Just about every week UK-based and Iraq-born architect Zaha Hadid unveils new plans for eloquent but often outrageous skyscrapers and building projects around the world. The latest is a $420 million trio of skyscrapers for Brisbane, Australia, in her words, with “design [that] tapers each structure to minimise their footprint and open the riverfront to the public; creating a vibrant civic space for Toowong within a new riverside park.”
According to the developer, each of the three towers will have a multi-layered design with a glazed curtain wall with glass reinforced concrete. Called the Toowong development, the towers will include 486 apartments and eight “villas”
This result is feminine and organic, emulating organic forms like flower petals. Zaha Hadid has been criticized in the past for developing a stadium in Qatar that looks like female genitals.
The proposed building project would be located on land four kilometers west of Brisbane’s Central Business District, and will include parks space of about 7,300 meters.
The site has a poor environmental footprint. The area was occupied by Australia’s ABC Radio and after 17 women who worked there contracted breast cancer, the building was sold and vacated due to radiation levels. BY 2010 authorities declared the zone radiation free. The source of radiation appeared to from uranium.
As the Brisbane Times reported in 2008, “The site housed a uranium processing plant between 1911 and 1916, which produced products used to paint luminous clocks, watches and instrument dials.”
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist, innovation strategist, and founder of Green Prophet, one of the Middle East’s pioneering sustainability platforms. She has ranked in the Top 10 of Verizon innovation competitions, participated in NASA-linked challenges, and spoken worldwide on climate, food security, and future resilience. With an IoT technology patent, features in Canada’s National Post, and leadership inside teams building next-generation agricultural and planetary systems — including Mars-farming concepts — Karin operates at the intersection of storytelling, science, and systems change. She doesn’t report on the future – she helps design it. Reach out directly to [email protected]
