The arrival of Dr David Fisher’s Dynamic Tower, the world’s first building in motion, brings us a whole new concept in skyscraper construction. Lucy Davis looks into the future

If you gazed out on a city skyline and saw the buildings move you’d most certainly, and understandably, blink in disbelief, and then probably accuse your imagination of going into overdrive.

Indeed, arguably the closest we’ve got to buildings in motion so far is rotating restaurants, which entertain diners by presenting contrasting cityscape views over a meal. Such eateries, however, operate independently of the building on a revolving floor plate, and from the exterior at least, appear static. The idea of an entire structure that moved sounded largely implausible – until now, that is.

Italian architect Dr David Fisher’s revolutionary creation, The Dynamic Tower, aka the world’s first moving skyscraper, has astounded the architectural world. Fisher, who has spent more than 30 years creating buildings in Hong Kong London, New York, Moscow, Paris and Dubai, is ushering in an exciting new era that will change the way we look at our city skylines forever.

The first city to benefit from this daring approach will be Dubai: on completion in 2010, the 80-floor Dubai Tower will house luxury apartments, some encompassing as much as 12,900 square feet. Moscow will get its own Dynamic Tower in 2010 too, and New York will be the third city to jump on the bandwaggon. Other countries expressing an interest include Germany, Korea, Canada and Italy. As yet, Hong Kong is not on board.

With each floor rotating independently at different speeds to create a landmark that constantly changes shape, The Dynamic Tower is not only an extraordinary feat of engineering, it is also environmentally friendly. Thanks to wind turbines fitted between each rotating floor, it has the ability to generate electricity for itself as well as other buildings nearby, making it one of the first buildings specifically designed to be self-powered.

An 80-storey Dynamic Tower such as the one coming up in Dubai will be fitted with 79 wind turbines.

What’s more, the Dynamic Tower is the first skyscraper to be built entirely from prefabricated parts that are custom-made in a workshop. While this equals faster construction (each floor of the building can be completed in just seven days), it also means that units can be customised according to the owner’s needs and styles.

Dr Fisher states, “Today’s life is dynamic, so the space we are living in should be dynamic as well, adjustable to our continuously changing needs, to our concept of design and to our mood. These buildings will follow the rhythms of nature; they will change direction and shape from spring to summer, from sunrise to sunset, and adjust themselves to the weather. Buildings will be alive.

“From now on, buildings will have four dimensions, the fourth dimension being time,” Dr Fisher says, adding, “Buildings in motion will shape the skyline of our cities.”