis…
July 18th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I quite like this actually. Much better than most of the other recent posts about Zaha.
July 18th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
.
norman foster in chantilly lace.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
soda maker bottle…except not green!
July 20th, 2009 at 9:01 am
I have to admit that I am not a great fan of Zaha but this project is very inspiring!
July 20th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Wonderful. I really like the symmetry in this one..!! Keep this up!
July 20th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I’m not a Zaha fan, but this is beautiful! More modest work.
I just hope the inner also reflects something of it’s beautiful outer fassade.
Is the ceiling hight always the same?
July 20th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Bucharest downtown CAN NOT technically support such a building – neither from traffic, nor from infrastructure point of view !
Proposed geometry DOES NOT match the town !
Sorry Zaha, some other place – some other time !
July 21st, 2009 at 5:09 am
looks like a weird cut diamond, very reflective … i like it
July 21st, 2009 at 9:47 am
texture wise i like it very much, the effect but im not too fond of those slight radiuses. maybe zaha looked at her stockings and though….mmmm
July 21st, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Looks organic like a living thing, a group of cells……
July 21st, 2009 at 2:43 pm
A beacon to illuminate and inspire the city into the future.
July 21st, 2009 at 8:17 pm
nice texture in the downer part, but I dont really like the coronation half. By the way, I think Zaha didnt do its best this time… hope that doint projects all over the world doesnt weaken her designs..
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:15 pm
some holes are nice but others are out of proportion;
I am not sure: is it suposed tu produce some sound effects for the city in the windy days? or at least some electricity?
That would be amasing!
July 22nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
isn’t it a little bit to….. default ?
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:22 pm
hi there,
it seems to me like half of the height of a space elevator at least in the rendering, maybe it will be the first space hub by 2013!? very airy, very hightech! and in the same time very oriental… good job! bravo bucuresti!
what an intersection of cultures!
I still have a question? why not in Wien? Maybe right besides Stefans Dom?
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:59 pm
people,
I have survived a couple of eartquakes in this little Paris.
I am telling you: skydiving is peanuts!
but anyway, this laticework is somehow misterious…
July 28th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
another penis climbing up the sky…
July 28th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Reading the text, it’s as if the engineering collaboration never happened…when did Zaha become a PE? Perhaps some props for the engineering team is in order, architecture is a collaborative work after all…
Yes – I am an architect, but also an advocate for acknowledging the significant input of our collaborators! We don’t operate in a vacuum, let’s be honest about that!
July 28th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
NO NO NO! i don’t know if any architect gives a damn, but this veery nice tower that seems to be mrs hadid work of art is situated right in the center of the city, in an very old and traditional place in fact in a historical protected area! does it matter to any of this glass architects the city’s identity and culture, as poor as it may look to any infatuated foreigner that comes to bucharest?! as beautiful may be the building, i strongly believe that its beauty will also come through the placement, and in this case is will be like a pile of mud in a shiny place….i am so sorry that this is the best that such an architect can do for a big and beautiful city as bucharst is……
July 28th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
please gods of arhitecture, please let this project happen here. now i’m 80% sure that the dinosours from the architectural area will not agree with this insertion i.a. – too tall, not in the right place, too modern for the neighbourhood, etc – ‘we cannot give you the authorisation to build here’.
July 29th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
it s an ilusion…some architects make an offert to the investors and they agree that the romanian offert it s more acceptable and i m positiv 100% that tower will never be built!
so good lock romania!!! you ll never see anather one of this … it ll take 50 years to get in line …or more..
August 2nd, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I admire the developers for suppporting such a contemporary design. It seems that they are not just interested in maximising square meters. Bucharest, go for it!
August 2nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
We all love you Zaha, but please don’t do skyscrapers.
August 8th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
wow this is beautiful, there is no architects like Zaha Hadid….
August 18th, 2009 at 11:35 am
don’t worry vasilis. when the whole world is decorated like america, it might be time for cities like bucharest. never give up … invest in your own culture!