[Citrus-Fruit]

Name: V-Tower
Location: Birmingham
Price: £150m
Architect: Eric Kuhne
Use: Mixed, Residential/Leisure
Scheme: Arena Central
Construction: 2007
Completion: 2010
Floors: 51
Height: TBC
Ammenties: Sky Lobby, Observation Deck, Public Rooftop Restaurant, 3 Storey Public Plaza

The Vision: Dandara brings a towering identity to Birmingham's skyline: The V Building. Towers are part of the composition of all great cities, and Birmingham has designated Arena Square as a place for such a towering signature icon. Combing both legacy and prophesy, The V Building will draw from the great architecture of Victoria Square's heritage and add a new architectural statement as a prophesy for her future. Architecture can not forsake the quality of a City's streets, and The V Building.

Skybar & Observatory: The skyline of a city belongs to all of her people, and The V Building creates a mysterious vantage point to view Birmingham as no other building has ever done. Sweeping vistas of City Centre and Countryside that change from honey coloured stone and rolling green landscapes to constellations of lights at night: these are the living murals of our lives... and all will be open to those who visit our Sky Bar and Observatory. Once the providence of gods and designers, now the platform for one and all, The V Building will showcase Birmingham as never before.

Engaging City Life: The floor of a city is where her life is played out. Engaging the historic Alpha Tower, The V Building creates a new civic plaza that will breathe life into the floor of a city both day and night. Light shafts sparkle from the pavement, light wands engraved with the richness of Midland's Literature and Letters frame the ground. From Arena Square to Victoria Square: fountains, lighting, furnishing, and patterned pavement treat this great civic space as one of Birmingham's great civic parlours... hosting the gathering of her citizens, residents and denizens day and night... redeeming the street.

The V Building: Lattice fabric faÇades, luminescent shards, lighthouse quality skyline, civic art porte cochere, skygardens and sky bars, observatories, and lobbies of mystique and intrigue... these are the architectural elements that lift The V Building. Here architecture engages the imagination and hosts the romance of living in a great British City. The residents of the City's Centre are her guardians and hosts. Here restaurants, spa, bars, library, and reception rooms will welcome the best and brightest into the heart of Birmingham.We build tall. We build sound. We build all magnificent and proud.

Signature for Birmingham: Residents of any city own two things: its skyline and its ground plane. The first in a silhouette drawn with distinction... the second in the spirited life day and night that captures the ethos of her grace. The V Building slices the sky with a scissors sculptural roof that frames the Sky Bar and Observatory: a place where everyone may gather to look out upon this fair City. Glowing at night as a beacon for the Midlands, blades of light meet luminescent top as a signature of the next generation of 21st century architecture for Birmingham.

Cosmopolitan Sophistication: Birmingham is a City whose strengths come from the diversity of her citizens. The V Building will become a welcome hall for the variety of people who have made the Midlands their home, and Birmingham their identity. Cities at night, Cities of Light, Cities as the Marketplaces of Ideas: café society comes to Birmingham with a vengeance, and The V Building's entry rooms will become the stage for the excitement and intrigue, comfort and mythology of a city rediscovering herself.

















Images

http://www.civicarts.com/images/ASB/CAM01-copy.jpg

http://www.civicarts.com/images/ASB/Navigation-Street.jpg

http://www.civicarts.com/images/ASB/Victoria-square-fountain-hi.jpg

http://www.civicarts.com/images/ASB/Suffolk-street-day.jpg

http://www.civicart.com/images/ASB/00-V-Tower-copy.jpg

http://www.civicart.com/images/ASB/CAM02-copy.jpg

http://www.civicart.com/images/ASB/Suffolk-street-night.jpg

http://www.civicart.com/images/ASB/00-Drop.jpg

[mic of orion]

impressive is all I can say, hope it gets built. :tup:

[Citrus-Fruit]

New city tower sparks wind fears Aug 8 2007



DESIGNERS are getting the wind up over plans for one of the city's tallest buildings.

Tunnel tests have shown the eyecatching 50-storey tower destined for Suffolk Street Queensway in the city centre will generate strong blasts of wind.

Designers are so concerned about the effects of the powerful gusts on passers-by that protective measures are being taken in the interests of public safety.

Bulky sculptures, glass panels, and trees are to be sprinkled around the base of the slim 147-metre high tower to act as windbreaks which will block the blasts of air.

"The mitigation measures will be required to reduce the increased wind impact generated in some areas around the tower to acceptable levels," a city planning spokesman confirmed.


The Arena Central development will get the green light from the city's planners in the near future, with work likely to start this year towards a projected completion date in 2012.


The scheme was originally concieved as a leisure development with its own ice rink and Las Vegas-style casino, but the bulk of the tower will now be residential, with 706 flats - most of them one-bed - together with bars and restaurants.


As tall as the Post Office tower, the building will be the highest occupied structure in Birmingham. It will also be eye-catching - clad with luminescent latticed glass that will make it shine in the day and glow at night. It will cast a long shadow over Broad Street, Centenary Square, the Hall of Memory and even Victoria Square.


"But I don't think that will worry anyone," said city planning chairman Coun David Roy. "It is an exciting building for the whole city."