Bahrain Spins To Worlds First

Bahrain is set to get a world's first, an attempt to show the environmental credentials of the oil-rich island state, in the form of wind turbines erected between two towers at the World Trade Centre in the Bahraini capital of Manama.

The twin tower scheme will rise 240 metres above the waterfront in the form of two curving blades of blue diamond shaped glass and white cladding contrasts that will have the space between them bridged by three huge wind turbines. They were originally slated to have been completed in June 2006 but delays to the project have seen the finishing date pushed back to 2007.

The mixed use project will consist of two office towers (a huge amount of space for a city of 140,000 people) sitting over a podium that will accommodate a brand new shopping mall of 150 retail outlets called Moda Mall that will overlook a garden court. There will also be a total of 1,700 parking spaces available once the development is complete.

The shape of towers, designed to look like sails, is to evoke Manama's historical past as a central trading port in the Persian Gulf whilst the deep turquoise glass and white cladding, as with many other buildings in the region goes well with the surrounding desert landscape and marine setting. Designed by WS Atkins it's a similar colour scheme to that employed in the hugely successful and arguably iconic, Burj Al Arab in Dubai.

Making the building unique is the wind turbines that will be capable of generating up to 15% of the total requirements of project depending on the wind strength from their 30 metre diametre. Although past skyscrapers such as St Georges Wharf in London have also had fitted turbines designed for them they are yet to be built making Bahrain the first to realise such an idea of literally turning a tall building into a power station.

Tall buildings in the Gulf are traditionally not the most environmentally sustainable of structures, something that is perhaps understandable for a region dripping in oil although less so given the abundance of sunlight they get, something that even this environmentally friendly building fails to harness.

Although the scheme may seem huge for such a relatively small place, Bahrain is ideally placed as a more liberal and safer alternative for western business to the nearby Saudi Arabia that is just on the other side of the King Fahd Causeway adding appeal to the project.

Just as the problems of conservative Saudi Arabia are indirectly Bahrain's gain, so the environmental credentials help cement the sheikdoms credentials at being a driver for modernity in the Gulf.