The Atrium, Dubai

Designed by American based architects Pickard Chiltern the tower will stand at 278 metres and have 68 floors above ground with a further 3 levels of parking below, dimensions that are somewhat restrained by Dubain standards.

The design of the tower is somewhat unusual at its base. It rises from a shared podium as two separate towers and approximately halfway up moulds into a single, arching tower.

The arching upper part of the tower seems to sheath the lower legs of the tower and puts you in mind of the little badge people in Star Trek wear and talk into. It's this shape that is the main focal point of the design.

Featuring the usual glass cladding found in today's modern builds, a small section of the façade on the upper part of the tower has been picked out it a pale blue glaze around the balconies that appear like a serrated spine running vertically up centre of the tower.

The Flame Towers , Baku

Named the Flame Towers the project is the work of Dia Holdings and consists of three towers standing at heights 208 metres, 220 metres and 235 metres.

The towers will be located on a hill that overlooks Baku Bay, the old city centre and the park and has a total site area of 28,000 square metres. The total amount of floor space the project will convert this into will be 227,000 square metres.

Adding a religious context, they are inspired by Azerbaijan's long history with fire worshipping. The towers which stand forming in a triangular shape and are linked together by an undulating podium base. Curvaceous in form they terminate in pointed, collar like peaks that curve around the roof gardens providing them with a measure of shelter.

The facades are fully glazed and use a mixture of orange and blue tinted glazing, the orange giving them a fiery look in keeping with their name and form. A grid pattern which accentuates the shape of the towers also features on the facades.

The tallest of the towers, 39 storeys, will house luxury apartments which will boast stunning views of the surrounding area and no doubt also offer fun additions such as a gym, spa and other things you cant normally fit in a two storey house, one of the many advantages to tower dwelling. The second tower 37 storeys will house a luxury hotel while the third tower, 34 storeys will have grade A office spaces.

Head office for the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan

Baku in Azerbaijan is set to become the home of a shiny new skyscraper that will become the new head office for the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan or SOCAR for short.

The stunning design comes from the drawing boards of Korean based architects Heerim Architects and Planners Co Ltd.

The two towered project rises from a elongated, canopy like podium made of glass and aluminium and snake their way skywards. Curving into each other the seemingly shorter tower almost looks like its resting its head on the chest of the taller tower, the taller towers peak slightly bending over it in a confident, reassuring and comforting manner.

The facades are glass which have a mesh-like pattern to them and allows people below to see what's going on in each different floor of the tower and gives workers inside exceptional views.

The towers will have 32 floors, 2 basement floors and have a maximum height of 173 metres. Covering 12000 square metres it will mainly house office space but will also have conference facilities, a guest house with 20 rooms to accommodate out of town business people, sports facilities and retail spaces and presumably food outlets to keep the expected 2000 workers in the tower firing on all cylinders.

Dragonfly Vertical Farm

Sitting on the southern part of Roosevelt Island—on the East River, appropriately right in front of the United Nations' HQ building—the farm skyscraper is based on the shape of a dragonfly's wings. It extends 132 floors and 600 meters up in the air, totalling an area of 360,000 square meters.


Designed by Vincent Callebaut Architectures, the Dragonfly Vertical Farm is designed to produce fruits, vegetables, grains, meat, and dairy. It will also include public spaces, like gardens, a marina, markets, and a public "kitchen" area, so people can enjoy the natural environments—and watch the animals as they get ready to first take over Manhattan, and then take over Berlin.

Capital Gate, Abu Dhabi

Capital Gate, the iconic leaning building in Abu Dhabi, reached halfway point. The building, designed by international architects RMJM, will lean 18 degrees westward, 14 degrees more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

To make this possible, the central core of the building slants in the opposite direction to the lean of the structure, and it straightening as it grows. It sits on top of a 7-foot-deep concrete base with a dense mesh of reinforced steel. The steel exoskeleton known as the diagrid sits above an extensive distribution of 490 piles that have been drilled 100 feet underground to accommodate the gravitational, wind and seismic pressures caused by the lean of the building.

A gigantic internal atrium, including a tea lounge and swimming pool suspended 263 feet above the ground, has been constructed on the 17th and 18th floors, the halfway point of the 35-story, 525-foot tall tower.

Capital Gate will house Abu Dhabi’s first Hyatt hotel – Hyatt at Capital Centre, a presidential-style luxury, 5-star hotel and will provide 200 hotel rooms for Abu Dhabi and will serve ADNEC’s (Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company) visitors and exhibitors as well as international business and leisure travelers.

Citadel Floating Apartment Complex

The Citadel, designed by Dutch design house Waterstudio, defies the tides while saving on energy and making use of previously uninhabitable space


The Citadel is the residential part of the "New Water" complex, which tries to embrace Holland's waterworld-ness instead of fighting it. It'll have a floating road to the mainland as well as plenty of boat docks for its 60 units. Apparently it'll also be 25% more energy-efficient than an equivalent complex on land by using the surrounding water for cooling. It looks kind of crazy, but the sort of crazy that could actually work.


Since Holland is mostly under sea level, keeping houses from flooding is a constant problem. This concept fixes that problem by just having an apartment complex that floats

Hotel Crescent

Acting as the counterpoint to Hotel Full Moon is Hotel Crescent, part of the Caspian Plus redevelopment that stands as a curving arch similar to a crescent moon. The arch-like nature of the building is revealed by the fact that the structure isn't a pure crescent on its inside relying on more regularly shaped columns to help provide it with support.

At 32 floors tall it will also be a luxury hotel, this time with 221 rooms. There will also be 128 serviced apartments in the building. Floor space will 128,140 square metres.


Behind it will stand a further four tall buildings, three of which will be residential with the tallest of the quartet being a 43 floor office building standing 203 metres tall.

Hotel Full Moon

'Hotel Full Moon‘ is a concept skyscraper by a Korean firm Heerim Architects and it is so radically different from the traditional structures that once it is made it will transform the view of Azerbaijani capital Baku. Ever seen a gherkin around? Hotel Full Moon is a concept that seems to have borrowed a thing or two from that fruit. The side profile of the hotel is round and the skyscraper has a hole in one of the top corners that appear different as per the angle it is viewed from.

This changing appearance has a lot to do with the cladding architectural elements introduced into the structure. ‘The front will have a glass diagrid whilst the back will be covered with hexagonal honeycombs.’

The skyscraper itself will rise to 158.68 meters and 35 stories will be devoted to a luxury hotel with 382 rooms. The hotel will be linked via a zoomorphically shaped podium to two residential blocks, curiously named Palace of Wind 1 and 2.

Acting as the counterpoint to Hotel Full Moon is Hotel Crescent

Helix Hotel in Abu Dhabi

Unique ... the Helix Hotel in Abu Dhabi is a unique development that won't have floors but will be built in a spiral shape.

The hotel, which will float into the Persian Gulf, will maximise natural resources such as the sun, wind and ocean water


Ideal location ... the hotel rests in the bay, partially floating in the water and adjacent to the serpentine Sheik Zayed Bridge which is currently under construction


Breathtaking ... the stunning location


Dramatic sunset... a hotel like no other

Leeser Architecture