Following on from last week’s post, we delve into the construction of the Kuwait Towers. Standing at a staggering 187 metres, the main tower carries two spheres. In the upper sphere, which is rotating, completing two full turns ever hour, a cafe is located. In the lower sphere, the bottom of the sphere holds some 4,500 cubic metres of water whilst the top of the sphere is a lounge, reception, cafe and a 90 seat restaurant.

The second tower measures 147 metres at its summit. It was designed as a water tower. The third Kuwait Tower houses all of the equipment necessary to illuminate the first and second towers. Combined, the Kuwait Towers are capable of holding up to 9,000 cubic metres of water. Although they are three separate structures, the landmark is often referred to as the Kuwait Tower in the singular.

Designed by Rosales Cass, a Danish architect, the Kuwait Towers were constructed in collaboration with VBB (rebranded Sweco in 1997), a Swedish engineering company as part of a water distribution project they were running. The chief architect of Sune Lindstrom had already built five sets of his typical mushroom-shaped towers around the city, known as the Kuwait Water Towers. Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed, the Amir of Kuwait, decided that he wanted the design for the sixth site to be something that would stand out. Out of ten different designs, the three which stand in Kuwait today were chosen by Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed personally.

Construction at the site was contracted to a Yugoslavian company: Energoprojekt of Belgrade. The Kuwait Towers are constructed from pre-stressed and reinforced concrete. Construction took over five years to complete, from 1971 to 1976. It was not until 1st March 1979 that the main tower was opened to the public.

Approximately 41,000 steel enamelled discs are arranged around the spheres in spiral patterns. These steel discs are coloured in eight different shades of grey, green and blue – reminiscent of the tiled domes of the world’s most celebrated mosques. According to the Kuwait Tower’s architect, the design was intended to reflect the ideals of both technology and humanity, which are symbolised in the construction by a rocket and a globe. The Kuwait Towers shared the Aga Khan Award for Architecture with the Kuwait Water Towers in 1980.