The Alphabetic Tower ( ka, ანბანის კოშკი, tr) is a 130-meter-high structure in

Batumi Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ) is the second largest city of Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast of the Black Sea in Georgia's southwest. It is situated in a subtropical zone at the foot of th ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The tower symbolizes the uniqueness of the

Georgian alphabet The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are written hor ...

and people. The structure combines the design of DNA, in its familiar double helix pattern. Two helix bands rise up the tower holding 33 letters of the Georgian alphabet, each 4 meters tall and made of

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

. In the middle of the building is an exposed

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

shaft leading to the very top of the building, in the crown of the structure, where a colossal silver ball is located.

Development

The Alphabetic Tower was built by

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

company CMD Domingo y Lázaro Ingenieros ( Alberto Domingo Cabo and Carlos Lázaro). Construction began on 10 October 2010 with the exterior of the structure completed in December 2011. The building cost $65 million to build.

Structure

The tower is composed of eleven modules of cantilever trusses of steel tubes which make up two bodies, the interior containing the communication core panoramic elevators and stairs, the exterior which supports the whole structure and defines the skin with the big characters. Each of the 10.8 m. cores is bonded by diaphragms in a star pattern. At the top stands a glass sphere made of triangle elements fixed over steel profiles and sealed. The

sphere A sphere () is a Geometry, geometrical object that is a solid geometry, three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...

consists of a hollow circular section structure. This light space hosts several rooms, distributed on different floors within the sphere. The first floor is called the transfer floor. It can be reached by the two main panoramic lifts. From the transfer floor you may reach other lifts which serve the other floors. The second floor hosts a TV studio, next to the kitchen and the

restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services. Restaurants vary greatly in appearan ...

which is on the third floor, designed like a revolving ring. This ring, which goes around 360 degrees in an hour, offers visitors a panoramic view of the city and the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

while they are enjoying their meal. The fourth floor has been conceived as an observatory deck, to enjoy the unique views from the Alphabetic Tower. This floor leads to the fifth one, which is designed to allow visitors see how the

tuned mass damper A tuned mass damper (TMD), also known as a harmonic absorber or seismic damper, is a device mounted in structures to reduce mechanical vibrations, consisting of a mass mounted on one or more damped springs. Its oscillation frequency is tuned ...

works. The tuned mass damper is a fifty-ton device mounted in structures to reduce the amplitude of mechanical vibrations.

Current condition

Since the building was constructed it has virtually remained forsaken. As of 2014, it was known that the elevator was out of order and hundreds of dead birds could be found on the floors, though the building itself was still electrified and looked comparably new. In May 2015 Batumi City Hall decided to lease the 130m-tall Alphabet Tower to an unnamed Spanish company for the next 20 years. Batumi City Hall used to spend 700,000 GEL per year on the tower's maintenance. As of 2017, the restaurant is open for visitors.

External links

Documentary by CMD Ingenieros

References

{{coord, 41.65594, 41.63944, type:landmark_region:GE, format=dms, display=title Georgian Black Sea coast Buildings and structures in Batumi Georgian scripts Towers in Georgia (country) Skyscrapers in Georgia (country) Towers completed in 2011 Novelty buildings in Georgia (country)