The test tower, which received the 2018 Balthasar Neumann Prize as an exemplary example of collaboration between representatives of different specialties on architectural and engineering projects, was built near the city of Rottweil in Baden-Württemberg. The ThyssenKrupp plant is located 75 kilometers away, in Neuhausen, but it is impossible to build a tower there: it would interfere with the work of the Stuttgart airport.
In Rottweil, the tower does not violate the appearance of the historic city center, as it is located one and a half kilometers from it, but it attracts an additional flow of tourists there: along with the technical function, it also has
the observation deck is the highest in Germany, 232 m (the second highest, in the Berlin TV tower, reaches a height of 203 m). Therefore, neither the burgomaster nor the residents objected to the new construction. In good weather, the site offers views up to 200 km into the distance - the Alps and the Black Forest; underneath is the country's tallest meeting room for rent.
The reinforced concrete building with a diameter of 21 m contains 12 shafts, including those intended for a fireman and a glazed panoramic elevator, where they can be tested at speeds up to 18 m / s. Here they tested "magnetic" cableless lifts of the Multi system, capable of moving not only vertically, but also horizontally.
The strong wind load is 40% compensated by the outer shell, woven of fiberglass and coated with ETFE polymer. Lagging 1.8 m behind the concrete walls, it also protects the building from the heat of the sun. In addition, its spiral shape imparts dynamics to the laconic concrete cylinder of the tower itself, transforming it from a utilitarian object into a work of architecture. As the height increases, the fabric becomes less dense, which allows the tower to change its appearance depending on the weather and time of day.
The main mechanism for dealing with wind load is a vibration-absorbing pendulum installed at a height of 200 m; a load of concrete slabs is suspended on 9-meter cables. But this mechanism not only compensates for the vibrations of the tower under the influence of the wind: it has motors that allow, when tested, taking into account the wind load or the possibility of an earthquake, to swing the tower with an amplitude of 20 cm (the tower itself can deviate from the vertical by 75 cm in strong winds).
Rooms requiring heating receive all the necessary heat from a storage device that collects it from operating equipment. In certain modes, elevators turn into generators of electricity and, as a result, provide the tower with 30% of the energy.
