Construction is expected to start in June on Dubai’s ambitious $109 million Time Residences, which the developers claim will be the first-of-its-kind rotating tower in the world.

The project, which is targetted for completion in the first quarter of 2009, will also be unique in that its movement will be entirely powered by the sun.
The 80,000 tonne, 30-floor, structure in the heart of Dubai’s iconic City of Arabia development promises to offer its 200 unique apartments a different view each day as the tower continuously turns 5mm per second in one direction, moving 52 degrees in 24 hours, with the whole structure turning 360 degrees in seven days.
The iconic structure will be crowned by a crescent shaped Moon Lounge that will double up as an observatory as well as an entertainment centre.
“Solar energy is stored and used to drive the rotation mechanism, to provide 360-degree views to every resident,” says Tav Singh, director of Dubai Property Ring, the developer of the building. The building will also use solar energy to light up its communal areas.
“The tower will also sport a distinctive time line, running down the building that meets 12 o’clock markings on the ground and the podium, allowing observers to use the building as a fully functioning time piece,” says James Abbott, senior architect of Palmer and Turner, the architect of the tower.
But what are the principles on which the Time Residences that is powered by the sun work?
The whole structure is supported on concrete platforms separated by a special patented mechanism that reduces the effective mass from 80,000 tonnes to 10,000 tonnes. This is further reduced using the latest materials available.
“The friction resistance is reduced from 10,000 tonnes to 1,000 tonnes and the friction force is then transferred into the rotation mechanism,” says Nick Cooper, the UK-based rotational expert. “The total force to turn the building is therefore shared and yet again reduced from 1,000 tonnes to a mere 50 tonnes.
Since the tower is rotated by a mechanism powered by electricity, the force is then converted from 50 tonnes to 2.5 kW of electrical power which is supplied via a solar panel, and the 80,000 cement and steel structure rotates,” he adds
Residents will be offered a choice of one to four bedrooms, replete with the latest in design and technology alongside exclusive four-bedroom duplex penthouses and the signature five-bedroom ‘T’ Triplex super penthouse. “With a maximum of eight apartments on any one floor, the tower also promises uninterrupted floor to ceiling views and an abundance of space,” says Singh.
The project is designed by UK architecture firm, Glenn Howells Architects, the company behind the Birmingham Rotunda in the UK, and Palmer and Turner based in Dubai and Hong Kong, the master developer of City of Arabia.
The project will be managed by Dubai’s Kulkarni QS, while the building’s unique rotational movement will be the responsibility of Nick Cooper, the British engineer responsible for designing the drill machine that bored the English Channel Tunnel.