We know about the architectural mistake of the famous leaning tower of pisa. But here is the modern architectural wonder - the modern leaning tower in Abu Dhabi.
It’s a perfect metaphor for the teetering global real-estate market: Capital Gate, the glassy tower at the center of Abu Dhabi’s $2.2 billion Capital Centre development, has just been submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records as the “world’s most inclined building,” according to the press release. Or more precisely — by about 14.1 degrees.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, which leans 3.9 degrees, was an engineering mistake – a 185-foot-tall, 16,000-ton tower that was rather stupidly placed on a 10-foot-thick foundation, with nothing but soft sand and clay beneath. Even before the third story of the tower was built, the structure had begun to tilt. It wasn’t settling properly on the unstable sand. Attempts to compensate for the tower’s slant by making walls on one side of the building taller than the other, didn’t work out. It wasn’t until the 20th century that soil beneath the tower was shifted around to level out the structure just a bit.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa looks like an elderly person who’s likely to break a hip. Capital Gate, on the other hand, looks like a sexy lady swaying her hips. It leans westward about 18 degrees. And it twists ever so slightly, an engineering feat that guarantees the building will look different from all angles, the Capital Gate’s Web site boasts. Its intentional lean is supported by a slanting core that actually pulls in the opposite direction that the building appears to tilt. In addition, the gravitational pull is offset by a reinforced steel foundation that extends 98 feet down into the ground.
Sounds pretty secure to me!
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