The Diamond Tower -- Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, Gandhinagar


India's tallest all-commercial tower!


http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9558/packageddiamondtowersmanw3.jpg

The Diamond Tower is crowning centerpiece of India's largest greenfield megaproject, the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=552863) The 87-floor Diamond Tower will be India's largest commercial tower and is the largest announced tower in the GIFT skyline.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2482/image3ls3.jpg

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Before I go on about the Diamond Tower, its necessary to give some background on the GIFT project itself:

Located at Gandhinagar, the capital city of the über-industrial Indian state of Gujarat, and nearby the state's commercial capital of Ahmedabad, the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City will be one of the world's largest and most modern financial hubs.

From its already lofty original development goals, GIFT has since grown manifold to literally an entire city's central business district that will be larger than Paris's La Defense, Tokyo's Shinjuku, London's Dockyards and Shanghai's Pudong financial districts. It will house over a million people with millions more commuting there daily.

Well placed between the political and commercial capitals of Gujarat of Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad respectively, GIFT is a public-private partnership basically designed to kick Mumbai in the FDI balls and establish itself as a world player. It is India's first major supertall Central Business District project that is designed to be the focal point of both the world's and India's booming financial services market by providing companies with all those things Mumbai is still developing: comprehensive infrastructure, power, verticalized office space, and a well designed, planned and expandable urban form. Its strong proximity and infrastructure connectivity with Mumbai ensures that mutually beneficial development occurs between the two metros.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1716/sky3hp8.jpg
^ An overhead view of the new GIFT CBD. Only half the planned buildings are shown in the above rendering.

The scale of GIFT is singularly massive, unparalleled in the world except a handfull of Dubai megaprojects, none of those which can hold a candle to GIFT's goals of economic sustainability, integration and scalability.

Gujarat International Finance Tec-City will have 312 tall buildings — the tallest being the signature Diamond Tower with 87 floors; another 40 buildings with more than 50 floors and many more with 24 plus floors of height. The entire project is not only fully approved but already completely sold out due to insane demand. Construction will begin later this year.

For more information on GIFT as a whole, please check out the GIFT thread in General Urban Developments forum (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=552863) for a summary of the main developments and the GIFT thread in the SSC India forum (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=552518) for more detailed discussions.

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OK, now that that's out of the way, here's the lowdown on Diamond Tower:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/87/sky4ko1.jpg
^ Diamond Tower seen from the view corridor over one of GIFT's many greenbelts

Designed by ECADI architects, the master planners of many of Shanghai's newest projects, Diamond Tower was designed as the centerpiece signature tower that will cap the new GIFT CBD skyline. The tower is called "The Diamond Tower" to mark Gujarat state's eminence as the diamond capital of the world. It takes its design cues from the cut facets of a traditional Indian-cut diamond and is a tip of the hat to the state's diamond industry, which had initially fueled much of Gujarat's industrialization and still remains a huge economic stimulus to the state.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/726/packageddiamondtowersmaoh2.jpg
^ A closeup of the Diamond Tower's diamond-like crown

The Diamond Tower is designed to convey both the brightness and shape of the diamond. The various cuts and facets in the tower's shape are designed to reflect and refract the light on the tower similar to a cut diamond, helping it achieve its goal of being one of the world's brightest and most eye-catching towers when it catches the light of the sun.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/6431/packageddiamondtowersmajw2.jpg

It is the only tower located on block (or in GIFT development parlance "Package", in reference to each site being a separate instance of public-private development partnerships) "Package D", the only tower package on Fortune Island, which also will have a huge waterfront public green space as well as a museum and convention center. The tower will be accessible by foot by a bridge spanning the river as well as the gamut of GIFT's public transport system.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/4563/packageddiamondtowersmafx7.jpg
^ The Diamond Tower and Fortune Island. Seen across the river are the Gateway Towers and Crystal Towers.


The tower actually went through a major design change from its initial proposal.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/7797/olddiamondnr3.jpg
^ The original, shard-like design of the Diamond Tower

Initially, the tower was far more shard-like and sculpture-esque in its form, and at 80 floors rose significantly higher than the surrounding skyline:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2231/01oh9dg4.jpg

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9427/olddiamond2pj1.jpg
^ The location of the old design Diamond Tower to the old GIFT city plan

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/7197/04ki4tl6.jpg

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/8508/04rw5bu4.jpg
^ More views of the old design of the Diamond Tower


However, after the office space of the original GIFT master plan completely sold out less than a week after its opening it was realized that even this huge project severely underestimated the demand for high-quality commercial development in Gujarat. Thus, all the buildings went through a major redesign, scaled upward in both mass and in height -- the signature Diamond Tower being no exception.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2914/packagecgatewaytowerssmtb2.jpg
^ The new design of the Diamond Tower framed by the new Gateway Towers

After sifting through tens of proposals by ECADI, the private-public development consortium finally chose the new design of the Diamond Tower. The new tower is significantly taller, with 87 floors and a 400 meter height (possibly higher if one counts the crown as a spire.) The impression the tower gives is that of a rock-solid jewel rising over a much more aggressive and massive skyline, rather than the delicate crystal shard complementing an equally visually delicate skyline of the older design plan.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9656/packageddiamondtowersmauw9.jpg
^ The Diamond Tower, Gateway Towers and Crystal Towers


The tower has been completely approved by all governing and oversight bodies and will be constructed in the first phase of the project. Construction is expected to begin later this year, but may be put on hold if more redesigns/upscaling of the project is in the offing.

