KARACHI: Local builders

KARACHI: Local builders in Pakistan are having a field day as the newly introduced projects all over Pakistan have received tremendous positive response marking the first signs of real estate sector revival in the country.
Real estate agents and builders said that though prices continue to remain low owing to recession - the demand for property is increasing as investors are coming back home after trying their luck in the Gulf.

Senior vice-president of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sub-committee on Housing and Construction Munir Sultan predicts that the prices of properties will remain stable for the time being and will only hike after March.

Estate agents and experts say that the buyers of these properties are investors having money stashed in local and foreign banks and following the global credit crunch feared for their savings.

"These are ordinary well-to-do people of our society who liquidated their bank savings and opted for safe heaven investment in real estate. Properties are sound investments as no one can steal them from you and more importantly because regardless of the political or economical conditions, land assets do eventually gain value with time," Israr Ahmed, a realtor, says.

He further said that Pakistan urgently needs to work on its investors’ confidence and the government should take steps to clear the country of its black economy that is working parallel to the legal system.

He advised the government to introduce a law similar to UAE’s Escrow account concept, which provides investors peace of mind over their investments and helps reduce fraud cases.

However, Sultan went on to say that Defence Housing Authority in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi will not witness any changes both in terms of revival and price fluctuations as "the demands in these areas were artificially created" particularly by stock exchange investors.

"These investors purchased plots in great numbers and artificially pushed up the prices and, therefore, they are not accounted for in the overall country’s real estate movements.

DHA properties investment rules are also quite different from the rest of the country," he continued.

In Karachi, residential projects with ground floor commercial shops in Scheme 33, near Super Highway are the most well received ones according to most estate agents in the localities of Pakistan Engineers Co-operative Housing Society, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Gulshan-e-Iqbal.

Masood Khan of Khan Estate Agency and Ashok Kumar of Ashok Builders speak of similar results in Hyderabad. They say that there has been a hike in residential projects and shopping complexes in their city.

"The idea of commercial projects has especially gained momentum and there are increasing number of shopping plazas that have been introduced" Kumar said. Latifabad, Heerabad, Saddar and the area around Isra University have witnessed the maximum projects, Khan says.

Similarly, Basit Mahmood, a project director of Globiz in Lahore, says that his city is also experiencing a revived interest in empty plots and constructed projects and real estate related advertisements have popped up across the city’s billboard, cable televisions and newspapers.

KPT Office and Commercial Tower

K P T. is constructing office tower in the near vicinity of the K P T Office. The tower shall be 60 storey high on 6,600 sq.m. area. Estimated cost of the tower is Rs. 6 billion and presently consultants for its design are being appointed.

There is a dearth of world-class recreational facilities in the city. So KPT is offering a Joint Venture project to establish a 1947 ft high Port Tower with commercial cum recreational center. Integrating into Karachi’s skyline, the main feature of the venture shall be commercial complex, residential estate, recreational facilities and resorts along with a viewing gallery offering a panoramic view of the coastline and the city. The Tower is planned to be located at the Clifton shoreline. Presently proposals invited through press from the interested firms are under study

Dubai Skyscraper

Al Salam Tecom Tower, Dubai, UAE
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Architects: Atkins



The Al Salam Tecom Tower is a mixed-use building located within Dubai’s energetic Technology, Electronic, Commerce and Media (TECOM) Free Zone. The building is divided into three distinct vertical zones and is supported on a podium which extends from the ground level to the sixth floor. Accommodated within the podium is the entrance lobby, a retail mall, a food court, meeting rooms, a health club with lap pool and associated car parking facilities.



Moving upwards, the seventh to the 21st floors are devoted to 225 serviced apartments configured on five standard, seven deluxe and three presidential floors. Open plan offices occupy the remaining 23 floors terminating at the 46th floor immediately below the inclined roof. Projecting balconies and the inclined colour separation ‘drawn’ across the office façade add to the imagery of the tower.

Dynamic Architecture

Welcome to a new and innovative architecture perspective.

It’s called Dynamic Architecture. Isn’t life about dynamics as well? Our buildings keep moving, forever changing their shape to better fit your imagination. And to better fit nature as well. Our buildings follow the sun and move to the wind. So it’s nature itself that gives them a full energy supply. In return, we pay nature more respect, building our towers with a ready-made technology for a more efficient and environment friendly implementation. Our architecture rotates 360° for a wider vision of the world, of nature, of the future, of life. This is our vision. Become a visionary yourself.

Dynamic Architecture buildings keep modifying their shape. As each floor rotates separately, the form of the building changes constantly; you may not see the same building twice. Dynamic architecture marks a new era in architecture. This new approach, based on motion dynamics, is in fact a challenge to traditional architecture that until now was based on gravity. Dynamic Architecture buildings will become the symbol of a new philosophy that will change the look of our cities and the concept of living. From now on, buildings will have a fourth new dimension TIME. Buildings will not be confined to rigid shapes; construction will have a new approach and flexibility. Cities will change faster than we ever imagined.

This fourth dimension has been the essence of David Fisher’s work so far. The concept has already generated considerable interest internationally, from political leaders and city councils.
The homes we live IN and the way we live are also set to change drastically with this innovative architecture. Our buildings will no more remain the ‘fossilized imagination’ of the architect; they will change, constantly bringing new views and experiences to us with time; nor can the architect’s pencil impose an environment on us. Each building has its own will and freedom.

The construction method and the ability to produce energy on its own are two of the most outstanding features of Dynamic Architecture buildings. These buildings are made of prefabricated units, custom-made in a workshop, to fit very high quality standards. Such a process itself can guarantee cost savings of about 20 %, a factor that will have a huge impact on the global real restate industry.
Compared to traditional buildings, Dynamic Architecture requires fewer people on site, which means less risk of human casualties; construction is faster and cost is significantly lower.

In fact each of the three innovations of Dynamic Architecture - changing shapes, industrial production of units and self-production of clean energy, all protected by a world wide patent pending registration - can offer a host of benefits to construction and real estate industry.
Dynamic Architecture buildings will have path-breaking safety features and electronic control systems along with their futuristic design and unique luxury finishing.

world’s first moving building,

Construction of the world’s first moving building, a 80-storey tower with revolving floors which give it an ever-shifting shape, is due to begin.

The Dynamic Tower, which will be built in Dubai, will feature 80 pre-fabricated apartments, spinning independently of one another.

“It’s the first building that rotates, moves, and changes shape,” said David Fisher, the tower’s architect.

“This building never looks the same, not once in a lifetime,” he added.

The innovative, 420-metre (1,378-foot) building’s apartments would spin a full 360 degrees, at voice command, around a central column by means of 79 giant power-generating wind turbines located between each floor.

The slender would be energy self-sufficient as the turbines would produce enough electricity to power the entire building and even feed extra power back into the grid, said the Italian architect at the unveiling of the project in New York.

The apartments, which will take between one and three hours to make a complete rotation, will cost from $3.7m to $36m.

There are also plans to build a similar, 70-story skyscraper in Moscow.

“I call these buildings designed by time, shaped by life,” said the Florence-based architect. “These buildings will open our vision all around, to a new life.”

The skyscraper will cost an estimated $700m to build and should be up and running in Dubai in 2010.