10 Amazing Modern Architectural Wonders


10. Capital Gate – Abu Dhabi, UAE

This leaning tour in the UAE puts the Tower of Pisa to shame. Capital Gate, a skyscraper in Abu Dhabi adjacent to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, is designed with a striking lean. At 160 m (520 ft) tall with 35 stories, it is one of the tallest buildings in the city and inclines 18° to the west. In June 2010, Guinness World Records certified Capital Gate as the “World’s Furthest Leaning Man-Made Tower.” The record shows that the Capital Gate has been built to lean more than four times that of the Leaning Tower of Suurhusen. How does the tower stand without toppling over? The gravitational pressure caused by the 18° incline is countered by a technique called pre-cambered core, which uses a core of concrete reinforced with steel that is deliberately built slightly off-center.