Turning Torso

Turning Torso
Building information
Name	Turning Torso
Location	Malmö Harbor
Country	Sweden
Architect	Santiago Calatrava
Client	City of Malmö HSB
Construction started	2001
Completed	27 August 2005

HSB Turning Torso is a skyscraper in Malmö, Sweden, located on the Swedish side of the Öresund strait. It was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 feet) with 54 stories. Upon completion, it was the tallest building in Scandinavia, the tallest residential building in the EU and the second tallest residential building in Europe, after the 264-metre (870 ft)-high Triumph-Palace in Moscow. A similar, taller skyscraper featuring the 90˚ twist is the Infinity Tower, currently under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The 86-metre (280 ft)-high Kronprinsen was the tallest building in Malmö before Turning Torso.

The design is based on a sculpture by Calatrava called Twisting Torso. It uses nine segments of five-story pentagons that twist as it rises; 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 149 luxury apartments.

The Twisting Torso sculpture is a white marble piece based on the form of a twisting human being. Johnny Örbäck, former CEO of the Turning Torso contractor and Board Chairman of the Malmö branch of the co-operative housing association HSB, saw the sculpture in 1999 and contacted Calatrava to ask him to design a building using the same concept. Construction started in the summer of 2001.

One reason for the building of Turning Torso was to re-establish a recognizable skyline for Malmö since the removal of the Kockums Crane in 2002, which was located less than a kilometre from Turning Torso. The local politicians deemed it important for the inhabitants to have a symbol for Malmö — Kockumskranen, which was a large crane that had been used for shipbuilding and somewhat symbolised the city's blue collar roots.

As Turning Torso is a private residential building there is no access for the general public.

Events

On 18 August 2006, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner parachuted onto the Turning Torso, and then jumped off it.[1]

See also

• List of tallest buildings in Sweden
• Lumiere Leeds

External links

• Turning Torso webpage
• Turning Torso on Emporis
• PERI GmbH - From a sculpture to a building
• Skyscraperpage.com diagram drawing of Turning Torso by illustrator "Nightsky"
• The New Yorker, October 31 2005, "The Sculptor"
• Short films of Turning Torso from various locations