Continued development brings more space, installation difficulties.

Elevators among Logistical Challenges of Supertall

Elevators to move people efficiently throughout Mitsubishi Estate’s planned 390-m-tall, 490,000-m2 office tower in central Tokyo is among logistical challenges engineers will face as the structure, part of a four-building complex, takes shape, Nikkei Asian Review reported. More elevators are needed for taller structures. Tokyo’s 180-m-tall, 160,000-m2 Marunouchi Building has almost 100 elevators, for example. Also needed to ensure efficient operation will be destination-dispatch technology drawing on the Internet of Things. The structural details for the Mitsubishi Estate building are expected to be hammered out by 2020, with construction starting in 2023.

Latest from SOM, Mitsui Fudosan

A 20,000-m2 mixed-use project featuring 180- and 200-m-tall towers in the Ohtemachi District of Tokyo is the latest from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and Mitsui Fudosan, bringing the number of square meters they have brought to the city to more than 2 million, ArchDaily reported. Convenient to public transportation, OH-1 is one of the largest revitalization projects in Tokyo’s history and will include a hotel, offices, retail and cultural facilities adjacent to Imperial Palace East Gardens. It will serve as corporate headquarters for Mitsui & Co. and is described by SOM as a “world-class business center.” Completion is anticipated in 2020.

Cyprus Marina Features Twisting Towers

A pair of 100-m-tall twisting towers housing approximately 190 apartments are part of the Ayia Napa Marina being developed by Cypriot entrepreneur Gerasimos Caramondanis and Egyptian investor Naguib Sawiris on the southeast coast of Cyprus, “at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and Africa,” World Architecture News reported. Under construction and scheduled for completion in 2021, the project was designed by SmithGroupJJR of the U.S. The towers rotate west to east, twisting approximately 1.6˚ per floor, and provide views of the Mediterranean coastline. The marina will house approximately 600 yachts.