Built on a man-made headland constructed out into Kuwait Bay, the Kuwait Towers have become an iconic international symbol for Kuwait throughout the last thirty years.
Built between 1975 and 1979, they have been praised as amongst the most distinct architectural expressions in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world, the Kuwait Towers are a cultural icon and have been adopted as a visual symbol of Kuwait around the world.
Designed by Sune Lindstrom and Malene Bjorn, the three towers are constructed from reinforced concrete.
While there are three spheres and three towers, not all of them are for storage. The first tower is 147 meters tall and supports a water-holding sphere.
The second tower is 187 meters tall and comprises two spheres. The uppermost is a revolving observation deck with cafeteria and the lower sphere is home to restaurants and private meeting rooms. The lower part of this sphere contains a water reservoir. It also carries a restaurant and a cafeteria.
The spheres are covered by more than fifty five thousand ceramic discs.
The third tower, which reaches a height of 113 meters, has no spheres at all but controls the power for the first two towers and provides dramatic illumination to its two bigger brothers.
Together the towers hold 4,500 cubic meters of water which then flows into the homes and businesses of Kuwait city. Their design is regarded as being outstanding, combining the best of contemporary and traditional, as well as western and Arabic.
First published in Men's Passion issue #27 December-January 2010-11
