Twisting Torso, a photo from Scania, Gotaland

Photographer's Note

HSB Turning Torso is a skyscraper in Malmö, Sweden on the Swedish side of the Oresund strait. It was designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and officially opened on 27 August 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 feet) with 54 stories. Upon completion, it was the tallest building in Scandinavia, and Europe's second highest apartment building, after the 264-metre-high Triumph-Palace in Moscow.

The 84 metre high Kronprinsen was the tallest building in Malmö before Turning Torso.

The design is based on a sculpture by Santiago Calatrava called Twisting Torso. It uses nine five-story cubes that twist as it rises; the top-most segment is twisted ninety degrees clockwise with respect to the ground floor. Each floor basically consists of a rectangular section surrounding the central core, along with a triangular section, which is partially supported by an exterior steel scaffold. The two bottom cubes are intended as office space. Cubes three to nine house 149 luxury apartments.

The Twisting Torso sculpture is a white marble piece based on the form of a twisting human being. Johnny Örbäck, former CEO of the Turning Torso contractor and Board Chairman of the Malmö branch of the co-operative housing association HSB, saw the sculpture in 1999 and contacted Calatrava to ask him to design a building using the same concept. Construction started in the summer of 2001.

One reason for the building of Turning Torso was to reestablish a recognizable skyline for Malmö since the removal of Kockumskranen ("The Kockum Crane") in 2002, which was located less than a kilometre from Turning Torso. The local politicians deemed it important for the inhabitants to have a symbol for Malmö — Kockumskranen, which was a large crane that had been used for ship building somewhat symbolised the city's blue collar roots. Turning Torso can be seen as a monument of a new, more internationalised Malmö.

[WIKIPEDIA]

devimeuxbe, mcenteesalas, UlfE, ricochet, janneman, xavshot, Wanda1, clio, rasto1893, gbeli ha contrassegnato questa nota come utile

Critiques | Translate

devimeuxbe (58557) 2008-05-01 12:33

Hi Cristian
the architecture of this building is very strange and really beautifull. I like your PP in Black and white
Very nice indeed
Bertrand

bigboroboy (1098) 2008-05-01 12:43

I'm a big fan of clean, graphic shots. This one ceertainly fits the bill for me. Useful/interesting notes too. Nice work.

PHIL

mcenteesalas (1618) 2008-05-01 12:53

Hi Cristian,
What a wonderful shot of this architectural scene with a crispy clear perspective of the far twist at the top, wonderful to see what humans can do these days, truly magic, well done and keep up the good work, thanks for sharing

calexica (1247) 2008-05-01 13:19

Hey Cristian,
I didn't know that it is technically possible to build a skyscraper like this one ... the architectural design is definitely very interesting, to say the least. The POV you have chosen for this shot shows the height of the building. The B&W works very well for this shot as well. Congratulations!!!
Greetings,
Natasha

tatadalou (7459) 2008-05-01 15:47

Hi Cristian,
This building is very spectacular! Good choice of B&W and great gestion of lights adds some graphisme to the natural graphism of the skyscraper.
Well done :
Delphine

sacimar (38173) 2008-05-01 17:22

Hi Cristian,

good picture, I like the perspective and I think the black and white effect works here perfectly, good job

Regards

Sergio

Cbill (4) 2008-05-03 3:29 [Comment]

Show Comment

MarcT (20964) 2008-05-03 8:41

Hi Christian,
That's an excellent B&W conversion to a well presented architecture picture.
The range of the gray tones and the placement of the elements are perfect.
Cheers
Marc

UlfE (14641) 2008-05-04 10:13

Hi Christian,

A great shot of Turning Torso. Excellent choice to make it a B & W photo. Very well seen and really good photo-job!

