Aspire Tower
Architect : Hadi Simaan
Weave type: DOGLA-TRIO
The Aspire Tower is the landmark of the Asian Games 2006 in Doha, Qatar. Located directly next to the Games Stadia, construction of the 318 meter high tower commenced in April 2005, with final completion of the interior due by August 2007.
The tower is designed to resemble a large torch, which is achieved with wire mesh elements supplied by Haver & Boecker. The facade consists of 3452 single elements with a total area of appr. 30,000 square meters.
Throughout the facade LEDs have been installed within the mesh to create user-defined effects in varying colours. IMAGIC WEAVE®, a combination of metal wire mesh and LED technology, provides the possibility to broadcast videos on one area of the tower.
For further information about IMAGIC WEAVE® please visit www.imagicweave.com
The tower incorporates a swimming pool at the 80 m level, a 5-star-hotel, an observation deck, a sports museum and a rotating restaurant at the 200 meter level.
The architectural brief was to create a similar transparency in each part of the tower from one viewing point. Using weave type DOGLA-TRIO it was possible to vary the clear openings of the horizontal wires between 14 and 44 mm. The open area was incrementally increased from 72% to 85%. The vertical wire groups of DOGLA-TRIO consist of three specially preformed wires. Haver & Boecker ensured that these wire groups ran in one continuous line from element to element across the full height of the tower. The standard elements are 8 meters high with a maximum width of 1,96 meters; special elements are as long as 13 meters.
The mounting system was developed by Haver & Boecker and coordinated with the facade planners and metal contractors. At the top each mesh element is equipped with an open hook strip, which is inserted into a bespoke L-Profile attached to the framework. The bottom part of the panel has a flat tension profile with clevis screws and pressure springs at appr. 200 mm centers, which allow for individual tensioning of each element. To reduce deflection and inherent vertical loadings, each element is connected in the center to round tubes behind the mesh using wire connectors.
Haver & Boecker supplied ready-to-install mesh panels direct to site, where they were tensioned into frames in a specially built manufacturing hall. As a final step, the frames were lifted to their final destination on the facade, where they were connected to the structure of the tower.
Due to the tower’s height and exposed location, extreme standards for noise emission and windloads were required. The effectiveness of wire mesh for such projects was proven by means of various tests in a wind tunnel.
