Wasl Tower

CTBUH dates the proposal for Wasl Tower to 2014 and the start of construction to 2016. When Dezeen reported the design in October 2017, completion was due in 2020. The National reported in November 2022 that work, begun in 2016, had stalled during the Covid-19 pandemic; by then the structure was complete up to the 56th floor and the façade had reached the 13th level. The developer at that point expected completion by the second quarter of 2024.

UNStudio designed the tower in collaboration with the German engineering firm Werner Sobek. According to Dezeen, the twisted, asymmetric shape draws on contrapposto, a pose from classical sculpture, and the façade is made of glazed ceramic tiles shaped as fins and angled to shade the interior while admitting daylight. An open seam running up the tower was planned as a vertical strip of balconies and greenery, and Arup developed the lighting set behind the fins.

CTBUH lists U+A as architect of record, Werner Sobek as design structural and MEP engineer, DeSimone Consulting Engineering as structural engineer of record, and a concrete-steel composite structure. The developer has described the façade as the region's tallest ceramic façade, and UNStudio calls it one of the world's tallest of its kind.