Imperial Center
| Imperial Center | |
|---|---|
 Imperial Center Towers and Hotel, 2016 | |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Office, observation, communication |
| Architectural style | Structural Expressionism |
| Location | Monitava, Ivadia, Kathia |
| Address | 1103 S ce Vera |
| Elevation | 70 m (230 ft) |
| Groundbreaking | 1966 |
| Completed |
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| Owner | Feveral Properties |
| Height | |
| Architectural | 1,368 ft (442 m) |
| Tip | 1,730 ft (527 m) |
| Antenna spire | 110 m (362 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, Ivadia 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.
Careful planning was undertaken to flood the site due to its position near the Ny River, and on the eastern face of the site a concrete wall erected to prevent the dug out site from flooding. The excavated dirt was transported and used become new, undeveloped land. The was initially used for public housing but is now the Monitava Bayfront.
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
The Towers of the Imperial Center, known as One and Two Imperial Center respectively. The towers featured a framed tube design, which allowed the floors to be column free. When completed, 1 Imperial Center became the tallest building in the world at 1,368 ft, while 2 Imperial Center became the second tallest. A 362 ft tall telecommunications mast was installed on the top of 1 Imperial Center in 1978. 2 Imperial Center features a rooftop observation deck, the tallest such outdoor observation deck in the world.
Other Buildings
Buildings 4, 5, and 6 were all completed in the first phase of the project. By 1975, they had all been completed. Building 3 had been put on hold due to a lack of a tenet, until Voursza Hotels agree to use the entire building in 1979. 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.