Capital Gate in Abu Dhabi is set to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the 'world's most inclined tower, it will lean 4 times as far as Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Capital Gate will accommodate the 5-star Hyatt at Capital Centre hotel and will provide the most exclusive office space in Abu Dhabi. The tower forms a major part of the Capital Centre development, a $2.2 billion business and residential micro city being constructed around the thriving Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
The new 200 room, 5-star hotel to be operated by Hyatt International will open in late 2009 and will be the first Hyatt operated hotel in the UAE capital. In recognition of its significance and its stature, Hyatt International has named the hotel 'Hyatt at Capital Centre'. It will be one of the most exclusive business hotels in the world.
Hyatt International already operates 3 luxury hotels in Dubai, UAE under the brands Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency.
Capital Gate leans westward an astonishing 18 degrees; by comparison the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans less than 4 degrees. Because of its unique posture, the tower is being constructed on top of an incredibly dense mesh of reinforced steel.
The dense mesh sits above an intensive distribution of 490 piles which have been drilled 30 meters underground to accommodate the gravitational, wind and seismic pressures caused by the lean of the building.
Its graceful, asymmetric diagonal structure, known as a 'diagrid', supports the tilting external load of the building and we believe that this is the first building in the world to use a pre-cambered core. Other diagrid buildings include the Hearst Tower in NYC and the "Gherkin" in London.
Besides being believed to be the 'world's most inclined' building, Capital Gate also features 728 unique custom-made diamond-shaped glazing panels.
Due to the structure's curving shape, each pane of glass is different and each will be fitted at a slightly different angle.
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