Foster + Partners completes the National Bank of Kuwait’s Fin-Wrapped Tower

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The sculptural 300 m tower makes a remarkable presence along Kuwait City’s skyline, driven by an intention to foster synergy and improve wellness. The building has a number of effective shading features in order to meet the extremes of Kuwait’s climate. The concrete fins that cover the entirety of the tower’s height not only support the structure but also serve as a shield against solar gain.

The shape of the building allows overhanging floor plates to shade the floors below and maximises floor space at the top levels, with tapering floors at lower levels and externally stretched floors at higher ones. The British architects appeared to have devised an effective environmental approach by fusing sustainable elements, structural innovation, and an energy-efficient passive shape in a single structure.

The tower’s distinctive shape gives a larger number of its residents panoramic vistas of the Arabian Gulf thanks to its curving northern façade and enlarged floor plates. Sky lobbies, a double-height café, a gym, a ballroom, an auditorium, a triple-height boardroom, and an 18 m high entry lobby are all features of the 63-story structure. The building’s common areas are intended to improve the working environment and broaden the employees’ social interests.

The chairman’s club, located at the top of the tower, has a remarkable skylight that forms an arc through the room and provides sweeping views of the city and the ocean. An inventive twin lift method reduces the diameters of the cores utilised for vertical circulation in order to improve the net useable floor plate area.