History in the making

The 59-storey tower, one of seven to be built around the world, has been built in collaboration with former Formula 1 champion Schumacher, and is described as ‘branded architecture’s next step’. The tower is designed by Chris Bosse and Tobias Walliser of Laboratory for Visionary Architecture Asia Pacific (LAVA) which founded a year ago: renowned for their cutting edge organic approach to design. Being responsible as associate architects for world recognised structures such as the Water cube Beijing and the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Germany. “The Tower marks a departure from traditional architectural thinking,” state the two designers whom represent a new generation of architects.

The MSWCT Reem Island is the first among several such projects planned by Marasi. It is hoped to be one of the most prestigious residential addresses in the world, representing a true blend of wharf concept with unprecedented luxury living.

Michael Kutschenreuter, Marasi CEO, said, “Marasi will specialise in providing solutions for people who wish to bring together their residential location and immediate access to their yachts. In the MSCWT cutting edge technology and beautiful design will merge to create a unique living community with a spectacular backdrop.”

The tower will be an inspirational architectural landmark, epitomising the same fusion of high technology and human tenacity that powered Michael Schumacher to his sporting achievements.

The Unique Collaboration


The tower will be an inspirational architectural landmark, epitomising the same fusion of high technology and human tenacity that powered Michael Schumacher to his sporting achievements. Due to the individuality and prestige of the Michael Schumacher World Champion Tower concept, the International Board of Trustees of The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences (AAHS) felt it necessary to create a completely new category of the Star Diamond Award, honouring innovative and unique projects.

“The unique collaboration with Michael Schumacher gave us new insights. Technology, precision, speed, elegance, paired with human intuition and extraordinary performance were a great source of inspiration for the design. Similar to the formula one operation, construction is a team sport with a lot of highly skilled experts. In this sense the architects take the driver seat in the process, taking the project to the physical limits of possibility”, adds Alexander Rieck from LAVA, innovation expert at the Fraunhofer institute in Stuttgart.

Inspired by the geometrical order of a snowflake and the aerodynamics of a Formula 1 racing car, the tower encapsulates speed, fluid dynamics, future technology and natural patterns of organisation. Rather than purely mimicking shapes in nature for their elegance and unpredictability, the architects learned from nature’s own geometrical orders creating highly efficient structures and intriguing spaces.

State-of-theart engineering and innovative materials will be used to achieve a fully sustainable performance.

Limiting the ecological impact



The MSWCT will be inline with local environmental regulations, LEED and Estidama environmental certification systems to offer a level of environmental performance envied by its counterparts, both now and in the future. State-of-the-art engineering and innovative materials will be used to achieve a fully sustainable performance.

Each vertical fin on the tower’s exterior will act as solar shading device, tracking the sun to shield the enclosed façade areas of the building from high heat loads. The fins also offer an opportunity to capture the sun's energy for use within the MSWCT. As a technical solution, the fins provide comfort and protection from the direct sun by acting as blinds and louvres, while providing intimacy and privacy. Secondly they act as external vertical rails for drainage, as well as a ventilation device cooling the façade through a chilled beam system. One system provides cooling for the fins as well as all floors of the tower. The passive chilled beam provides room cooling by using natural heat convection. It comprises an overhead beam containing chilled water from an external source. The area’s warm air continually rises to the beam, where it is cooled. It then drops back to the floor level and the cycle is repeated.

Waste recycling will play a major part in the MSWCT sustainable strategy. Waste water will be collected and recycled for use within the building while refuse will be sorted for direct distribution to off site facilities.

The building is slated to take final shape by 2011.

© EcoAsia 2009