Abu Dhabi’s Capital Gate, which leans 18 degrees—14 degrees more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, recently topped out its central core and reached its final height of 525 feet. The project is being developed by Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company (ADNEC) and has been designed by global architects RMJM, with a North American division headquartered in New York (CLICK HERE for related article). The 35-story, 525-foot tall tower stands as the focal point of the Capital Centre development, an AED8 billion (U.S. $2 billion) business and residential micro city being constructed around the thriving Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

“Capital Gate is an excellent example of what can be achieved when vision, creativity, design and engineering combine effectively with a partnership approach among team members. I am pleased at the steady progress being made on Capital Gate and would like to commend everyone involved in bringing this amazing and complex project to life. We look forward to working with RMJM, and Al Habtoor, the contractors of Capital Gate, to ensure the development is delivered to the people of Abu Dhabi over the course of the next year,” said Simon Horgan, Group CEO of ADNEC.

“Topping out the core is a major milestone to achieve. We still have challenges to face, but with the meticulous planning and recording that we have implemented throughout the construction, the pathway to successful completion is very much in sight,” says RMJM’s associate director, Tony Archibold, who explains that the tower’s core slants in opposite direction to the lean of the building, straightening as it grows. “This has never been attempted anywhere in the world before,” he said.

Due to its unique shape, Capital Gate, which features glass supplied by Cardinal (CLICK HERE for related article) is being constructed on top of a 7-foot deep concrete base with a dense mesh of reinforced steel. The tower comprises a complex steel diagrid, which sits above an extensive distribution of 490 piles that have been drilled 100 feet underground to accommodate gravitational, wind and seismic pressures caused by the lean of the building. The angles and dimensions of the building have been measured and designed meticulously to ensure that each individually shaped diagrid accurately defines the shape of this magnificent structure.