Jakarta’s first supertall tower tops out

The Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates-designed Autograph Tower, the first supertall tower in Jakarta, has recently topped out. The 1,256-foot tower will anchor the Thamrin Nine mixed-use development.

Autograph Tower will be connected to neighboring Luminary Tower, also designed by KPF, via a mixed-use podium. The integrated buildings will include a number of programs and create an active hub for the development. 

At the street level, the podium of Autograph Tower is expressed as a volume punctured by apertures, which define a pedestrian scale as the tower meets the ground. The voids also offer shaded semi-outdoor spaces which extend public uses such as restaurants. The tower is expressed as pinwheeling glass panes to break down its solidity and differentiate the facade through carefully positioned reveals.

Both Autograph and Luminary Tower will be layered like vertical cities offering a range of public and private functions such office, hotel, retail, cultural, hospitality, academic, athletic, and public space. Four illuminated observation decks cantilever off the glass structures while the tower crowns feature public observation decks with restaurants, semi-private spaces for the hotel, and residential spaces on the upper floors. 

Autograph Tower's outdoor decks are located at level 58 on top of an observation box, as well as on the terraces two floors below. A “skywalk” projects beneath the box setting up an open-air promenade that allows people to be tethered to the building and view the city from a platform that cantilevers 820 feet above the ground. Autograph Tower will also include an oxccupieable spire with additional observation space. Luminary Tower’s observation platforms are located within the clear glass box of the crown on levels 56 and 57.

The illuminated columns of the public observation decks and exhibition spaces will become the towers’ signature architectural features. Autograph Tower’s observation box looks toward Jakarta’s Central Business District and provides a skyline marker at the gateway to the city’s central Thamrin district. The volume atop Luminary Tower points to the nearby Bundaran Hi, Jakarta’s primary public space.

Autograph Tower’s footprint is recaptured as green space within the building and the new plaza fronting the lobby. Vertical green walls animate recessed balconies at the base of the tower and the west facade of the podium fronting the residential component. Green walls are also included at the tower rooftop where a public promenade and the hotel pool are located.

In addition to being the first supertall tower in Jakarta, Autograph Tower will also become the Southern Hemisphere’s tallest tower.