Turning Torso

Turning Torso
Turning Torso, the tallest building in Scandinavia
General information
Type	Commercial office Rental apartments
Architectural style	Neo-Futurism
Location	Lilla Varvsgatan 14, 211 15 Malmö, Sweden
Coordinates
Construction started	14 February 2001
Completed	27 August 2005
Opened	1 November 2005
Inaugurated	27 August 2005
Height
Roof	190 m (623 ft)
Top floor	178.79 m (586.58 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	54
Floor area	27,500 m2 (296,008 sq ft)
Lifts/elevators	5
Design and construction
Architect	Santiago Calatrava
Main contractor	NCC
References

Turning Torso is a neo futuristical residential skyscraper in Sweden and the tallest building in the Nordic countries. Located in Malmö on the Swedish side of the Öresund strait, it was built and is owned by HSB Sweden.

The project was designed by Spanish Structural Engineer Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 feet) with 54 stories and 147 apartments.

In August 2015, it was announced that the building was the winner of the 10 Year Award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

Design

Turning Torso is based on a sculpture by Calatrava, called Twisting Torso, which is a white marble piece based on the form of a twisting human being.

In 1999, HSB Malmö's former managing director, Johnny Örbäck, saw the sculpture in a brochure presenting Calatrava in connection with his contribution to the architectural competition for the Öresund Bridge. It was on this occasion that Örbäck was inspired to build HSB Turning Torso. Shortly afterwards he travelled to Zurich to meet Calatrava, and ask him to design a residential building based on the idea of a structure of twisting cubes.

File:Turning Torso structure.svg

Illustration of the general structure of the Turning Torso. (1) shows a typical floor plan, where the grey circle denotes the core and blue shapes denote the steel framework. (2) shows the way the nine segments fit around the core, and (3) is a dimetric projection of the tower.

This is a solid immobile building constructed in nine segments of five-story pentagons that twist relative to each other as it rises; the topmost segment is twisted 90 degrees clockwise with respect to the ground floor. Each floor consists of an irregular pentagonal shape rotating around the vertical core, which is supported by an exterior steel framework. The two bottom segments are intended as office space. Segments three to nine house 147 apartments.

An aesthetically similar copy but slightly taller skyscraper featuring a 90° twist is the Cayan Tower, located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This building is known locally as a cheap knock-off of the original but with little consideration given by the designer to the internal layout of the living spaces.

Construction

Construction started in the summer of 2001. One reason for building Turning Torso was to re-establish a recognizable skyline for Malmö since the removal in 2002 of the Kockums Crane, which was located less than a kilometre from Turning Torso. The local politicians deemed it important for the inhabitants to have a new symbol for Malmö in lieu of the crane that had been used for shipbuilding and somewhat symbolised the city's blue collar roots.

The construction of part of this building was featured on Discovery Channel Extreme Engineering TV programme which showed how a floor of the building was constructed.

Prior to the construction of Turning Torso, the 86‑metre (282 ft) Kronprinsen had been the city's tallest building.

The apartments were initially supposed to be sold, but insufficient interest resulted in the apartments being let. The owner has several times unsuccessfully tried to sell the building. The construction costs were almost double the estimate.

Events

On 18 August 2006, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner parachuted onto the Turning Torso, and then jumped off it.

Floor 53 and 54 in the Turning Torso are conference floors booked and managed by Turning Torso Meetings. Since 2009 the owner HSB has decided to let the public visit floor 53/54 - only on special scheduled days and pre-booking is required.

Gallery

• TurningTorso by dkcp.JPG

  View of the Turning Torso and the Western Harbour area in Malmö

• 

  View at night

• Turning Torso & Västra Varvsgatan 42E.jpg

  View from Ankargatan

• Västra hamnen Malmö panorama.JPG

  View from Ribersborgsstranden

• Turning Torso from aiplane 2.jpg

  Aerial view

See also

• List of tallest buildings in the world
• List of tallest buildings in Europe
• List of tallest buildings in Sweden
• Malmö Tower
• Absolute World, a pair of twisting towers in Mississauga, Canada
• Cayan Tower, a twisting tower in Dubai, UAE
• Evolution tower, a tower in Moscow

External links

• Fullscreen panorama from Turning Torso
• PERI GmbH - From a sculpture to a building
• The New Yorker, October 31 2005, "The Sculptor" Link broken, Nov 2011
• Torso Tower Blog
• Short films of Turning Torso from various locations