Client: Foster + Partners
Amalgam realised three models of the Millennium Tower for the Foster Foundation, which were exhibited at various exhibitions around the globe. Sir Norman Foster originally designed the building in 1989 and one of Amalgam’s Senior Model Makers worked on the original models at Foster + Partners, constructing the outer structure out of thin strips of styrene, an incredibly time consuming process.
The outer structure of this model was made as a series of linking SLA components, a much faster and cost effective method. The outer structure had to align with specific floor plates at specific points.
Since the model was nearly two meters tall, the floor plates had to be meticulously checked as they were stacked, as even a fraction of a millimetres discrepancy would be multiplied up the length of the tower, pulling or pushing the floor plates out of alignment.
The Millennium Tower presented a timely solution to the social challenges of vast urban expansion and the mixed-use vertical city demonstrated that high-density living can lead to an improved quality of life. Located in a region notorious for hurricane-strength wind forces and earthquakes, the tower’s conical structure, with its helical steel cage, is inherently stable.
Foster + Partners
