Designed to resemble a rocket on a launchpad readying for takeoff, this extraordinary tower reportedly draws inspiration from a billionaire's trip to a NASA facility in the late 1960s. The building reaches a height of 250 m (820 ft), setting a new record for Morocco and making it one of the tallest skyscrapers on the African continent.
Taking its name from Morocco's current king, the Mohammed VI Tower is located near the country's capital Rabat and was designed by Rafael de la Hoz and Hakim Benjelloun.
The project was originally conceived by billionaire and Bank of Africa CEO Othman Benjelloun. His visit to an unspecified NASA facility in the late 1960s, where he saw the Saturn V being prepared for the Apollo 12 mission, is widely reported to be the inspiration for the tower. The design involves more than simply attempting to mimic a rocket shape, though. Tapering as it rises, the north-facing facade features a high-performance glazed curtain wall with decorative metal fins, while the south-facing facade combines an opaque curtain wall with metal panels, shading louvers, and solar panels. These, along with additional solar panels on the podium roof help power the building's systems. A rainwater harvesting system is also installed, enabling it to achieve the LEED Gold green building standard.
Due to high seismicity and wind loads on the site, the skyscraper is anchored by significant foundations buried 60 m (almost 200 ft) into the ground and supported by 104 deep concrete piles. Its structure consists of a high-strength inner concrete core with an outer steel frame, while a tuned mass damper system (essentially a huge weight that counterbalances the tower's movement) at the top helps ensure stability.
The interior of the skyscraper spans 102,800 sq m (roughly 1.1 million sq ft) over 55 floors and hosts a luxury hotel, office spaces, high-end apartments, and an observation deck at the top. To get around all this, visitors use 36 elevators in total, which are divided between 21 in the tower proper and 15 in its podium.
The Mohammed VI Tower took eight years to realize and reportedly cost US$700 million. BESIX (which also co-built the Burj Khalifa) handled construction duties, along with TGCC and CRCCI. O Tower – backed by the Bank of Africa, RMA, and the O Capital Group – acted as developer.
Source: BESIX
