Saturday, January 15, 2011

Leaning Tower of Abu Dhabi

when we talk about ‘leaning tower’, we immediately think of leaning tower of pisa in italy. it’s popular simply because it leans. and of course because it’s really ancient. 1200 year old of awe and wonder.

fast forward in 2011, a new leaning building wants to claim the title ‘world’s furthest leaning man-made tower’, and this has been certified by the guinness world records. imagine, pisa tower only leans by 4 degrees, but this building leans by 18 degrees!

 

it’s called the ‘capital gate’, the leaning tower of abu dhabi.

 14012011 aku omnia 818

me, abah & khaleef ~ capital gate, abu dhabi is behind us

 

we were in abu dhabi yesterday to take abah to the gleaming white sheikh zayed mosque, and jalan-jalan when i thought of taking a detour and stop by to see this leaning building. click here to read about my first experience going to one of the largest mosques in the world, the sheikh zayed mosque, abu dhabi.

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‘capital gate’, owned and developed by ADNEC (Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company), is 160-metre, has 35-storey, and leans 4 times as far as the famous leaning tower of pisa.

 

capital gate, abu dhabi ~ leaning tower of pisa, italy

 

where?

the capital gate abu dhabi is close to sheikh zayed mosque (the white marble mosque) and really stands out because of its unique posture. there are also a few embassy buildings nearby. in fact, after taking these shots, we were stopped by a policeman who wanted to confirm that we weren’t taking pictures of the embassy buildings.

my take?

it’s graceful, and sleek alright – but i can’t help noticing that its outer skeleton looks a lot like gleaming snake skin under the sunlight! and with the inclined posture of the building – lagi lah nampak macam ular melingkar!

i discovered through further reading on the net that this is due to the unique feature of capital gate, that has 728 custom-made diamond-shaped glazing panels all over the building. to achieve the structure’s curving shape, each pane of glass is different and each will be fitted at a slightly different angle.

 

 

* * *

the leaning tower of capital gate, is an addition to many other exquisite landmarks in abu dhabi which includes the amoebic-shaped ferrari world, the dolphin-inspired yas hotel and the circular aldar building that looks like a gigantic blue 50 cents!

what’s next for abu dhabi?

7 comments:

i amsterdam said...

The wonder of man's creation. Hm.. takut tak agaknya kalau berdiri pd bhg yg paling senget tu.. gayat juga kut ye :D

transformed housewife said...

Impressive! ni yg makin rasa nak pegi sana ni. bilalah boleh sampai sana ni ye.

Anonymous said...

Aslmkm.
Kak G dah dengar banyak orang bercerita ... sampainya je belum!
Tunggu seru! :)
Is ur father now staying with U or just visiting?

Hanis MY said...

abu dhabi mmg kaya dengan bangunan tinggi...last time went there lebuh dongak nk tgk sume bangunan tu huhu..salam kenal sis...

Syigim said...

>> i amsterdam, ye la. never thought of that. sure nampak straight to the ground looking down.. yes, gayat!

>> kak nur, mmg impressive. ni baru satu building. ade lagi few yg lawa sgt!

Syigim said...

>> salam kak G, my abah is visiting for just 10 days :(

>> hi hanis, welcome :) abu dhabi has impressive buildings, tapi dubai lagi gile~ byk sgt2 unique buildings!

Anonymous said...

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