Tall Building case studies - Tall Buildings: Structural Systems and Aerodynamic Form - page 98

aspire Tower
official name : Aspire Tower
location : Doha, Qatar
building function : Mixed-use (hotel, office)
architectural height : 300 m
number of storeys : 36
status : Completed
completion : 2006
architect : Hadi Simaan
structural engineer : Ove & Arup Partners
structural system : Mega core system/reinforced concrete
(credit for photo: CTBUH)
Aspire Tower: architectural and structural information
The 36-storey, 300 m high Aspire Tower in Doha (Qatar) was designed by Hadi
Simaan. It is a reinforced concrete building with a mega core system.
The Aspire Tower, whose shape represents a hand holding a flaming torch, was the
most important building of the 15th Asian Games held in Qatar in 2006 ( Figure 4.8 ).
The 238 m high mega core, together with the 62 m high steel truss structure it carries,
completes the design of the building.
The mega core as the spine of the building resists all the entire vertical and lateral
loads and supports the cantilevered modules of the building together with the curved
external facade. A reinforced concrete mega core shear wall has a circular cross-
section with an external diameter varying between 18 to 13 m (from bottom to top)
and thickness varying between 2 to 1 m (from bottom to top) throughout the height of
the building ( Figure 4.9 ).