Jeffrey Murillo Jeff Bain-Conkin Writing and Rhetoric 10/17/13 Rhetorical Analysis: The Turning Torso In the year

2000, the impression that one could get from visiting Malmo, a highly industrialized city found along the Swedish side of the Oresund Strait, would likely have been nothing special. Since then, however, one thing has changed. What used to be a relatively flat and virtually inexistent skyline, now has one single defining feature, The Turning Torso. Inaugurated in 2005, Santiago Calatravas twisting tower is the new reason for any architecture aficionado to visit the not so visually appealing city of Malmo, Sweden. The building is one of very few residential structures in the world to twist a complete 90 degrees from its 1st to its 54th floor. In analyzing the artistic and technical decisions made by Calatrava and possibly other leaders of the towers 5 year construction project, it is important to keep in mind the vision they had for the building itself. The construction of the Turning Torso achieved one main goal: to create a structurally sound high rise that realizes the overall concept, which is essentially to capture the aesthetic quality of a human beings torso when twisting sideways. As the man in charge of designing of the Turning Torso, Santiago Calatrava had to primarily assure that the structure would be sound and safe for its residence. This was taken into account in Calatravas design of the building. The first feature of the design that achieves this purpose is the most important part of the buildings stability, the load-bearing structural core. Down the center of the high rise runs a large open concrete cylinder with walls that are several feet thick at the bottom, which gradually lose width toward the top. Without the core, the entire building would likely sway far more

dangerously than it would without it. Working to effectively stabilize the core is its limestone bedrock foundation. The foundation is deep enough and strong enough to keep the 190 meters of concrete cylinder from swaying or bending. The steel support found along the back side of the building is another feature that is vital to the structural integrity of the tower. This support is really a decently elaborate system of individual horizontal and diagonal stabilizer beams that are attached to a central support that curves with the buildings edges. This support acts as the back bone of the building by primarily securing and aligning the 9 sections of the building and secondarily absorbing the extreme forces exerted by the winds that sweep over Malmo. The steel used along with the design of the frame was created in such a way that the force of the winds is transferred from the structures exterior to the central core, which has little struggle absorbing the energy. To secure the individual floors, however, the main things at work are the pile founded concrete columns connecting the corners of each story. One might say that they do the micro-work, while the foundation, core, and steel support do the macrowork. Regardless, by deciding to include these four structural elements, Calatrava definitely ensured that the building as a whole would be able to endure the winds of Malmo as well as maintain its integrity for years to come. The main concept of the Turning Torso is self-explanatory, however when it came to realizing this idea, Calatrava had to make several important decisions regarding the buildings aesthetic purpose. Of them, his decision to divide the building into 9 pentagonal prisms that each contain 5 floors of the same shape has the most functional significance. The sections ease the tension of the building by allowing for a gap every 5 floors to keep the rotation of the floors from become too structurally dependent on one another. Visually, the combination of the gradually rotated floors and the gaps every 5 floors also begins to imply the aesthetic essence of a human body. Although the human anatomy is one continuous mass, it works in sections; a characteristic that applies especially to an anatomical middle section and torso in which the muscles are defined enough to seem separated from one another.

Calatrava manages to even further enhance the torso look by adding the steel support frame. Although it seems like the sole purpose of the support was to secure the towers structural soundness, it might also be true that it helps achieve the secondary goal of resembling a human body. As was mentioned before, the frame is the back bone of the building. This is true literally, as well as figuratively. The relatively straight forward system of steel support beams effectively resembles the human spine in more than one way. First, the diagonal and horizontal stabilizer apparatus attached to the main support look eerily similar to the beginnings of a rib cage. Second, the curvature of the main support is natural enough to resemble that of a spine when the torso is in fact turned. Together they add an even greater human feel to the high rise. Another aspect of the building that seems to serve a dual purpose is the faade. The fact that it is mostly aluminum and glass allows it to be flexible enough to withstand the rotation of the floors as well as withstand the harsher winds at high altitudes. Aesthetically however, the double curved glass framed by curved aluminum that lines the entire exterior creates an even stronger twisting effect. The combination of the two materials creates a sleekness and fluidity, which make the movement of the building seem more organic and human. Additionally, the reflective surface of the faade plays with sun light in a way that highlights its distortion and the overall twisting of the tower. An additional force working to enhance the twisting effect is the skyline itself. Although it was not technically part of the design, Im sure Calatrava took into consideration how the human eye would react to seeing such an oddly shaped and scaled building in the midst of the traditional buildings that surround it. It would not only create a stark contrast, but also have an influence on the orientation of the tower. The front face of the Turning Torso runs parallel with the lines of the front faces of the two structures next to it. This could simply have resulted from the need to have it run parallel to the street, as is the case for most buildings. However, it does seem to achieve an alternative goal. The fact that the bottom sections face is parallel with neighboring buildings of the same height, sets a visual marker

for the beginning of the rotation. The fact that the top sections right face is now parallel with the same plane consequently indicates, intuitively, that the building did in fact rotate a full 90 degrees. In order to bring to life a structurally sound high rise that resembles the twisting torso of a human anatomy, Santiago Calatrava had to make several effective decisions. He made sure to include some elements that would solely achieve stability and some that would realize the concept, as well as introduce features that would work quite commendably toward both the functional and the aesthetic goals, namely the pentagonal sections, gradually rotated floors, and the steel back bone. It is easy to see now that Calatravas decisions were in the end successful at delivering to the passerby an impression of the ultimate idea that is the Turning Torso. Since its inauguration, few architects have been able to work with this idea successfully. The ones that have, like the designers of the Cayan Tower in Dubai, have managed to achieve some of the most notable works of contemporary architecture since.