Wednesday, 14 September 2016 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Gulf States / Golfstaaten Category/Kategorie: GeneralReading Time: 3minutes
The Al Hamra Tower is a skyscraper in Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait. The construction of the comprehensive 77 level building began in 2005 and was conducted by the firm Turner Construction. The final height of the building of 413 meters was reached on July 15th 2010, making the tower on of the tallest buildings in the world. At the same time it has replaced the 371-meter high TV tower Liberation as the tallest structure in Kuwait. The Al Hamra Tower has surpassed the Arraya Tower (300 meters) as the highest skyscraper in the country. The works were finished in the fall of 2011, later than originally planned. At the start of construction, it was still assumed that the structure would be ready for occupancy at the end of 2010. However, this date could not be maintained, even if the construction work proceeded without any major incidents. At the foot of the tower there is a shopping center.
The 77 floors of the building provide 195,000 square meters of space and are mainly used for offices. Furthermore there is a restaurant on the upper floors, of which one has a panoramic view of the city.
The tower has a special winding form and ends with a rising roof structure. On the south side, the building has few individual windows. Between the windows marble panels were attached on the concrete facade. These, a little less than half a meter large parts, were individually adhered by the construction workers on the facade. The structure of the Al Hamra Tower consists entirely of reinforced concrete. At the other three sides of the facade it is made of glass and aluminum.
For the design of the tower was the American architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill responsible. The company Al Hamra Real Estates commissioned the construction of the building in order to create more modern office space in Kuwait City and thus to make the city more attractive for foreign companies.