Italian architect pushes for Miami rotating tower

Italian architect David Fisher, creator of the Dynamic Tower skyscraper now under construction in Dubai, visited Miami’s Mandarin Oriental hotel last week to discuss his idea of building a similar rotating tower in the Magic City.

While financing may be an issue in the current market, Fisher hopes a developer will follow his vision for the Dubai Dynamic Tower and make a rotating building part of the Miami skyline.

Each floor of Fisher’s Dynamic Tower rotates continually and independently to create a building that constantly changes shape. The idea behind the Dubai tower came from a visit to Miami.

“I got the idea for the Dynamic Tower while I was in Miami,” said Fisher, who lives in Florence, Italy. “I was on the top floor of a condo tower on the ocean and I asked for a price. The developer told me it was $3 million. I asked how much the one next to it cost. He said $1.8 million. I asked, ‘What’s the difference?'”

The difference was the ocean view.

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Fisher traveled from Miami to New York to visit a friend whose condo offered a stunning view of Manhattan. His friend bragged that she was the only one in the building with such a magnificent view.

Fisher set out to change that with architecture that calls for each floor of the building to spin, offering every condo owner essentially the same view, albeit at different heights.

The 80-story, shape-shifting skyscraper will be part of the Dubai cityscape by the end of 2010. Fisher recently unveiled plans to build a second Dynamic Tower in Moscow and wants to put additional towers in New York, Milan, Paris and Miami. Canada and South Korea have also expressed interest.

The Dynamic Tower is designed and equipped to generate its own electricity, as well as electricity for other nearby buildings, using wind turbines fitted between each rotating floor. An 80-story building would feature up to 79 wind turbines, making it a true green power plant, Fisher noted.

“The idea for the Dynamic Tower was born in Miami, and this is one of the most beautiful places in the world with beautiful views,” Fisher said. “With so much talk in Florida about the green movement, it also makes sense from an environmental aspect.”