I've always been fascinated by the Veer Towers at City Center. Can you explain the geometry or physics or architecture or optical illusion that makes them lean that way?
We answered this question a few years ago and we're surprised, actually, we don't get it more often. Here it is again.
The Veer Towers were completed in 2007 as part of the $9.2 billion CityCenter project.
This pair of high-rises is 37 stories (480 feet) tall and houses 670 condos total. They lean in opposite directions at five-degree angles from vertical, which demanded a metric ton of sophisticated engineering, in particular concrete that was conventionally reinforced, but post-tensioned (a method of reinforcing concrete by pre-stressing it).
This, of course, was crucial for ensuring that the towers not succumb to the forces trying to push them over in the direction of their leans, a phenomenon known as the "P-delta effect."
The rest of the explanation involves even more complicated applications of earthquake loading, differential axial shortening, PT-beam formwork, branch-column transfers, lateral-load resisting, and other "supreme applications of concrete construction in high-rise buildings," according to an article we found written by two of the engineers involved in designing the towers.
They are, as is easily seen from most angles, a dramatic and unlikely addition to the Las Vegas skyline that, in our opinion, get far less attention than they deserve. That might be because they're entirely residential, the only 100% condo high-rises at center Strip. Thus, other than their five degrees off-center, they contain no attractions for the public.
You can get a good look inside some of the lower-floor condos from the Aria Express Tram on its way south to Park MGM. And the photos we like best are on homes.com.