Cheers,
Jai

PS: Thanks to the Indian Skyscraper Blog (http://indianskyscraperblog.wordpress.com) and the many SSC India members for help with the writeup and all the research!

the old design was better i think, much better

If the tower was made of ALL DIAMOND at this size, would it cost more than $500 billion? (with enough amount available)

the old design was better i think, much better
I agree. I wish they'd simply scale up the old design rather than scrapping it altogether.

A reason could be that the deadline for construction is bearing down pretty hard. They redesigned the entire city in only several months, using existing building design proposals modified for the purpose. Perhaps a scaled older design would just have taken too much time to redesign? In my view, the older design was clearly superior, though I've heard this newer design referred to as kind of a modern day Qutab Minar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutab_Minar).

A pity though, I'd rather have waited for the better design... but then I'm just an architecture buff, not an investor.

Cheers,
Jai

tower is very nice but it could be a little more higher

I don't like it.....

Nice tower, I liked the first design way better though!!!!!^^:ohno:

:uh::master::eek2::bow:

It looks like a big PENCIL, especially at the top.
The design is unique, but the older design looks more architecturally and aesthetically pleasing.
The new design is not bad however it doesn't quite agree with its surrounding buildings.
The new design seems a bit out of context to its surrounding buildings.
Anyways better than nothing.
It should be renamed the PENCIL Tower, seriously look at it closely!

as i said on the other thread, the project is amazing, i like those towers!!

Future building at first picture is fantastic

I like this new design a lot.

But I wish the old one would get built somewhere too - maybe Hydrabad.

Here's a rendering of the redesigned skyline. Note that only half the forty 50+ floored towers have had their designs locked in and added to this skyline rendering. The other towers will be behind the towers shown below, and the 40-50 smaller 25+ floor towers will ones behind those.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5167/2z6v6rp2pl8.jpg
^ The Diamond Tower can clearly be seen occupying the iconic position on Fortune Island in front of the skyline

-Jai

i dont like it, i think it looks too wide for its height

still strange but much better than before

So many solid proposals for supertall construction in India! The race seems to be on...This will probably be the tallest building in India, just beating the DB Tower in Mumbai. (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=471040)

The tower looks ok, but the top is just not my taste.

Why do I see copies of CCTV. :bash:

Very interesting top. Perhaps the shaft could be toned down a bit. Overall, I'm amazed at the whole new city project. It's spectacular!

Holy jesus!

I like it

Hm, interesting. Like the masterplan. The previous tower design was better IMO.

The tower looks ok, but the top is just not my taste.

Why do I see copies of CCTV. :bash:

I also see a copy of SWFC :banana:

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They had to fill the skyline with something. Not like they are going build anything.

Amazing :righton:

Nice... the middle looks like the curvature of an expensive pen, and the top -- like the tip. But, look at the top of the building where those windows are pointing to each other... it'd be a good idea to make them part of the same office, so that strangers don't have to be looking at each other through the windows.

Why would a small provincial city of which I have never heard before need such a tall tower? Imo they could better place it in Ahmabad, just a few miles south.

Why would a small provincial city of which I have never heard before need such a tall tower? Imo they could better place it in Ahmabad, just a few miles south.
It's explained in the first post, in the section about the GIFT project...

Good design but I don't think that it will have a good maintenance

I also see a copy of SWFC :banana:

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They had to fill the skyline with something. Not like they are going build anything.

No. What you saw was this skyscraper.

http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr322/Bob885/GIFT.jpg

that tower scare me, reminds me a knife or a dart :runaway: ...but is interesting.

Didnt the hight go up to 500m and now its 100 floors+ ?

Very beautiful top ! Its really a high-value diamond !

Where is this GANDHINAGAR? need write a counrty...

Where is this GANDHINAGAR? need write a counrty...

is a city in the state Gujarat, India

so amazing tower, look is very big!!!

When will this be built:cheers:

The project should take of in Jan or Feb next year, but the tower will be built after.

If the tower was made of ALL DIAMOND at this size, would it cost more than $500 billion? (with enough amount available)

Maybe 500 trillion...

ok

^^ wonderful design...:applause:

Didnt the height go up to 500m and now its 100 floors+ ?

Really???!!! Where did you get the info...The taller the better IMO....Cuz it will look even more majestic.

lol. nice job bumping this thread a year into the future...

hmm i like it

that looks so surreal and epic and awesome, wow

When will something this sexy really get built?!

I'm waiting...

hehe keep waiting nothing will happen thats only because its in gandhinagar little town.

dude relax .. Gandhinagar is the capital of one of the richest states in India , Gujarat . The building is a part of a project called GIFT which has already started and the phase one which does not include this building will be over in next 2 years .. this particular building is in phase 2 or 3 and the construction should start in 2-3 years .. so its a bit far off..

BTW Gujarat is also the fastest growing Indian state !!

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/9558/packageddiamondtowersmanw3.jpg
An impressive design, great project :okay::master::bow:

If it aint the part of phase I & site prep work hasnt started. This will never be built. Remember, Gandhinagar is no Bombay, the only skyscraper capital of India. Gujarat dont got any tall towers forget supertall. This is a good pipe dream. never gonna happen.

dude relax .. Gandhinagar is the capital of one of the richest states in India , Gujarat . The building is a part of a project called GIFT which has already started and the phase one which does not include this building will be over in next 2 years .. this particular building is in phase 2 or 3 and the construction should start in 2-3 years .. so its a bit far off..

BTW Gujarat is also the fastest growing Indian state !!

No one said its going to be built now .. its good 2-3 years away .. please don't bump this thread unnecessarily .. If you want to follow teh GIFT thread you can do it here (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=552518) ..

i think modi will start this project after state elections only if he got elected again...