Highcliff, Residential skyscraper in Wan Chai District, Hong Kong
Highcliff is a 75-storey residential tower on a south slope above Happy Valley, Hong Kong Island, designed by DLN Architects & Engineers. Its two joined cylindrical shafts form a narrow central channel, clad in blue-green glass with two bronze-toned horizontal bands. The building has 70 liveable floors and a slenderness ratio of 1:20.
Highcliff was built from 2000 to 2003 to designs by DLN Architects & Engineers, replacing two much shorter blocks on the same site at 41D Stubbs Road. It won the Silver prize at the 2003 Emporis Skyscraper Award, behind 30 St Mary Axe in London. A passive wind damper at the top was the first fitted to a residential tower.
Local residents call this tower and its neighbor The Summit "The Chopsticks" because of how thin and tall both buildings appear in the skyline. The nickname shows how these two structures stand out in people's everyday view of the city.
Highcliff is a private residential building at 41D Stubbs Road, Mid-Levels East, and its flats and facilities are not open to the public; the tower is seen from the street and from the slopes around Happy Valley. Its narrow profile and glass curtain wall are best viewed from a distance, where the two bronze-toned bands and the channel between the twin shafts stand out against the hillside.
The building has a slenderness ratio of about 1:20, making it one of the thinnest tall buildings in the world. This extreme thinness required innovative engineering solutions for wind control and structural support.
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