Hamzah & Yeang: mixed-use tower, Kuwait City, Kuwait.

Ken Yeang brings his bioclimatic skyscraper concept to the Middle East, a region in some need of more sustainable models of development. The 40-storey tower on a prominent waterfront site in Kuwait City mixes commercial and retail spaces together with a business centre and conference rooms, nine hotel floors, a swimming pool and the obligatory helipad. The Baroquely twisting form, like a warped breadstick, is split into two served and serviced zones, punctuated at intervals by sky courts filled with vegetation and water to mitigate the hot, arid desert climate.

Yeang intends the tower to be a paradigm for passive environmental control, providing an alternative to the more conventional energy guzzling Middle East model of sealed and air-conditioned glass stumps. An atrium on the tower's north face provides evaporative cooling which tempers conditions in the sky courts, lobbies and viewing platforms. The layered facade cuts air-conditioning load and the narrow plan encourages daylight, reducing the need for artificial lighting. External louvres and grilles control solar gain and protect against sand storms. Though Yeang's repertoire is familiar, it will be interesting to see if his particular brand of eco-evangelism can adapt to and flourish in Kuwait's climate and culture. C. S.

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