Last May, the city of Melbourne has approved a 741-foot tower that features a curvy façade based on Beyoncé’s music video Ghost, where models (possibly the songstress herself) are enveloped in what appears to be skin-tight chiffon, stretching and swaying as a wind machine blows.
But according to the building’s designer, architects at Australian firm Elenberg Fraser, the shape isn’t merely an ode to one of today’s most prominent pop icons alive. In fact, lead architect Reid Dixon told Gizmag it was purely coincidental.
"The building volume was created by those natural outcomes," Dixon told Gizmag. "We were in a meeting and trying to describe the appearance of the design to somebody, but we didn't have any images. So one of our directors said it looks like the music clip to Beyoncé's Ghost."
"This project is the culmination of our significant research," the firm told Dezeen. "The complex form—a vertical cantilever—is actually the most effective way to redistribute the building's mass, giving the best results in terms of structural dispersion, frequency oscillation and wind requirements."
According to Gizmag, the similarity between the form and Beyoncé's music video was noticed in the early stages, when only the exterior design was completed. So the team went on with the idea, even designing the interiors in "a nice warm palette, inspired by Beyoncé's skin tones and theatre performances," Dixon tells Gizmag.
Computer aid using parametric modeling helped the architects come up with the design specifics, such as where the building swells in and swells out.
The building will have 68 stories, containing 660 apartments and a 160-room hotel. The building will be located at the west end of Melbourne’s business district. There is no construction start or completion date announced yet.
Beyoncé wouldn’t be the first pop icon to inspire architects. Dancing duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were credited for being Frank Gehry’s inspiration in design of the Nationale-Nederlanden building in Prague.
Related Stories
Projects | Mar 2, 2022
Manufacturing plant gets second life as a mixed-use development
Wire Park, a mixed-use development being built near Athens, Ga., will feature 130 residential units plus 225,000 square feet of commercial, office, and retail space. About an hour east of downtown Atlanta, the 66-acre development also will boast expansive public greenspace.
Multifamily Housing | Feb 25, 2022
First set of multifamily properties achieve BREEAM certification in the U.S.
WashREIT says it has achieved certification on eight multifamily assets under BREEAM’s In-Use certification standard.
Multifamily Housing | Feb 24, 2022
First new, mixed-use high-rise in Detroit’s central business district in nearly 30 years opens
City Club Apartments completed two multifamily projects in 2021 in downtown Detroit including the first new, mixed-use high-rise in Detroit’s central business district in nearly 30 years.
Codes and Standards | Feb 21, 2022
More bad news on sea level rise for U.S. coastal areas
A new government report predicts sea levels in the U.S. of 10 to 12 inches higher by 2050, with some major cities on the East and Gulf coasts experiencing damaging floods even on sunny days.
Urban Planning | Feb 14, 2022
5 steps to remake suburbs into green communities where people want to live, work, and play
Stantec's John Bachmann offers proven tactic for retrofitting communities for success in the post-COVID era.
Senior Living Design | Feb 11, 2022
Design for senior living: A chat with Rocky Berg, AIA
Rob Cassidy, Editor of MULTIFAMILY Design + Construction, chats with Rocky Berg, AIA, Principal with Dallas architecture firm three, about how to design senior living communities to meet the needs of the owner, seniors, their families, and staff.
Multifamily Housing | Feb 8, 2022
Suffolk to build Alba Palm Beach
The project will feature 55 residences.
| Feb 4, 2022
New apartment complex Dixon Place honors the history of Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City’s Sugar House neighborhood has been experiencing somewhat of a renaissance as of late, and the opening of new apartment community Dixon Place continues that trend. MVE + Partners took leadership in the design of the 59-unit, Class A development.
Sponsored | Steel Buildings | Jan 25, 2022
Multifamily + Hospitality: Benefits of building in long-span composite floor systems
Long-span composite floor systems provide unique advantages in the construction of multi-family and hospitality facilities. This introductory course explains what composite deck is, how it works, what typical composite deck profiles look like and provides guidelines for using composite floor systems. This is a nano unit course.
Multifamily Housing | Jan 20, 2022
Texas’ first cohousing residential community breaks ground in East End Houston
The design will include sustainability elements.
