Imperial Center
| Imperial Center | |
|---|---|
 Imperial Center Towers and Hotel, 2016 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Office, observation, communication |
| Architectural style | International |
| Location | Monitava, Caliszava, Kathia |
| Address | 1103 S ce Vera |
| Elevation | 70 m (230 ft) |
| Groundbreaking | 1966 |
| Completed |
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| Owner | Bay Area Port Authority |
| Height | |
| Architectural | 1,450 ft (442 m) |
| Tip | 1,729 ft (527 m) |
| Antenna spire | 384 m (1,260 ft) |
| Roof |
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| Top floor |
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| Technical details | |
| Floor count |
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| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Louin Beyas |
| Architecture firm | Bourdal, Orvas, and Sourdon |
| Main contractor | Venthalas & Associates |
| Website | |
| http://www.ic.kt | |
The Imperial Center is a complex of towers located in downtown Monitava, Caliszava in South East Kathia. Construction began in 1966 and would continue until 1987 with the construction of 7 IC. The two towers were the tallest structures in the world until (x year), and currently remain the tallest in Kathia. The complex was built at a cost of around Ↄ400 millin (Ↄ2.2 billion in 2015). The it contains 7 office towers, a theater, a mall, and is connected to the Monitava Metro with its own station. The site has been renovated several times, first between 1997-1998, and the lobbies of both towers are currently undergoing renovations which are expected to be completed by May 2020.
Conceived as an urban renewal project in the 1950s and 1960s, the Imperial Center signaled an end to the Rebuilding of Monitava following the city's destruction in the Second World War and has become a symbol of the city itself and Kathia as a whole, being featured in movies, commercials, and travel guides.
Site
The site of the Imperial Center was formerly occupied by several pre-war residential buildings. They were, however, destroyed during the Battle of Monitava in 1940. The site stood vacant and was owned by the city by 1952, which originally planned to turn it into a park. Ownership soon turned over to the Bay Area Port Authority, who under the the leadership of Auron Kouros planned to build a large office complex to fill what he though would be a large demand in the near future for large amounts of office space in the quickly growing city. A block of Public Housing had been built in 1950, but the city moved the residents and demolished the structures despite opposition from residents. During the excavation of the site, several artifacts were discovered, such as the remains of a ship from when the course of the Aural River ran through the site. Several artifacts are now on display in the Observation Deck at the Imperial Center in Tower 2.
Construction
Excavation of the site was completed in 1968, and construction began soon after. The Metro ran beneath the site, although the station that was there had been closed since 1940, and was rebuilt and opened in 1969, two years before the towers were completed. Construction of the first tower began in 1969, and utilized prefabricated sections to speed up construction.
Complex
The Imperial Center is the single largest non-government office complex in Kathia, as about 50,000 employees work in the offices and around 150,000 pass through as visitors on a typical week. There is 1.2 million m² of usable office space available in the complex
Towers
Other Buildings
Building 7 was constructed in 1986, originally built for the Lourdas Investments, but that company collapsed the same year. Air Kathia took over much of the space in the building in 1987, as well as several floors in Tower Two.