Dubai Towers, Dubai - Engineering the World's Tallest Sculpture

摘要

The Dubai Towers, Dubai is a group of four super-tall towers above a podium surrounded by a manmade lagoon. The towers are arguably the most complicated geometric form proposed for towers of these heights, as they taper, rotate, and curve until they reach their peaks. This paper discusses how the geometry of each tower was subtly reshaped to balance the tower and reduce the internal shear. It also discusses the improvements made to the structural system and the simplifications created for constructability. The revised structure saved 95,000 tonnes of structural steel and 96,000 cubic meters of concrete. The total savings in structural materials alone exceed $600 million U.S. dollars. These significant improvements were only possible through parametric modelling and the application of the custom spreadsheets which allowed numerous iterations in a short duration to optimize both geometries and member sizes. Through a collaborative process, the design team met the challenge of balancing the architectural geometry and structural behaviour, ultimately designing a more efficient group of sculpted towers. The substantial savings and improved constructability transformed the Dubai Towers from an architectural concept into a truly buildable design.