Projects: Crescent Tower

Crescent Tower

Crescent Tower in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Courtesy Heerim Architects & Planners

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Thornton Tomasetti is providing structural and parametric skin design services through design development for two iconic residential towers on a hillside overlooking the Caspian Sea in the Azerbaijani capital. The project consists of 46-story and 37-story residential towers, a two-story podium and three basement levels. The gross building area is approximately 73,602-square-meters above grade and 25,381-square-meters below grade. The towers are approximately 200 meters high with steel-glass crown features at the top.

To resist extreme winds (Baku means “windy city”) and severe seismic forces, a dual system was designed that consisted of a special reinforced concrete (RC) shear wall and a special RC moment frame. The structural floor system combines a two-way 200-millimeter slab and RC beams. The curved towers, inspired by the crescent moon, have special requirements for façade panelization that allow the use of flat quadrangle unitized façade systems with dry silicone gaskets.

The scope of Thornton Tomasetti’s building skin work includes all detailing and structural façade calculations for the aluminum-framed curtain walls, aluminum-framed skylights, steel-supported skylights, steel supported canopies, aluminum storefront glass walls, steel-framed glass walls and residential balconies. Parametric modeling tools such as Digital Project/Catia software were used to determine the optimal façade unit geometry, thereby reducing fabrication and erection costs.

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