The building is located in the heart of Colombo, in an area the Urban Development Authority plans to convert into a pedestrian-only promenade to facilitate the high-street retail component being constructed at street level. The building's podium will consist of a retail podium for 2 levels of high street shopping and public plaza in front. The public plaza will be created by diverting traffic via a new access road or ring road; that would be waterfront plaza for the city. This fully-pedestrianised plaza will allow the annual Navam Perehera to pass through and will be fronted by both high street shopping as well as public kiosks etc. Due to its location, the building will enjoy 270 degree unobstructed views of Beira Lake and the Indian Ocean and panoramic views to hills beyond.
Features
Altair will consist of 406 luxury apartments ranging from to over.
Design and construction
The building is designed by Moshe Safdie of Safdie Architects, Boston, in association with Design Team 3 Singapore and Thailand as detailing and submitting architects, Derby Design Dubai as structural engineers and CKR Dubai as M & E engineers. Altair comprises two structures, one a 240-meter vertical tower and a 209-meter leaning tower. The leaning tower is inclined from level 5 to level 39 and goes vertical up to roof level at a height of 209 meters. The leaning or stepping tower has an angle of 13.8 degrees from the vertical and leans towards the vertical tower. The two towers are connected by steel outriggers at four points at levels 39 and 41. Each tower is supported by external walls and internal core walls forming a three dimensional structured frame. The leaning tower has been designed using a distinctive diagrid structure with flat slabs which not only adds structural stability to the building without the need for internal columns but also allows for a permeable surface with large windows. This allows maximum airflow and light which contributes to energy savings in heating and cooling and also provides access to the balcony. The towers will be constructed on reinforced concrete piles and a raft footing with a reinforced concrete and/or steel superstructure. Even though Colombo rarely experiences significant earthquakes, Altair has been designed to withstand earthquakes up to 7 on the Richter Scale. The developers have also commissioned wind tunnel tests in Canada where intense studies were undertaken with 103 individual wind speed sensors were placed on a 2m model of Altair with all relevant surrounding buildings and topography within a 480m radius. Completion of the structural work was marked by “topping out” in December 2017. Interior work is currently underway and Altair is schedule to be completed in 2019.
