Light rail gets a boost; work wraps up on unique tower.

KONE Delivering 169 Units for Transit Line

KONE has won an order to deliver 169 escalators and elevators to the Red Line of Tel Aviv, Israel’s Light Rail Network. The line will operate along a 24-km route, 12 km of which will be underground. The order includes 106 TransitMaster™ escalators and 63 MonoSpace® elevators for 34 stations through a contract that also includes 16 years of maintenance. The line is scheduled to open in 2021 and will serve up to 80 million passengers per year.

“The Red Line will pass through the most congested regions of the metropolitan area, and it is set to change the lives of many in the greater Tel Aviv region,” said Pierre Liautaud, executive vice president for KONE South Europe, Middle East and Africa.

The Red Line is being designed and built by NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System, Ltd.

KONE Providing 177 Units for Large Mixed-Use Project

KONE will deliver 177 elevators and escalators to Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, a new, 14-building urban mixed-use development in Hamburg, Germany’s HafenCity district. These include 112 MonoSpace®, Transys™ and MiniSpace™ elevators. The order also includes 65 TravelMaster™ and TravelMaster 120 escalators. The office buildings will be equipped with KONE destination control systems. KONE called it the largest urban renewal development in Europe. It will house about 650 apartments, offices with approximately 4,000 workplaces, three hotels, restaurants, retail and cultural space and a cinema. It will also include a cruise liner terminal with an underground bus station.

Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier will have a strong focus on sustainability. The buildings will be certified to the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method Excellent standard. It was designed by European architecture firms representing Böge Lindner K2 Architekten, Carsten Roth Architekt, Christian de Portzamparc, Hild and K Architekten, kbnk, Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei, léonwohlhage and UN Studio. It is scheduled to open in the second half of 2022.

Twisted Tower Nears Completion

The first phase of the Totseret Ha-Aretz (ToHA) project has been revealed as a twisted tower in Tel Aviv. British-Israeli designer Ron Arad designed the building in a way that utilized the most space on the constricted site, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats reports. The 28-story tower expands and rotates as it rises, with floors widening toward the middle and narrowing at the base and top of the building. The roof level can feature several restaurants and two terraces, and has a walkway along the perimeter. The project has a seven-story-high lobby, underground parking and customizable floorplans. A second, 63-story tower is planned for the second phase of the project and is expected to be built by 2024. The twisted tower is set to be complete later this year.