GUJARAT INT'l FINANCE TEC-CITY (GIFT) | Crystal Towers | 65 fl x 2 | 55 fl x 2 | App

[Jai]

X-posted from my thread in the international forum

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Crystal Towers -- Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, Gandhinagar


Traditonal Gujarati Architecture writ Large!

Like most of the towers to be built in India's largest greenfield megaproject, the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), the twin twinned towers of the Crystal Towers is inspired by traditional Gujarati architecture. They will also be amongst the tallest in the skyline and

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Before I go on about the Gateway Towers, 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, GIFT is a public-private partnership basically designed to kick Mumbai in the FDI balls and establish itself as a world player. It will 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.


^ 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 for a summary of the main developments and the GIFT thread in the SSC India forum for more detailed discussions.

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Although designed by Shanghai-based ECADI architects, the master planners of many of Shanghai's newest projects, the Gateway Towers were designed to reflect India's architectural past to create a modern day gateway to what will India's most modern city.

The design is based on the traditional architecture native to the area, namely that of the Gujarati 'Haveli' facade. The Haveli, literally 'courtyard', is a style of architectural detail defined by delicate filligree frescoe facades. These facades act as screen, providing light into an interior space while keeping occupants out of the direct scorching Indian sun.

In Gujarat, this style of adornement took on a life of its on in carvings on temples and mansions, often becoming the central thrust of a building's facade itself. Gujarati facades can be both of carved stone or wood construction.

Below are some examples of Gujarati Haveli facades:

^ Note both the wood and stone carvings

The facade of the Crystal Towers, like that of the Diamond Tower, is based traditional Gujarati haveli patterns, applied over the both glass and other surface areas of the towers.



The design elements of this facade will be accentuated by the multicolored backlighting. Unfortunately, while the design of the tower has been frozen, more detailed renderings have not been released, making it hard to extrapolate more details of the design.


Located on block --(or in GIFT development parlance "Package", in reference to each site being a separate instance of public-private development partnerships)-- "Package H", the four building package will be mixed commerical and retail design. The original design called for 6.6 million sq ft of built up area, but the design has since been scaled upwards.



The project consists of twin 65 floor towers that will be amongst the tallest in the GIFT skyline, and twin 55 floor towers connected by a retail base podium. The four towers will be located on the riverfront, directly behind the 80 floor Diamond Tower.


^ Crystal Towers seen behind the 80 floor Diamond Tower.


^ The Crystal Towers on right, with the Gateway Towers at center and Diamond Tower


^ Crystal Towers in center, Gateway Towers on left, and Fortune Island on right

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 and the many SSC India members for help with the writeup and all the research!

[India101]

Cant wait till this is complete if it gets built.