Can the experience of scaling Mount Everest be duplicated in an arid, desert market whose average annual high temperature exceeds 92 F?
Dubai is that market, and the improbable has been proposed, in the form of a 300-plus-meter-tall (984.3-foot) extreme sports tower, for which the firm 10 Design has been commissioned as the design architect. If approved, the tower would be located at Dubai’s Marina, and provide opportunities for climbing, rappelling, and BASE jumping.
News of the proposal was first reported by The Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
10 Design’s website says the waterfront site for the tower would be 106,169 sm. The tower itself would be created through an exterior hexagrid skin.
“The form morphs between two inverse triangles from the top to bottom, creating three platforms for jumping at the upper level and three open spaces at the ground for landing,” 10 Design stated. “The form is sculpted to create jumping platforms at 300 meters, 250 meters, and 200 meters. The ground floor is pushed out to create a large canopy.”
The proposed tower would attempt to reproduce the Mt. Everest experience with a series of base camps, locating a variety of extreme climbing, abseiling, and jumping activities, according to The Dubai Chronicle and other news outlets. The base and lower levels of the tower would offer training and simulation services as well as climbing walls and bungee jump towers for beginner visitors to help them up their abilities, according to the website GrindTV.com.
If this tower proposal goes forward, it might even feature ice-pick climbing, which would be a neat trick, given that Dubai’s average high temperature ranges from 75 F in January to 106 F in August.
Cost estimates and a completion date for this project were not available.
The unusually shaped tower would allow BASE jumps from 300, 250, and 200 meters above the ground. Image: 10 Design
The base and lower levels of the tower would offer instruction, simulation services, and climbing walls and bungee jump towers for beginners. Image: 10 Design
Related Stories
| Nov 19, 2013
Top 10 green building products for 2014
Assa Abloy's power-over-ethernet access-control locks and Schüco's retrofit façade system are among the products to make BuildingGreen Inc.'s annual Top-10 Green Building Products list.
| Nov 13, 2013
Installed capacity of geothermal heat pumps to grow by 150% by 2020, says study
The worldwide installed capacity of GHP systems will reach 127.4 gigawatts-thermal over the next seven years, growth of nearly 150%, according to a recent report from Navigant Research.
| Nov 7, 2013
Fitness center design: What do higher-ed students want?
Campus fitness centers are taking their place alongside student centers, science centers, and libraries as hallmark components of a student-life experience. Here are some tips for identifying the ideal design features for your next higher-ed fitness center project.
| Oct 30, 2013
11 hot BIM/VDC topics for 2013
If you like to geek out on building information modeling and virtual design and construction, you should enjoy this overview of the top BIM/VDC topics.
| Oct 28, 2013
Urban growth doesn’t have to destroy nature—it can work with it
Our collective desire to live in cities has never been stronger. According to the World Health Organization, 60% of the world’s population will live in a city by 2030. As urban populations swell, what people demand from their cities is evolving.
| Oct 18, 2013
Researchers discover tension-fusing properties of metal
When a group of MIT researchers recently discovered that stress can cause metal alloy to fuse rather than break apart, they assumed it must be a mistake. It wasn't. The surprising finding could lead to self-healing materials that repair early damage before it has a chance to spread.
| Oct 8, 2013
Toronto Maple Leafs arena converted to university recreation facility
Using steel reinforcement and massive box trusses, a Building Team methodically inserts four new floors in the landmark arena while preserving and restoring its historic exterior.
| Oct 1, 2013
13 structural steel buildings that dazzle
The Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., are among projects named 2013 IDEAS2 winners by the American Institute of Steel Construction.
| Sep 26, 2013
6 ways to maximize home-field advantage in sports venue design
Home-field advantage can play a significant role in game outcomes. Here are ways AEC firms can help create the conditions that draw big crowds, energize the home team to perform better, and disrupt visiting players.
| Sep 24, 2013
8 grand green roofs (and walls)
A dramatic interior green wall at Drexel University and a massive, 4.4-acre vegetated roof at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center in Kansas City are among the projects honored in the 2013 Green Roof and Wall Awards of Excellence.
