Altair will be the tallest residential towers in Sri Lanka

The iconic towers, one vertical and the other one tilted, will consist of 68 and 64 floors respectively

In the heart of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, the tallest residential towers around this part of the world -and definitely the tallest in the country- are under construction. Designed by the famous architect Moshe Safdie, Altair, the $ 250-million development project is set to become the city’s new landmark. The structure consists of one 68-level vertical tower and a 64-level sloping one, forming a total living space of 1.5 million ft² (140,000 m²), enough to fit 400+ luxury apartments. The two towers will have panoramic views of both Beira Lake and the Indian Ocean, while they will host Sri Lanka's first-ever Sky Garden. Located on the 63rd floor, the amenity will consist of a pool, lounge and a party arena. “Altair will set new standards for Colombo, and perhaps even for the region as a whole,” Safdie said early in the construction phase. “At 68 storeys high, it will be considerably taller than any [residential] building in town, but height is not its prime contribution.”

The towers will be constructed on reinforced concrete piles and a raft footing with a reinforced concrete and/or steel superstructure. Although Colombo rarely experiences significant earthquakes (the city is classified in seismic Zone 0 under the international building code), Altair has been designed to withstand earthquakes up to 7 on the Richter Scale. All apartments will be equipped with carefully-selected materials (floors, tiles etc) of prime quality and the cost for a 3-bedroom (196 m²) on level 58 will be $1,097,000, while for a 2-bedroom (151 m²) on the 6th floor $696,000 respectively.

The completion is a bit behind schedule, as it was expected to be finished by late 2017. At that point, all floors had been completed but GFRC panels and windows still needed to be fixed. For anyone who wants to check the construction progress, live feed from the development site is provided via the building’s website.