Bahrain World Trade Center

Bahrain World Trade Center

Bahrain World Trade Center is the calling card of the small but very rich oil state. The 240-meter (787-foot) twin-tower complex is located in Manama, just off King Faisal Highway, near landmarks such as the Bahrain Financial Bay Towers, the National Bank of Bahrain, and the three towers (gold, silver, and black pearl) of the Abraj Al Lulu complex.

General Information

The Bahrain World Trade Center was built in 2008 by construction firm Atkins. The design of these towers features air bridges, utilizing wind turbines. The 50-story complex is also the second tallest building in Bahrain, after the twin towers of Bahrain Financial Bay. The project has passed several green credentials that included “The 2006 LEAF Award for Best Use of Technology within a Large Scheme” and “The Arab Construction World for Sustainable Design Award.”

Incidentally, the twin towers of the World Trade Center are featured in the movie “Doomsday Formula” where they collapse due to seismic tremors.

Architecture

The two towers are connected by three bridges, each carrying a 225 kW wind turbine with a combined output of 675 kW. Each of these turbines is 29 meters (95 feet) in diameter, facing north, as that is where the wind blows most days of the year, from the Persian Gulf side. The ship-shaped towers are designed in the shape of a tunnel, causing the wind as it passes through the tunnel to accelerate and pass through the turbines. The usefulness of the tunnel between the towers, which forms an S-shaped flow, has been confirmed by tests showing that any wind coming in at a 45° angle to each side of the center axis will create wind flow perpendicular to the turbines, increasing their potential power generation capabilities.

The wind turbines are designed to produce 11 to 15% of the energy needed by the towers, or approximately 1.1 to 1.3 GWh of electricity per year. This is equivalent to producing light for 300 homes for one year. The three turbines were first turned on on April 8, 2008 and are designed to run 50% of the time daily.