Date: 1 May 2007
But the project has stirred controversy.
The building, designed by architect Dante Oscar Benini, will house apartments and offices about 5 kilometers (3 miles) southeast of the real Leaning Tower. The new construction will be exactly the same height as the original monument 57.6 meters (189 feet) tall.
"I do not dare to go 1 centimeter higher than the original tower, but I simply offer a different visual angle onto the square," Benini said in a recent telephone interview from his Milan office. The architect's works include a science center in Hong Kong and another complex in Istanbul, Turkey.
"There is a sort of glass cover wrapping around the building which, ... together with natural and artificial light, makes the tower appear to be leaning," he said.
The 19-story tower, built on the outskirts of the city, will be covered on the Western and Southern sides by the curved glass sheet starting from the third floor.
The undulating sheet will give visitors the impression that the building is leaning in different directions depending on where they are standing. But its main purpose is to create an insulating cushion of air that reduces the need for heating and air conditioning.
"In the winter it's a greenhouse and in the summer it's a ventilator," Benini said.
The tower will also be equipped with elevators to bring visitors to a panoramic terrace, from which they can see the Leaning Tower, he said.
Construction is expected to take 2Ѕ years, Benini said. The EUR70 million (US$95 million) project also includes two smaller buildings in the same square.
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