Blue Sky Tower

Skyscraper in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

47°54′58.9″N 106°55′7.8″E / 47.916361°N 106.918833°E / 47.916361; 106.918833Construction started2006Completed2010Opened2011Cost200 millionHeight105 m (344 ft)^[1]Technical detailsFloor count25Lifts/elevators5

The Blue Sky Tower (Mongolian: Хөх тэнгэр цамхаг) is an ultra-modern 25 story, 105 meters (344 ft) tall steel and glass skyscraper that stands just to the south of Sükhbaatar Square in Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar. It houses a 200-room hotel, luxury apartments, restaurants, as well as office and conference spaces.^[2]

The skyscraper consists of a curtain wall made of blue tinted glass in reference to Mongolia's moniker as "the land of the eternal blue sky", but also as a signal to foreign corporations of Mongolia's transparency and openness to business.^[3] Blue Sky Tower serves as a landmark that dominates the central Ulaanbaatar skyline thanks to its location and distinctive shape. Designed in the style of a sail or fin, it appears to be modeled after the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.^[4] Mongolians often refer to it derisively as "the meat cleaver" or "the sail boat"^[3] and the purpose of a sea-themed edifice in the capital of a landlocked country is unclear.^[4]

Construction on the skyscraper, designed in cooperation with a South Korean company, began in 2007 but was temporarily suspended during the political tensions that followed Mongolia's legislative election in June 2008. Upon its completion in 2009, Blue Sky Tower was the tallest building in Ulaanbaatar but has since been overtaken by other buildings erected as part of the city's construction boom.^[2]

References

^ Emporis: Blue Sky Tower
^ ^a ^b Dillon, Michael (2019-11-28). Mongolia: A Political History of the Land and its People. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 184. ISBN 978-1-78831-695-8.
^ ^a ^b Diener, Alexander C.; Hagen, Joshua (2016-04-14). From Socialist to Post-Socialist Cities: Cultural Politics of Architecture, Urban Planning, and Identity in Eurasia. Routledge. p. 153. ISBN 978-1-317-58588-6.
^ ^a ^b Aldrich, M. A. (2018-03-02). Ulaanbaatar beyond Water and Grass: A Guide to the Capital of Mongolia. Hong Kong University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-988-8208-67-8.