A new 500-foot observation tower from Bjarke Ingels Group could grace San Diego’s waterfront Central Embarcadero in the near future… if it passes an environmental review and is approved by the California Coastal Commission.
If built, the observation tower would be like nothing else that currently exists along California’s coast, thanks to the 1976 Coastal Act that puts a 30-foot height restriction on most of the state’s coastal zones. But, as The San Diego Union-Trubune reports, Downtown San Diego is exempt from that restriction.
The tower is designed as a stack of spinning discs that appear differently at varying vantage points and elevations. At the base, the tower will include retail, food options, and a hotel.
See Also: Bjarke Ingels Group creates 66 homes for low-income citizens in Copenhagen
At the tower’s peak, exhibits will be spread across several floors to encourage the public to explore all the space has to offer. Possibilities include a butterfly exhibit, a suspended net for climbing, a wind garden with sustainable technology exhibits, an outdoor auditorium, and a 170,000-sf vertical aquarium that would span the length of the tower and resemble the varying depths of the ocean. The developer, 1HWY1, describes the concept as a “learning laboratory in the sky.”
But unless this radical design gains the approval it needs, the tower may never be more than a 500-foot-tall quixotic dream.
Related Stories
High-rise Construction | Nov 1, 2016
Winthrop Square will give rise to Boston’s second tallest building
The building will become the tallest residential tower in the city.
Building Team | Oct 31, 2016
The world’s 100 tallest buildings: Who owns and has developed the most?
All but four owners/developers on the list are located in the United Arab Emirates, China, or Hong Kong.
High-rise Construction | Oct 28, 2016
The world’s 100 tallest buildings: Which contractors have worked on the most?
Only one firm has worked on more than 10 of the world’s 100 tallest buildings.
High-rise Construction | Oct 27, 2016
The world’s 100 tallest buildings: Which MEP engineers have worked on the most?
The top firm worked on over three times as many of the tallest buildings as the second place firm on the list.
High-rise Construction | Oct 26, 2016
The world’s 100 tallest buildings: Which structural engineers have worked on the most?
The top firm has worked on almost one-fifth of the 100 tallest buildings in the world.
High-rise Construction | Oct 25, 2016
That sinking feeling: Millennium Tower San Francisco is beginning to worry residents with its sinking, leaning [Updated]
Residents are beginning to question if the tower, which exists in a major earthquake fault zone, is safe.
High-rise Construction | Oct 21, 2016
The world’s 100 tallest buildings: Which architects have designed the most?
Two firms stand well above the others when it comes to the number of tall buildings they have designed.
High-rise Construction | Oct 14, 2016
Perkins+Will-designed residential towers would transform the Seattle skyline
The towers thrive on ‘creative tension’ and lean farther away from each other the higher they climb.
Wood | Oct 13, 2016
Concept from Perkins+Will could become the world’s tallest timber tower
River Beech Tower is said to be a part of a masterplan along the Chicago River.
Resiliency | Oct 5, 2016
San Francisco’s 181 Fremont will become the most earthquake-resilient building on the West Coast
The building has achieved REDi Gold Rating, resilience-based design guidelines developed by Arup that establish a new benchmark for seismic construction.
