Rooms with a changing view: Introducing the skyscraper that revolves once an hour
A new type of swirling skyscraper is set to change city skylines forever. An Italian architect has revealed his ambitious plans to create 'dynamic towers', in which each floor fully rotates up to once an hour.
The first two innovative buildings will be built in Dubai and Moscow by the end of 2010, although the 80-floor Dubai tower is still awaiting planning permission.
The brainchild behind the operation is David Fisher, owner of the Rotating Tower Technology Company. He said he was inspired to create the perpetual motion skyscrapers after soaking in the view from a friend's apartment in Manhattan.
The dynamic tower is the first building in which every floor will rotate
"Today's life is dynamic, so the space we are living in should be dynamic as well," Mr Fisher said.
"Buildings will follow the rhythms of nature. They will change direction and shape from spring to summer, from sunrise to sunset, and adjust themselves to the weather. Buildings will be alive."
The rotating floors will be made up from prefabricated apartments that spin around a concrete core.
Owners who buy an entire floor will be able to voice activate rotation commands to choose their view, Mr Fisher said at the launch in New York.
David Fisher unveiled his designs for two dynamic towers to be constructed in Dubai and Moscow by 2010
The towers are expected to generate enough electricity for themselves and other nearby buildings from solar panels and up to 79 wind turbines fitted horizontally between each floor.
'The Dynamic Tower is environmentally friendly and the first building designed to be self-powered, with the ability to generate its own electricity,' Mr Fisher said.
The pods are being manufactured in a factory outside Bari in Italy and will arrive at the building sites already painted and decorated.
Mr Fisher estimates each floor will only take six days to assemble around the core.
Along with swimming pools and gardens, the buildings will also be fitted with car elevators so that residents can park right outside their homes. But the builders will have to overcome extreme technical difficulties such as how to connect the plumbing.
The £355million Dubai tower will be constructed by Mr Fisher's British company and rely on pre-sales for at least part of the costs.
However, investors may pause when they discover that Mr Fisher has never built a skyscraper before. Previously he has created marble bathroom suites for hotels.
But Leslie Robertson, who was the structural engineer for New York's World Trade Centre Twin Towers, is an engineering consultant for Fisher's project.
The 70-storey Moscow tower will be developed by the Mirax Group in the new area of the city.
Dr Fisher admitted there were some questions about structural soundness, but he insisted the towers would be very safe.
"I had my doubts at the start, but now I am very confident."
Watch a preview of the dynamic tower
