YEOW!: Turning Torso

Happy Friday!
Today’s Environment of the Week will be Turning Torso by Santiago Calatrava in Malmö, Sweden

Thank you Susan for today’s YEOW suggestion!

[If anyone else has any YEOW’s they’d like to share, please feel free to let me know! Thx J]

Height:190 meters (623.3 feet)
Floors: 54
Apartment area (cube 3 to 9): 13,500 square meters.
Commercial area (cube 1 and 2): 4,000 square meters.
Client: HSB Malmø
Architect: Santiago Calatrava SA
Associate Architect: SAMARK Arkitektur & Design AB
Construction manager: NCC Sweden

Design Method

“Turning Torso is a mixed use residential tower in Malmo’s Western Harbor that serves as a symbol of the revitalization of an important urban area from a decaying industrial zone into a thriving seaside neighborhood. Based on the Turning Torso sculpture executed years prior, the building is composed of nine cube units with triangular tips. Each unit houses five floors, serving as a “sub-building.” At a height of 190 meters, that is a whopping (623 feet) for you none metric folk out there with 54 stories. Turning Torso is the tallest residential building in Sweden and the second tallest residential building in Europe.

The tower's design is based on a sculpture by Calatrava called Twisting Torso, which is a white marble piece based on the form of a twisting human being.

The entire building turns 90° as it climbs upwards over nine blocks or cubes, each of which consists of five floors. The topmost segment is twisted ninety degrees clockwise with respect to the ground floor. Each floor consists of an irregular pentagonal shape rotating around the vertical core, which is supported by an exterior steel framework. The two bottom segments are intended as office space. Segments three to nine house 147 luxury apartments. There is also one floor between all the cubes - these floors are used for different purposes (rooms with a view, conferences areas or activity/gym room).

The entire building is handicapped accessible and features a highly advanced environmental design. Moreover, the engineering has allowed for an extraordinarily efficient method of construction. After the sub-basement was erected as a conventional concrete work, the vertical circulation nucleus and slabs were put up using a sliding framework system. The exterior steel structure was then attached, using elements that were prefabricated in the shop. Finally, cranes pulled up the in-shop, prefabricated facade. In this way, although the design is highly innovative, construction time was substantially reduced.”

Construction Method

“The Swedish construction company, NCC Construction AB in Malmö, commissioned the Weissenhorn-based formwork and scaffolding manufacturer, PERI, to develop a cost-effective formwork concept and deliver the required systems for the project. PERI engineers designed the formwork to handle heights of 4.00 m 13'-0"
which meant all floor heights - 3.18 m (almost 10'-0") standard areas up to a maximum 3.89 m (over 12'-0") - have been completed without the need of time-consuming height adjustment. The ACS-P (P = platform) self-climbing scaffold concept allowed concreting of the ring wall on the main level and the retightening of the internal core walls one floor below. The ACS-P weighs over 110 tons and is anchored on twelve fixing points. A concrete placing boom has been installed on its own climbing scaffold using four fixing points in the core.”

The self-climbing scaffolds are interlocked and are climbed together. A special control unit, which monitors this procedure, prevents the scaffold units from colliding.

All formwork elements are suspended on a distribution frame via a crane crab. Slabs and walls are cast in one pour. Through the use of PERI Uni-portal slab tables for two standard floors and one intermediate arched floor, pre-determined concrete cycles can easily be maintained.

Construction crews need nine days to complete a standard floor which means work is progressing exactly according to plan. The contractors are very satisfied with the formwork technology from Weissenhorn as site manager, Jörgen Holm, commented: "We received the best solution from PERI. All work could be carried out on safe and spacious levels. Shuttering and striking as well as climbing functioned extremely well."