Xposting from the international forums for the new SSC India Mumbai section.

NOTE: While IU has dug up some information suggesting that this design of India Tower has morphed into the Dynamix-Biswas Tower (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=19809449), I think this thread should remain "site prep" until we get official word. If canceled, then it should be changed to canceled. Regardless, the thread should stay for posterity's sake.

NOTE2: The proposal was initially known as "Park Hyatt Tower" before the official name of "India Tower" was made public. This post here are cross-posts from the original thread in the international forum, hence the changing naming convention, left for posterity's sake.

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India Tower -- Marine Lines, Mumbai

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3409/81747062uy1.jpg

With official word of this project just announced last week, the 85-storey Hyatt Park Tower, India's tallest under construction building officially broke ground.

Designed by Fox and Fowle (FXFOWLE) architects as part of three-hotel luxury project being developed by Neelkamal Realtors in conjunction with Hyatt hotels, Hyatt Park tower is located at Marine Lines, Mumbai, just north of the city's historical district. It marks the southernmost point of a major region of skyscraper development that currently stretches north to under construction Parel/Back Bay skyline.

A mixed-used development totalling 882,000 sq ft, Hyatt Park tower, in the architects' own words:
Quote:
...centers on creating an iconic residential mixed-use building within India's emerging new economy.

The 85-storey tower is informed by distinctive indoor/outdoor environments and the desire to optimise the panoramic views of the surrounding landscape.

The tower's rotated form emerges in response to the buildings functional requirements and its mixed-use program - which changes with each twist of the structure. This circulation pattern separates retail, 5-star hotel and serviced apartments and long lease duplex penthouse condominium apartments within a sustainable network of green roofs and hanging gardens; creating a singular, extraordinary building that, when completed, will be the tallest and greenest building in India.
Emails to the architect (thanks spyguy) reveals that the tower is currently under construction and will have a height of 301m. Whether this is roof height is not yet clear.

While currently rather seperated from the current skyscraper construction, it is located at the southern end of what will be a massive skyscraper-laden redevelopment region that will see a long skyline anchored in the north at Dharavi, west at Worli, in the middle at Parel, and in the south at Back Bay.

Though developers in Mumbai tend to be ultra-secretive about their projects until they have broken ground (it wasn't even known that this project even existed until a couple days ago when the Hyatt told the Economic Times newspaper about it (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Mumbais_Hyatt_The_new_Times_Square/articleshow/1999730.cms)), other developers have made known that they are planning skyscrapers at Marine Lines. Currently a 50-storey commercial skyscraper, and 2-3 other projects, including the possible supertall Mumbai International Finance Centre, are planned around the location where Park Hyatt tower is being built.


Here are some more renderings. I will update this first post as more renderings and information come out.
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/8025/01bo2.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/2546/02vl8.jpg
^ Looking South towards Historic mumbai. Looking North will be a view of the under construction skyline around Parel

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/2540/03vm2.jpg

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/1498/04rp0.jpg

http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/9159/05ou0.jpg

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/7563/image4hm6.jpg

http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/1939/45688655qn2.jpg

Cheers,
Jai

Some updates from the international thread (beware: image-heavy!)

Here's another rendering of the tower, and a blurb from AIArchitect Magazine:

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/7563/image4hm6.jpg

edit- and another:
http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/1939/45688655qn2.jpg

Location of plot:
http://img294.imageshack.us/img294/5649/image7gn4.jpg

Some more updates
Nothing official, so I didn't report it here.

One of the SSC India forum members with a pretty good reputation (I'm not going to call him/her out) is friends with one of the people involved in the project.

According to him, the project is very much a go and the foundation is already begun, however owing to the truism in India that, when it comes to skyscrapers, its better for a developer to keep a very, very, very low profile, (case in point: look how Ambani was virtually crucified in the media after he went public with his skyscraper) the developers are not going to go totally public until the building is visibly going up. And due to site location, rather isolated from the main roads, until its several stories up no one is going to notice it.

Anyway, owing to the monsoon construction on the tower, like all skyscraper construction during monsoon season in Mumbai, is put on hold for the next couple months -- which is why its going to be a slow while for Mumbai project updates.


