TWISTED THINKING

Cayan Tower, Dubai

SOM’s 75-story Cayan Tower in Dubai now has the dubious honor of being the tallest twisted tower in the world. According to the designer, one of the aims of this complicated exercise was to produce a “memorable”  form. It is memorable, since we have become used to orthogonal high-rises. I haven’t seen the Cayan Tower, but I have seen Calatrava’s so-called Turning Torso in Sweden. It is striking from a distance, but closer-up the chief impression–not a particularly pleasant one–is of many parallelogram-shaped windows. It is as if a Miesian curtain wall had gotten too close to the fire.