You know who’s been a very busy man? Moshe Safdie of Safdie Architects.  That name should ring a bell, if not, how about Habitat ‘67?  Located in Montreal? It’s a landmark! For some, it changed the way they approach architectural design. You know what we’re talking about.

Well, Safdie’s latest design has been posted on his firm’s website, and for the first time with one of his projects, we are unsure about how we feel about it.  The tower is planned for Colombo, Sri Lanka, and is currently listed as the Colombo Residential Development.

When complete, the tower will stand 69 storeys and be the tallest in Colombo.  It will be located at their city centre, facing Beira Lake.  There will be a significant amount of retail at ground level, and its existence will set the stage for Colombo’s waterfront to be further developed.

The mixed-use development will be comprised of 1.5 million square feet, and feature an abundance of family and community spaces and amenities.  Like most of Safdie’s designs, there is a strong focus on outdoor space, and the accessibility to these areas by the residents.  There will be many outdoor lounges on the upper levels, and each unit will have its own rooftop garden or terrace.

Now, don’t get us wrong, we love the majority of Safdie’s designs, but there’s just something about this one that rubs us the wrong way…maybe it’s because the development is actually two towers, with one of them made to look like it’s leaning on the other – only, it looks more like it’s falling.  Towers + falling = not a good look for a city…even if it’s not really falling.

We get it though, the way the design tapers as it rises will be stunning on the skyline (from far away), and the angles that it’s built on and where it is situated allow for expansive views of the lake and Indian Ocean.  Also, air flow is maximized, and it’s perfectly oriented to the movement of the sun.

We understand how much thought Safdie puts into these designs, and we may even be wrong, saying that it looks like one of the towers is falling into the other.  It’s definitely unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, so we gotta give it points for that.

This development is scheduled to be complete by 2017, and we can’t wait to see how it turns out.