Meanwhile, the architects of this project gave a interview about it at AIArchitect (http://www.aia.org/aiarchitect/thisweek07/0525/0525n_tall.cfm) magazine, divulging just how green this building is to be:

He was correct... the two tallest approved towers in India are the 100+ storey Signature Tower at Lanco Hills, and the 100+ storey APIIC Financial Tower at Manchirevula -- both in Hyderabad.

There are at least 5 more planned "India's tallest / World's tallest" buildings in India, proposed by developers ranging from Emaar to DLF to Jurong/Springfield Land Corp.


Cheers,
Jai

Bloody fricking hell!! Would you believe it? Just as soon as I posted the above, I just learned that they've officially announced that they started construction on the project!!


Main points:
1. Construction started -- to be completed by 2010
2. They're reporting a total height 301m, but only 60 stories(??!) Fxfowle's website (http://www.fxfowle.com/) confirms:
http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/6082/image5dk5.jpg
3. It is to be named "India Tower"

From WorldArchitectureNews.com:

FXFOWLE Architects' India Tower in Mumbai is under construction (http://www.worldarchitecturenews.com/index.php?fuseaction=wanappln.projectview&upload_id=1245)


New renderings:
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/8117/01aw4.jpg (http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/733/12455fxfowlemumbaihotelar9.jpg)

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/2401/05tb8.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4904/03wd2.jpg (http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/3801/12452fxfowlemumbaihotelmw9.jpg)

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/4647/04xs3.jpg

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/1332/02lx5.jpg


edit- found the reason for the height discrepancy: Counting from the above,
60 stories open to public (apartments/lobbies/parks/hotel rooms)
8 stories mechanical
6-storey sky-lobby
3 stories basement

That comes out to 74 total above-ground stories.

A Greener India (http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/hill072207a.htm)

By Joshua S. Hill
Canada Free Press, Canada
Sunday, July 22, 2007

Expected to be finished construction in 2010, and set in the exquisitely named Queens Necklace of the South Mumbai Coast, India, the India Towers will mark a new type of ecological friendly development for the ever expanding Asian country.

Standing at 60 stories – 301 meters – tall, the world-class hotel, retail, and residential tower will be one of the greenest skyscrapers throughout all of India. The tower looks as if someone has half twisted a Rubik cube, and left it half done. This circulation design allows for separation of retail, residential style Park Hyatt hotel, serviced apartments, and long-lease & duplex penthouse condominium apartments.

The design was impacted by the climate, the construction site which sits at 3 acres (1.2 hectares) and ‘the desire to create distinctive indoor and outdoor spaces with optimum views, inspirational settings, and personalized contemporary accommodations for all users.’

Some of the green features of this skyscraper are solar shading and natural ventilation rather than compressed air conditioning. Lighting will be produced using a process known as daylighting; essentially, allowing daylight to filter in throughout the entirety of the building using strategically positioned windows and reflective surfaces. In addition, water for the building will be, at least in part, harvested from rain water.

This new development, which has recently begun construction, is just the next in a long line of greener skyscrapers popping up all across the world. The Urbancactus in Rotterdam which places each apartment out with the sun allowing for a greater chance for plants to grow, the CIS Tower in Manchester England which will be able to provide 10% of its own power thanks to over 7,000 solar panels, and the Bahrain World Trade Center Towers, being built in the Kingdom of Bahrain which will be topped with 3 96-foot propellers providing the tower with 1100 megawatts of power per year are three of the greenest towers in construction at the moment. All are making strides towards increasing the amount of dependency they take off the environment, and diminishing the impact they are making around them.

If you’re looking to find out more about such green skyscrapers, then check out the Skyscraper Museum either online, or in person in NYC.

Cross posting some relevant posts of member IndiansUnite's awesome detective work from the Mumbai Projects thread:
You've mixed 2 projects up. SRUIL's constructing the 320m residential tower in Worli while DB realty's constructing the DB tower in Marine Lines.

anyways, I actually did call SRUIL up the other night. ;) The lady who picked up the phone rubbished my claim that the project had been announced. :| She gave me no timetable but said that they'll reveal the height and renderings through ads in the newspapers.

DB realty has put up a new rendering of the DB tower :

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/6065/elevationplan1lj7.jpg
clicky (http://www.dbrealty.in/sectors/realestate/project_details_new.asp?pName=DB%20Towers&ptype=residential&pstatus=Forthcoming#)

I called DB up to gather more details but the headstrong sales lady didn't want to give away any right now. She said that it'll be a residential project and not a commercial one as we had earlier thought it would be.

