To Santiago Calatrava the scientific analysis, calculations and mathematical modelling are intertwined in an almost inseparable artistic and expressive search: he brought the form and structure, the design and the calculation, to a condition of osmosis. The Turning Torso is definitely one of the most striking examples of this: in its aesthetic it recovers the helicoid form, a surface generated by a plane figure which moves along a helix.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The twist of the skyscraper has aesthetic reasons as well as static: in a very windy and open area, like that of the port of Malmö, there is a high risk that a high structure, which is not screened by other buildings of a certain height, swing up to the resonance, with catastrophic results. 

 

Precisely for this reason, the project investigates the theme of the maximum reduction of wind loads and structural dimensions. The wind pressure is minimised thanks to the shape determined by the propeller housing plans that revolve around the central core. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shape reacts to the wind, from wherever it comes from, uniformly and dissipative. The helical form, however, breaks the wind force in resistance, drift and lift: in this way, the lift has no influence on the stability and decreases the weight transmitted to the foundations.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The special shape of the skyscraper also allows not to create lateral forces buttons capable of generating resonance in structures (Von Karman effect) and then swirling wakes sharply directional producing showy effects of suction, producing a constant lateral force.