Buildings on the Gold Coast

Buildings on the Gold Coast







High rise buildings dominate the Coast with windows opening to the Open Sea and Sky.
The views from Q1, the tallest building show this very clearly. The Gold Coast is High Rises with stunning views of the Sea.

It was interesting seeing a couple of small cottages along the coast, one next to the High Rises.
I called this cottage a Million dollar shack, which it has to be as the land would be worth a Highrise with a sea view. I yearned to knock on the door and see if my fisherman lived there, or someone who slept in and missed the morning.

Seldom was there anyone looking out of the windows or the balconies. The apartments were virtually deserted. Only once when I was trying to get a photo of the phone number above what looked like a backpackers place, two hungover guys glared at me, and I turned away feeling embarrased to be focusing on semi dereliction, when there was so much grandeur and beauty around.

I stayed the first week at The Shore, which was located right on the beach and gave me some fantastic sunrises. The second week I stayed at the Hawaain which was more upmarket, with downmarket views, and far too much shade, on level five when I always want High Living for the Views.

To my surprise both apartments lacked Internet facilities.

Q1 Views from the 77th Floor of the Tallest Residential Building

Q1 is the Worlds Tallest Residential Building
78 Floors with a lift that takes 42 seconds to reach the 77th Floor where the Viewing Area was located

At 322.5 m (1,058 ft) and with a roof height of 275 m (900 ft), Q1 qualifies as the world's tallest all-residential building when measured to the top of its structural point (spire), but is the world's second tallest behind Melbourne's Eureka Tower (roof height of 297.3 metres, 975 ft) when measured to its roof height and highest inhabitable floor. However, according to the ranking system developed by the US-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the main criteria in which heights are ranked is to the top of the spire, therefore Q1 qualifies as the taller.

It is currently in the top 50 tallest buildings in the world when measured to its structural point, dwarfing the Gold Coast skyline with the closest buildings to Q1's height being the 220 m (720 ft) North Tower of Circle on Cavill and the under construction 250 m (820 ft) Soul building.

Q1 was designed by Atelier SDG, and its form was inspired by the Sydney 2000 Olympic torch and the Sydney Opera House. The name was given in honour of members of Australia’s Olympic sculling team of the 1920s – Q1.

It was developed by The Sunland Group and built by Sunland Constructions. The building was the Silver Award winner of the 2005 Emporis Skyscraper Award, coming in second to Turning Torso in Sweden.

The building is supported by 26 piles, each two metres in diameter, that extend 40 metres into the ground then up to four metres into solid rock.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q1_(building)