Colombo Lotus Tower

The Lotus Tower (Sinhala: නෙළුම් කුළුණ; Tamil: தாமரை கோபுரம்), also referred to as Colombo Lotus Tower, is a tower of 350 m (1,150 ft), located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. When completed, the tower will be tallest self-supported structure in South Asia. It will also be the second tallest structure in South Asia after the guy-wire-supported INS Kattabomman in India. It was first proposed to be built in the suburb of Peliyagoda but later the Government of Sri Lanka decided to shift the location. The lotus-shaped tower will be used for communication, observation and other leisure facilities, with construction costing $104.3 million, funded by EXIM Bank of People's Republic of China. It is visible throughout Colombo, its suburbs and most major highways radiating from and around the city.

Location

After an initial decision to construct the tower within the confines of a suburb of the country's economy capital city of Colombo, Sri Lanka's government announced their plans to shift the location to the heart of the city. The tower's new location is on the waterfront of the Beira Lake.

Construction

With the witness of the President of Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), the Secretary of the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry, the Presidents of CEIEC and ALIT signed the contract with the Director General of TRCSL, Anusha Palpita, for the project on 3 January 2012.

Construction began on 20 January 2012 following a foundation stone-laying ceremony. The site is located on the waterfront of Beira Lake and alongside a part of the D. R. Wijewardene Mawatha.

In December 2014, the tower's construction crossed the 125 m (410 ft) milestone and as of July 2015, the tower had reached 255 m (837 ft).

Designs & Functions

The design of this building is inspired by the Lotus flower. The lotus symbolizes purity within Sri Lankan culture, and is also said to symbolize the country's flourishing development. The tower base is inspired by the lotus throne and will also be formed by two inverted trapezoidal. The tower's color is planned to alternate between pink and light yellow by smooth transition- an effect achieved by coating the glass.

The tower will be 350 m (1,150 ft) tall and will have over 30,600 m² (329,000 sq ft) of floor area.

Lotus Tower's main revenue sources will be tourism and antenna leasing. It will function as a radio and television broadcasting antenna ISDB-T and proposed DVB-T2 support structure for 50 television services, 35 FM Radio Stations and 20 telecommunication service providers, and will house a variety of tourist attractions.

The tower will have four entrances, with two being used as VIP (distinguished guests and state leaders) entrances. A telecommunications museum and restaurant will be located on the ground floor. The tower podium will consist of 6 floors. The first floor of the podium will accommodate a museum and two exhibition halls. The second floor will be utilised for several conference halls with seating space in excess of 500 people. Restaurants, supermarkets and food courts will be situated in the third floor. A 1000-seat auditorium will be located on the fourth floor, which will also be used as a ballroom. The fifth floor will include luxury hotel rooms, large ballrooms, and the seventh floor will host an observation gallery. The landscaping is planned in the form of a large water park.

Transport Hub

The Colombo Monorail, which was a proposed monorail system in Colombo, and the BRT system were to converge at a common 'multi-modal hub' located in close proximity to the Lotus Tower, making the tower a major city centre. The Monorail was cancelled in 2016, and instead a light rail will be constructed in Colombo.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Lotus Tower" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.