The Capital Gate

Abu Dhabi
The Capital Gate ‘Feature Tower’ is an iconic development provides a unique presence on the
skyline of Abu Dhabi and creates a memorable identity of the city. It a 160m-tall leaning tower
that inclines at an angle of 18° westward, 14° more than Italy’s historic Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The 35-storey mixed-use building was designed by Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall &
Partners (RMJM) and is used for commercial purposes, including offices and retail spaces, the
Hyatt Capital Gate hotel and a tea house.
It has 30 meeting rooms, conference facilities for 1,200 people, a business centre on the ground
floor, a helipad and an eight-outlet food court.
The $231m project, which was developed by Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company
(ADNEC), is the first building in the world to use a pre-cambered core with a built-in lean of
350 millimeters that has been engineered to straighten with the addition of the upper floors. It is
also the first building in the world to use vertical post-tensioning of the core to counter
movement and support stresses created by the building's overhang.
Construction work on the tower was started in September 2007 and was completed in 2011.
Commercial leasing of the tower began in April 2011.
The Concept
In 2005, the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) was created to drive forward
the development of Abu Dhabi's events sector. Plans were created with RMJM to build a state-
of-the-art exhibition center which would be the largest in the Gulf region and provide world
class facilities for live events to flourish in Abu Dhabi.
It was strongly felt that the entire development required a signature tower, a cutting-edge
structure with a futuristic design, aesthetic splendor and technical excellence to celebrate
human achievement and reflect the dynamism of Abu Dhabi. Capital Gate is the result.
Theme
The tower's curvaceous shape draws strongly on the Sea and desert – two elements that have
great resonance in Abu Dhabi. The building's form is meant to represent a swirling spiral of
sand, while the curved canopy, known as ‘splash’ which runs over teh adjoining grandstand
and rises on one side of the building , creates a wave-like effect, reflecting the building’s
proximity to the water and the city’s sea-faring heritage.
By integrating with the National Day Grandstand – one of Abu Dhabi’s most historic structures
– Capital Gate underscores the bond between the traditional and modern that is characteristic of
Abu Dhabi’s developmental approach.
Construction
The building is constructed on a 2m-high concrete raft. The raft in turn is positioned on 490
piles, drilled 30m underground to withstand wind, seismic and gravitational forces caused
because of its inclination. The basement for the tower has been densely reinforced and required
a concrete pour of more than 6,000m³.
An 80m-long cone-shaped atrium is built through the upper floors of the building to form open
balconies for the hotel rooms. The central core is constructed with pre-stressed concrete using
automatic climbing formwork. The total built-up area of 53,100m² includes a basement of
5,500m².
Building materials used for the construction of the tower also included approximately 21,500t of
steel. The diagrid of the entire building is approximately 8,500 structural steel beams. Each
diagrid weighs about 15t and is divided into 722 elements.
Features
There are several innovations within the project’s design, including the dramatic 18-degree
westward lean, which has earned it the title of “world’s furthest leaning man-made tower” from
the Guinness Book of World Records. It is the first building in the world to use a pre-cambered
core with a built-in lean of 350 millimeters that has been engineered to straighten with the
addition of the upper floors. It is also the first building in the world to use vertical post-
tensioning of the core to counter movement and support stresses created by the building’s
overhang.
The construction also adopted a variety of leading-edge approaches to create the desired result:
 Four hundred and ninety foundation piles were driven 20 to 30 meters underground to
support the structure and counter stresses. The piles, which were initially in
compression during construction to support the lower floors of the building, are now in
tension as the stresses caused by the overhang have been applied.
 The vertical and horizontal cross-sections of the tower are all unique.
 There is an asymmetric shape – no two rooms are the same (see Figure 2). Every one of
the 12,500 panes of glass on the façade is a different size, although each pane is
triangular.
 Floor plates change shape and orientation to create the distinctive “overhang” moving
from “curved triangular” to “curved rectangular,” while increasing in overall size and
migrating from east to west as they progress up the tower.
 Capital Gate is one of the few buildings in the world that use a diagrid structure; it also
features two diagrid systems, an external diagrid defining the tower’s shape and an
internal diagrid linked to the central core by eight unique pin-jointed structural
members.
 All 8,250 steel diagrid members are different thicknesses, length and orientation.
 Each of the 822 diaprid nodes (702 external and 120 internal nodes) is a different size
and angular configuration.
Capital Gate forms the focal point of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre complex and
the Capital Centre master development, a connected group of 23 towers including branded
hotels, commercial buildings, residential and serviced apartment complexes and developments
for mixed use.
These facilities are built overlooking an urban highway along the south-western shore of Abu
Dhabi.
Façade Design
The façade of the building is made of glass and steel elements that spiral skywards. The glazed
panels give a striking effect to the 23,000m² façade. It is connected to the concrete core with steel
structures.
The 728 custom-made glass panels fit the considering curvature of the building and form a
diamond shape. The glazing system, called Cardinal C240, is made of two silver coatings which
are transparent, increasing its light transmission.
The 16 lower floors with 15,000m² are used for offices while the upper 16 levels house Abu
Dhabi’s first Hyatt International five-star hotel and occupy 25,000m².
The 17th and 18th floors, the halfway point of the building, are constructed with a gigantic
internal atrium. It has a cantilevered tea lounge and a swimming pool suspended 80m above
the ground on the eastern side of the façade.
The top of the lounge is an open sun terrace which gives a clear view of Abu Dhabi and the
Gulf.
Project Data
Completion Date 2011
Height to Architectural Top 165 meters
Stories 35
Total Area 53,100 square meters
Primary Uses Hotel/Office Project
Developer ADNEC Group
Architect RMJM
Structural Engineer RMJM MEP
Engineer RMJM
Facade Consultant Hyder Consulting Landscape
Consultant Al Khatib Bracknell Main
Contractor Al Habtoor Engineering
Steel Contractor Eversendai
Facade Contractor Waagner Biro
Project Manager Mace