Up, Up, and Away!
Will it be the leaning towers of Pisa or an architectural feat to marvel? That’s the question that many are asking of the recently unveiled final design of the MGM’s City Center. Designed by German-born architect Helmut Jahn, the angling towers are supposed to create the feeling of motion, openness and light.
Upon first glance, the leaning towers appear dangerously askew. Each one is accentuated because it also twists along its vertical axis like a curving parallelogram. However the architects insist that each will be structurally in equilibrium, with each building’s mass equally distributed on either side of its center plumb line. There’s no question that it will serve as an engineering challenge.
While engineers and the construction team may loose a few nights sleep at working out the finer details, the developers are banking on residents enjoying the new leaning approach. Views will be less obstructed than they would otherwise be in a conventional high rise. The towers, part of nearly 3,000 residential living quarters at CityCenter, are expected to be complete by 2010.