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
Multifamily Housing | Dec 29, 2020
Sarah’s Circle supportive housing facility for women completes in Chicago
Perkins+Will designed the project.
Market Data | Dec 29, 2020
Multifamily transactions drop sharply in 2020, according to special report from Yardi Matrix
Sales completions at end of Q3 were down over 41 percent from the same period a year ago.
Multifamily Housing | Dec 16, 2020
What the Biden Administration means for multifamily construction
What can the multifamily real estate sector expect from Biden and Company? At the risk of having egg, if not a whole omelet, on my face, let me take a shot.
Giants 400 | Dec 16, 2020
Download a PDF of all 2020 Giants 400 Rankings
This 70-page PDF features AEC firm rankings across 51 building sectors, disciplines, and specialty services.
Multifamily Housing | Dec 4, 2020
The Weekly show: Designing multifamily housing for COVID-19, and trends in historic preservation and adaptive reuse
This week on The Weekly show, BD+C editors spoke with leaders from Page & Turnbull and Grimm + Parker Architects about designing multifamily housing for COVID-19, and trends in historic preservation and adaptive reuse
Giants 400 | Dec 2, 2020
2020 Multifamily Sector Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. multifamily building sector
Clark Group, Humphreys & Partners Architects, and Kimley-Horn head BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest multifamily building sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2020 Giants 400 Report.
Smart Buildings | Nov 20, 2020
The Weekly show: SPIRE smart building rating system, and pickleball court design tips
The November 19 episode of BD+C's The Weekly is available for viewing on demand.
AEC Tech | Nov 12, 2020
The Weekly show: Nvidia's Omniverse, AI for construction scheduling, COVID-19 signage
BD+C editors speak with experts from ALICE Technologies, Build Group, Hastings Architecture, Nvidia, and Woods Bagot on the November 12 episode of "The Weekly." The episode is available for viewing on demand.
Multifamily Housing | Nov 11, 2020
San Jose affordable housing project will feature a mass timber frame
SERA Architects and Lendlease will design and build the project.