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Rolex Tower, Dubai Building

Sheik Zayed Road Tower Development: UAE Skyscraper Architecture design by SOM architects

15 Sep 2011

Rolex Tower News

Rolex Tower Designer named Middle East Architect of the Year

Design: SOM, architects

While at SOM, Efstathiou has managed and led several key projects that have shaped Dubai’s skyline, helping secure SOM’s reputation as a global design leader. For the last eight years, Efstathiou served as Managing Partner and Chief Architect on Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, ROLEX Tower and Infinity Tower, all in Dubai.

He has also been one of the top leaders for SOM on several major planning projects, including the national Planning Strategies for the Kingdom of Bahrain and King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE). Efstathiou continues to lead SOM’s expertise in several on-going projects in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman and the UAE.

photograph from SOM
Middle East Architect of the Year

Rolex Tower Dubai

SOM Celebrates the Inauguration of Rolex Tower in Dubai, UAE

November 8, 2010 (Chicago, IL) – On November 7, 2010, the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), along with Seddiqi & Sons Investment and Dubai Contracting Company LLC, celebrated the inauguration of the Rolex Tower, a 59-story mixed use tower located on Dubai’s prestigious Sheik Zayed Road – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex_Tower. It is the second tower to be completed by SOM this year along with the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, also located in Dubai.

images © SOM

George Efstathiou, SOM’s Managing Partner for both Rolex Tower and Burj Khalifa, attended the opening in Dubai and stated “We are very proud to be associated with a client who shares our philosophy of simplicity and purity of design. The building epitomizes the classic design elegance of the iconic timepiece that shares the tower’s name.”

Rolex Tower contains 30 floors of office space, 25 floors of residential apartments and is capped with two exclusive residential penthouses one of which has a private pool on the 57th level. Behind the tower, a 9-story parking garage and entrance plaza leading to the tower’s lobby provides easy access to the tower. The building’s design, which features a glass curtain wall, embodies a sense of understated elegance amongst the exuberant context of Sheikh Zayed Road.

The size of the site dictated the design of this high-rise building along with its close proximity to adjacent buildings. The SOM architects addressed the site by stacking the offices, residential units and amenities, creating a refined columnar shape. The Rolex Tower in Dubai stands as a quiet neighbor amongst the other tall towers along Sheik Zayed Road, reinforcing the existing “urban street wall”.

The building is veiled in a curtain wall of high performance, patterned green glass which fades as it ascends, further expressing the height of the tower. Architects chose this specific glass to respond to the building’s desert location.

In the bright Dubai sunlight, Rolex Tower sheathed in glass, appears to shimmer like a desert mirage. With two setbacks as sky terraces, the three tiered massing reflects the change of uses in the program – office, residential and amenity – creating a unique presence on the skyline. The design for the base of the building is intended to counter the hyper activity on the street, while the vertical light well located at the upper portion of the residential tier forms a visual link between the walls of towers on Sheikh Zayed Road.

“Rolex Tower continues SOM’s commitment to quality and high design standards for planning cities and incorporating buildings into these cities,” said Peter Ruggiero, the SOM Design Partner for the project. “Like a symphony, buildings play a roles in cities much like musicians who come together to perform a piece of music. Every participant is equally as important and when in unison, the overall effect is quite beautiful. Similarly, Rolex Tower clarifies this urban vision by fitting seamlessly into Dubai’s cityscape through classic and elegant design”.

The luxurious ground floor lobby and mezzanine will house a variety of upscale retail facilities. The lobby also includes an art installation by James Clar called Soundwave, a dynamic sculpture made of stainless steel that hangs in the lobby of the building, derived from the artist recording his own voice, saying “Rolex Tower”.

Rolex Tower provides residents with a unique place to live and gives new meaning to quality design in working environments. Through its tasteful elegance and quiet minimalism, Rolex Tower continues SOM’s tradition of lofty standards for high end development throughout the Middle East and beyond.

Rolex Tower Dubai images / information from SOM, architects

SOM

Location: Dubai, UAE