Cheers,

Ulf

brandstaetter (15915) 2008-05-04 13:12

Hi Cristian,
I like Calatrava a lot. Just visited his new bridge in Venice. You took a very good perspective i high technical quality. B&W is phantastic for this one.
Good job !
Cheers Chris

leo61 (0) 2008-05-05 11:22

Hi Christian!
What an unique architecture!!!! and you manged a great shot,your POV is excellent and I like the perspective.B&W was ,I think the perfect choice.The best architecture shot I`ve seen here at TE since a long time.Thanks for a new favourite.
Regards,Leo

dcawker (5717) 2008-05-06 9:04

Beautiful composition and excellent rich tones to your black & white too.. Well done! Regards, Doug

ricochet (9716) 2008-05-06 11:54

Bonjour Cristian
Une superbe contre plongée avec un excellent cadrage qui met bien en valeur cette très belle architecture du maitre en son genre Calatrava, bravo à toi et ton N et B est excellent!
Eric

Angshu (56760) 2008-05-06 20:54

Hello Cristian
I'd seen a program in a TV channel, about construction of this building, but for the first time seeing it in TE. I'm sure it must have been posted before, but escaped my attention. Classical in B&W, the game of shadows highlights the twisted shape which I think could not have been so effectively shown in colour. Well done!
Regards
Angshu

Anna-- (7801) 2008-05-07 11:40

Ciao Cristian,
excellent perspective to show this interesting architecture. Great B&W image. Excellent framing
Anna

janneman (4037) 2008-05-11 3:28

Good choice to post this one in B/W. It is almost graphic work.
From the point of view you've chosen, one can see the twist in the building very clearly.
TFS!

amazon (12112) 2008-05-23 4:25

wooow great graphism,
i like perspective and your W/B choice,
best regards from istanbul,
iffet

xavshot (69835) 2008-05-23 12:08

Bonsoir Cristian
j'ai trouvé cette superbe photo sur ta page d'intro. Le graphisme est superbe, le POV me démonte le cou et le n&b est un excellent choix... bref.... c'est du beau travail tout ça. Bravo.
Xavier

Khattakphoto (686) 2008-05-25 7:30

Hi

This is very good picture

regards
Muhammad Hanif

Wanda1 (15142) 2008-06-04 22:35

Hi Cristian,
A great angle of view that you have used for this interesting twisting building. A nice graphic image, and the high contrast of the black and white brings out the stark modern aspects of the building.
Regards
Wanda

clio (27961) 2008-06-13 13:17

Hi Cristian
Calatrava is my favorite architect but I ignored completely the existence of this tower.
The photo is fantastic, the effect of rotation is striking. I like this very beautiful treatment B/W which allows our eye to concentrate on the shape and not on the color.
Bravo!
Diane

testmaniac (13508) 2008-06-24 8:04

Hi Cristian, great architecture photo with perfect composition,POV and good choice of B&W. Nice skyscraper!

TFS and regards,
Phil

rasto1893 (522) 2008-10-15 6:16

Hello Cristian,
very interesting architecture, Very nice black and white, good composition and sharpeness, good capture,
My best Regards
Rastislav

SWEBackpacker (235) 2008-10-29 11:14

Hi Cristian!
You have indeed created a wonderful and creative picture of Turning Torso. The black and white medium is a very good choice. I am working in a building about 100 m from Turning Torso so I see it every day. I have of course taken picture both from the inside and outside of this building. It's not an easy task to take as nice and creative pictures of Turning Torso as you have done her!
Best regards from
Jan-Olof

fightingillini (217) 2008-10-29 14:45

I like this picture. I wouldn't normally put it in black and white, but it works really well. Awesome POV>

Bill

gbeli (1970) 2008-12-10 12:04

Hello Cristian
Amazing photo of this interesting building.
Great POV and good choice of B/W color.
Regards

jonathan_hart (21276) 2009-03-11 12:09

this is one of the most interesting framing I've seen about this building
well balanced, great levels
jc

Flavia (10352) 2009-06-06 21:40

Hi Cristian,

Perfect architecture shot! This building is very interesting and you manage to capture is uniqueness. Excellent B&W work.

Regards,

Flavia