The sales lady at DB gave me a cold reception as she didn't want to divulge any details. I did infact ask her about the architect and other things but she said she couldn't tell me right now.

If the guy at SEW does indeed send the renderings to me then I'll request his permission to post it here. After that, maybe I'll request him to send me the renderings of the mumbai metro stations since SEW is the one who is building them. :D

bhailog, I spoke with the principal architect of Fxfowle a couple of minutes ago. Sorry to disappoint you guys but he said that the India tower and the DB towers are the same towers. Just to make sure, I directed him to DB's website and he confirmed that they are the same towers with the "DB towers" rendering reflecting the design chosen. That leaves Marine Lines with just one tower and not two side by side.

This design is the obsolete one:
http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/4985/02yt5.jpg


and this one is the one that been selected by DB realty to house apartments and the Hyatt hotel:
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/5056/01az6.jpg


Now for the details:

- DB towers will retain the height of the India tower and will stand @ 301m.
- The number of floors he said will be 60+. He laid emphasis and reiterated "+"
- I told him about the rumour of it being 80-100 fl but he said that couldn't be true since he was the one who designed em.
- He said that right now, secant piling work is going on at the site.


- He's also the one who designed the Ruby Mills tower (http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/7959/9882755largetj0.jpg). As expected it'll have 30+ floors. Once again, he laid emphasis and reiterated "+".

- I asked him about any other towers being designed to be built in Mumbai by fxfowle and he said there are MANY more towers :D



...and the plot thickens... We'll have to see what comes of all this. Has India Tower become DB Tower? Will the design of India Tower be recycled?

-Jai

I know a really senior person working for DBG.
-India Tower and DB Tower are one and the same.
-The second render, as mentioned by IndiansUnite is the correct one, while the first is obsolete.

Also, the reason it is 60+, is because they don't know the exact number yet. They are waiting for authorization, so far only 60 is a go.

you could remove one of the threads...

Thanks for the update. Is it possible to ask your friend
- When will the change in design formally be announced?
- While officially 60 fl, what is their goal for the height/#floors of the new DB Tower?
- Will it also be named India Tower?
- Will the old design of India Tower be reused in any projects? (If not, this is where you can get on your knees for me, clasp his ankles, cry piteously and beg him to reuse the rotating block design elsewhere in Mumbai)

Looks great

Indeed, but not as good as that flag Mr J.

Off topic; but I bin on SSCC debating this with them.
No doubt, now almost as hated there as I may be here !!
No seriously I learned alot, did a load of research .As always some forumers are very ignorant but some absulutely not.

Go google books 'The Snow Lion & the Dragon' Best read on it.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=F-21jIpF9EgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+snow+lion+%26+the+dragon&sig=_yG7gnOWPL_XKEL_ZZIR_WG3kcQ#PPA16,M1

On topic; This tower seems to me to be the 'tipping point', where Mumbai (and thus India) starts taking tower design seriously
Cheers D

The India Tower proposal was cancelled in favour of the DB tower. I hate the DB tower proposal.

I thought that they were going to build the DB tower next to India Tower

Yeah, mods can you change the title to "CANCELLED" please?

So they're not building India tower they're going to build DB tower

Correct. Check out the DB Tower thread for more info on that

huh i don't get this project because Mandviwala Qutub and Associates still has this project on their website. plus it has a render that hasn't been posted anywhere on this forum. On their website, they specifically say that the tower is under construction.

1) http://www.mqa.in/
2) click "residential"
3) click the right arrow to
4) you'll see a top view of the "India Tower"; click on it

the render shows a view from the top and doesn't have nearly as much glass as the renders you guys have posted. it seems like another concrete tower with plants and stuff, just like every other crappy building in mumbai...

i don't understand though because i thought it was pretty clear that this building was cancelled...why does MQA say it's under construction then?

That's because no one updated the website probably.

Why do we have threads for to skyscrapers being built on the same block of land.

:deleted:

can the mods delete this thread? we already have one.


IU's edit: The tower has been redesigned and has a new name.

MARINE LINES | Dynamix-Balwas Tower | 301m | 64 fl | Proposed
link: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=610347