This dominos-inspired skyscraper could become Africa’s second-tallest tower at 70-stories high!

If brought to fruition, the Zanzibar Domino Commerical Tower will become Africa’s second-tallest building and a landmark tourist destination to help stimulate the country’s economy and tourism industry.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen some crushing setbacks on the tourism industry, in particular for countries that rely on it for their economic output. In response, architects have churned out some of their most daring and inspired plans, from apartment skyscrapers to floating museums, all with the hope of luring in tourists from across the world. Architecture and interiors firm xCassia unveiled its plans for Zanzibar Domino Commerical Tower, a dominos-inspired skyscraper slated for Zanzibar, an autonomous archipelago off the coast of East Africa, to become the second tallest building at 70-stories high in Africa and help stimulate Zanzibar’s local tourism industry.

If the building’s plans ever come to fruition, the multipurpose skyscraper will cover a sweeping 370,000 square meters and be composed of 360 scalloped slates with an observation deck at its highest point. One day, the tower is designed to function as a landmark tourist destination. xCassia initially developed the dominos-inspired tower for different sites in Vietnam and Saudi Arabia, but a recent contract was signed by Tanzanian AICL Group and Edinburgh Crowland Management for xCassia to begin progress on the skyscraper in Zanzibar.

The tower itself will be host to a 560-unit resident complex and five to six-star hotel and spa facilities. Covering 20-hectares on a 4km-long plot of land, the larger site will give rise to the largest resort in East and Central Africa, and will see a golf course, wedding chapel, and marina for yachts and cruise ships on the island’s private islet.

Jean-Paul Cassia, founder and design director of xCassia, described the tower’s initial inspiration, “First sketched in Paris in 2009, after my late father, two sons, and I played a round of dominos–I dreamed of building this project for over a decade. Between its innate mathematical order and geometries found in nature, its pure lines and proportions that evoke growth, progress, and freedom, it had all the bearings of an icon anyone could remember and draw on a paper napkin. All it lacked was the right visionary investor and site to make it come true.”

During the signing ceremony between AICL Group, Edinburgh Crowland Management, and xCassia, CEO of Crowland Management Ltd Dr. Emmanuel Umoh mentioned, “The building which will be called Zanzibar Domino Commercial Tower is expected to be one of the international iconic features, facilitating tourism, culture, and business opportunities.”

Designer: xCassia

This observation tower features a coffee bar that hovers above the clouds for a rare view of Da Lat!

Sweeping the city in a sea of clouds, Da Lat is considered one of Vietnam’s most romantic cities and named to suggest, “City of Eternal Spring.” Year-round, clouds cover the majority of Da Lat’s landscape and enhance the city’s elusive charm, giving rise to unique, quirky, and statement architectural structures. Conceived and built by VHA Architects, Flowers of Clouds or The Tower Flower is one such observation tower and garden space that blossoms above the city bringing travelers and residents to the top of the clouds for a bird’s eye view of the city below.

Characterized by its rolling hills coated with pine trees, marigold, and mimosa flowers, Da Lat’s distinct beauty is singular. The Tower Flower, an observation tower molded into the shape of a flower in the early stages of blooming, sings an ode to those rolling hills of Da Lat with terrace gardens and biophilic design principles. Designed to be a coffee boutique bar as part of a larger resort complex, The Tower Flower’s spherical frame features facades that mimic flowers blooming with rich orange corten steel modules that form the structure’s large petals.

Twisting throughout the building’s interior, a winding ramp emulates the flow and curve of a river to allow the surrounding landscape and interior garden to gradually appear to each guest and visitor. Inside the coffee boutique bar, visitors and residents can enjoy views of the surrounding landscape as well as the structure’s interior garden that pays tribute to the Lotus flower, the symbol for pure beauty in Buddhism.

The Tower Flower is supported by a steel frame structure and reinforced concrete to ensure the structure’s stability and longevity. Perched atop the clouds at a height of 600m2, The Tower Flower’s roof terrace also features a flourishing garden that overflows from the roof. Hanging over the structure’s rim and merging with the clouds, the thriving garden creates a striking colorful display against the city’s optic white moat of clouds.

Designer: VHA Architects

Swept over in clouds, Da Lat’s foggy landscape lends itself beautifully to unique architectural structures that pay tribute to the land.

Stationed atop a surrounding water moat, The Tower Flower blossoms as a lotus flower would on a still pond.

Inside the building’s coffee boutique bar, guests can enjoy views of the surrounding landscape and interior garden.

A winding ramp gradually leads guests through the botanical structure’s interior, emulating the flow of a river and slowly opening up to the terrace garden.

Corten steel frames stylized into the shape of petals mimic the structure of a lotus flower, the symbol of pure beauty in Buddhism.

Enveloped with inverted V-structures, the building is stabilized with varying steel frames.

Perched above the clouds of Da Lat, The Tower Flower offers a bird-eye view of the city below.

This conceptual observation tower also filters Central Park’s ponds

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Designed to be the world’s tallest timber structure, and built with its own filtration system, the Central Park Observation Tower concept by DFA aims at doing two things. Increasing public interaction by giving them a centrally located bird’s eye view of the entire park, while also filtering the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, a polluted water-body that accounts for 1/8th of the park’s area.

The proposed Observation Tower would be constructed using Glulam (glue-laminated timber) technology, which requires a third of the energy and creates less than a tenth of the fossil fuels compared to steel manufacturing. It also allows the entire structure, 3.5 times bigger than the Statue of Liberty, to be fabricated off-site and assembled directly on the side. Its twisting, tapered design is meant to cast minimum shadows on the park and nearby buildings, a major concern as of late with the many tall towers being built on Central Park South, and its facade pattern was inspired by the woven basket designs of the Lenapes who once lived in Manhattan. At the very top sits a vertical-axis turbine that powers the water filter that constantly purifies the reservoir’s water, making it fit for swimming, sailing, and other water-related activities in the future, while the tower itself also becomes a landmark as well as tourist-attraction, giving you a 700-ft high vantage point and a stunning view of the park!

Designer: DFA

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