The Kuwait Water Towers are a prominent group of 31 water towers in
Kuwait City
Kuwait City ( ar, مدينة الكويت) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate, ...
,
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...
that were completed in 1976.
Design and construction
In 1965, the government of
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Ku ...
commissioned the Swedish engineering company of VBB (since 1997
Sweco Sweco (originally "Swedish Consultants") is a European engineering consultancy company, active in the fields of consulting engineering, environmental technology and architecture. Sweco is Europe’s leading architecture and engineering consult ...
) to develop and implement a plan for a modern
water-supply system for Kuwait City. The company built five groups of water towers, 31 in total, designed by its chief architect
Sune Lindström, called "the mushroom towers". They were built by VBB out of standard
reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low ultimate tensile strength, tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion ...
. Each tower holds 3,000 cubic meters of water. The tower groups are distinguished by number, height, color and ornamentation and they serve as landmarks for their districts.
For a sixth site, the
Amir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
of Kuwait, Sheikh
Jaber Al-Ahmed, wanted a more spectacular design. This last group, known as
Kuwait Towers, consists of three towers, two of which also serve as water towers. Water from the
desalination
Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture. Salt ...
facility is pumped up to the tower.
These thirty-three towers have together a standard capacity of 102,000 cubic meters of water. "The Water Towers" (The Kuwait Tower and the Kuwait Water Towers) were awarded the
Aga Khan Award for Architecture
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) is an architectural prize established by Aga Khan IV in 1977. It aims to identify and reward architectural concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of Muslim societies in the field ...
(1980 Cycle).
[Aga Khan Award]
See also
*
Svampen
*
Mustankallio water tower, for an organic "
crocus
''Crocus'' (; plural: crocuses or croci) is a genus of seasonal flowering plants in the family Iridaceae (iris family) comprising about 100 species of perennials growing from corms. They are low growing plants, whose flower stems remain under ...
" like look by
Finnish designers and engineers
Notes
Sources
* Kultermann, Udo, 1999. ''Contemporary architecture in the Arab states: Renaissance of a region. ''New York; London:
McGraw-Hill
McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes refere ...
.
* Kultermann, Udo, 1981. Kuwait Tower. Malene Bjorn's work in Kuwait. ''MIMAR: Architecture in Development'', 1981:2. p 40-41. Hasan-Uddin Khan, ed. Singapore: Concept Media Ltd. ISSN 0129-837
* Water Towers, 1983. In: Renata Holod, editor; Darl Rasdorfer, associate editor. 1983. ''Architecture and Community: building in the Islamic world today: the Aga Khan Award for Architecture''. p.173-181. Millerton: Aperture; Oxford: Phaidon.
* ''Arkitekturmuseets tidning.'' (Sweden) 2008. nr.9. p.48-49
Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Retrieved 5 August 2012
External links
Architecture of Kuwait*
Water Towers Drawings, courtesy of architect, (submitted to the Aga Khan Award for Architecture), 1980PDF
{{Kuwait City
1976 establishments in Kuwait
Towers completed in 1976
Buildings and structures in Kuwait City
Water towers in Kuwait
Tourist attractions in Kuwait