Swivel building

By Scott Nolan Smith

You read the title correctly! In Dubai the plans, permits, and work is underway to build the worlds first moving building! The building will change shapes, rotate, swivel, and look absolutely amazing! The plan outlines an eighty story building with individualized revolving floors. Yes, each floor will revolve on its own, thus allowing the building to continually change its shape; changing the view from inside and create a spectacular show for those watching on the outside. According to Italian architect and designer David Fisher; “This building never looks the same, not once in a lifetime.”

The structure will be designed to accommodate 420-meter (1,378-foot) apartments. they would independently rotate “a full 360 degrees, at voice command, around a central column by means of 79 giant power-generating wind turbines located between each floor.” It gets better! Those same wind turbines serve additional purposes.


According to the BBC

The slender building would be energy self-sufficient as the turbines would produce enough electricity to power the entire building and even feed extra power back into the grid. So… not only is it an amazing engineering feat and an attractive unique structure, it is also energy efficient, independent, and serves even a greater purpose by providing energy back to the grid! If that wasn’t amazing all in itself the current estimates place the buildings completion sometime in 2010, that’s right… 2 years!

It is certainly amazing what can be accomplished when the system is structured around innovation and the market. Dubai is a shining example of innovation for us all.