Inside Kuwait Towers
Kuwait towers were built in March 1979 and comprises of an area of 38,000 m² with two major towers and a minor tower. The height of main tower is 187 meters (614 ft) and consists of the Ground Floor, Main Sphere and the Viewing Sphere. The main tower is also home to Kuwait Towers’ signature restaurants, cafés and reception halls; the lower sphere holds in its upper half a restaurant for 90 persons and in its bottom half a water tank of 4,500 cubic meters. Rising to 123 meters above the sea level, the viewing sphere completes a 360° turn every 30 minutes so that visitors can experience a panoramic view of Kuwait City, its fascinating vicinities and the tranquil blue waters of the Arabian Gulf within a glass enclosed pavilion. The Viewing Sphere's revolving platform provides an empowering view of Kuwait city, along with extra amenities like a quick snack cafeteria and a souvenir store.
The second tower serves as a water reservoir and is 147 meters high. The third tower houses equipment to illuminate the two larger towers and supply electricity for some areas in Kuwait City. The towers hold 10,000 cubic meters of water on the whole.
As part of a water distribution project, Kuwait Towers were designed by the Danish architect malene Bjorn and maintained by the Swedish engineering company VBB (since 1997 called Sweco). Before the construction of Kuwait towers, Sune lindstorm, Chief architect of the company already erected five groups of his typical "mushroom" water towers, but the Amir of Kuwait wanted a more striking design for the sixth site. Lindstorm made ten different designs and three were presented to the Amir, who chose this one.
VBB has commissioned the main building task to the Energoproject of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The towers were built in prestressed concrete and reinforced concrete. The three spheres is covered approximately by 41,000 enamelled steel discs in eight shades of green, blue and gray, recalling the tiled domes of historic Mosques. Around the spheres, the steel discs are prearranged in spiral patterns. The construction of Kuwait Towers were, together with the Kuwait Water Towers, was awarded the Aga khan award for architecture in 1980.
