to an already awesome design (you see where we’re going with this?)
(an project update as of 07 Oct, 08!)
Yeah… I’m man enough to admit it…
HOLY CRAP WERE WE WRONG!
Remember our post detailing a brand spaking new tower to be built alongside Mumbai’s tallest tower proposal, India Tower, and how we went on about how cool that was?
^ Yeah, OK, I get it. Jeez.
Well, whoops, here’s the real scoop, also cool but also somewhat disappointing. wait for it… wait for it…
Yup! One of India and the World’s greenest towers has changed in name and design! Rotating-Blocky India tower is officially redesigned and rebadged as DB Tower, the flagship project of DB Realty. In our defense, until fairly recently the all information that had been made public has been confused and contradictory.
^ DB Tower = new India Tower = new hotness.
Image courtesy MQA Architects.
The finalized design will be huge — at 75 stories of residential and untold more in lobbies, sky lobbies and utility floors, and boasting a height and crown that will push this supertall to over 400 meters! Like its India Tower precursor, it will be of mixed (residential + hotel) use. Construction will soon commence with an aim for completion by 2011.
Indeed the DB Tower, like the erstwhile India tower, is still going to be LEED Platinum certified, and is designed by the same architects, Fox and Fowle (FXFOWLE).
For more information, including articles, floor plans and site pics, read on!…
The project seems to have run into the same kind of legal squabbles that every building in Mumbai seems to have to go thru, but the builders seem pretty confident about its success, advertising it heavily in magazines, rebranding their corporate image around the tower, and even taking site pics from a balloon.
^ A floor plan showing the tower’s unique shape that the multifaced surface makes even more complicated. Pic courtesy DB Reality
The project seems to have run into the same kind of legal squabbles that every building in Mumbai seems to have to go thru, but the builders seem pretty confident about its success, advertising it heavily in magazines, rebranding their corporate image around the tower.
An article from DNA Mumbai explains some of the legal wrangling..
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Rajshri Mehta
Thursday, May 22, 2008 02:52 IST
You thought 60-storey is the highest one can go up in the city? You were wrong. A 75-storey world-class hotel-cum-residential tower is coming up in Charni RoadThe battle of builders is reaching for the sky. Determined to ‘tower’ over Shapoorji Pallonji-Dilip Thakkar, developers of India’s first skyscraper – a 60-storey twin tower in Tardeo, Neelkamal Realtors, a subsidiary of the low-profile Dynamix Balwa Group, is coming up with a 75-storey world-class hotel-cum-residential tower in Charni Road.
Located a stone’s throw away from Charni Road station and SK Patil Udyan on Maharshi Karve Road, the 75-storey building, scheduled to be completed in 2011, will cost Rs1,100-crore, and will be managed by Park Hyatt.
With a built-up space of 9 lakh sq ft, the tower, coming up on the plot where Ruby Garage once stood, will offer a panoramic view of the Arabian Sea. Vinod Goenka, chairman of DB Group, said, “Construction will be in full swing after the rains. We are awaiting the state government’s decision as to how much floor space index (FSI) we can consume, since the plot falls in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ).”
As per ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) rules on CRZ, a developer under the 1991 development control rules (DCR )can get an FSI of only 1.33. But Goenka is not a worried man. He has started work, using the sanctioned FSI of 1, but is certain of getting a much higher FSI.
He is confident because the Supreme Court, in December 2007, directed the state to consider Goenka’s request for an FSI upto 6.29. The apex court passed the order on a petition filed by Goenka seeking higher FSI, based on the 1967 DCR instead of the prevailing 1991 DCR.
Goenka said, “Hotels like Oberoi, President in south Mumbai have consumed higher FSI of over 5 under the 1967 DCR. We asked for a similar benefit. The civic body wanted to apply the 1991 DCR, but the apex court held it was not applicable to our project for two reasons. Firstly, the 1991 DCR does not specify the FSI a hotel can consume. Secondly, the CRZ notification freezing FSI came after the 1991 DCR.”
However, the urban development (UD) department, headed by chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, is yet to take a decision on the issue. The delay is not without reason. Other star hotels in the city too have begun petitioning the government for similar development rights to raise the height of their buildings.
Those include Sea Rock Hotel in Bandra, Sahara Star at Vile Parle and another five star hotel in south Mumbai.
Senior UD officials are in ardent consultation to find a way to tackle the situation, otherwise there is the danger of DB Group filing a contempt of court petition against the government for not complying with the apex court order.
“If we allow (higher FSI) one and deny the others, the government will be accused of being partial and corrupt,” said an UD official.
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When news of India Tower/DB Tower initially broke, this tower was sure thing the tallest project in Mumbai. Now, however, a number of equally tall and taller supertalls are being proposed, a trend that will only accelerate.
However, DB Tower’s beautiful design and amazing location will make it one of Mumbai’s and mordern India’s most visible landmarks. Due to DB Reality’s media savvy advertising machine, I’m sure that when construction or booking starts, an avalanche of information, renderings and movies about this project will surface.
Awesome
-FV
Beautiful architecture……
it’s gonna be the next “Pride of Mumbai”?
But take a look at the design? where did they get it from?
Because, it look like there’s more floor space or bulginess at the top when compared to the bottom-how is this possible if the building is to be built on the high-winds and loose Mumbai soil, i mean its loose when you compare to the soils of Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad, right?
Especially, the design looks quite alike “cost of maintainence is greater than cost of construction” in such a bustling city.
Do not compare it to other buildings in Mumbai, this case is very different.
Hi
I don’t think there is cause to worry about Mumbai’s loose soil and high wind loads.
World-over, high-rises such as this DB tower have been built on worser footings. If a renowed architect like Fox & Fowle has designed this, they surely have accounted for these conditions along with a host of other tough design parameters pertaining to Mumbai.
Lastly, we need structures like these in cities like Mumbai. This is one city that sustains half of India and deserves benefits like these.
Indiaskyscraper blog team – good job. I regularly pick projects information from your blog, am very impressed with your work.
Good luck.
Prasad
we r the students of govt. polytechnic mumbai
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it’s really nice to see world class supertall towers coming to india afterall. i wish we will have one of the best skyline in the world in the next 3-4 decades. more and more taller skyscrapers should be built anong the marine line. and hope one day our dream will be fulfilled.
I saw your link at http://www.urbika.com . Any recent news on this project?