The main tower is high and carries two spheres. The lower sphere holds in its bottom half a water tank of and in its upper half there is a restaurant that accommodates 90 people, a café, a lounge and a reception hall. The upper sphere, which rises to above sea level and completes a full turn every 30 minutes, holds a café. The second tower is high and serves as a
water tower. The third tower does not store water, housing equipment to illuminate the two larger towers. The two water towers hold of water altogether. The Kuwait Towers were designed by Danish architect Malene Bjørn as part of a water distribution project run by the Swedish engineering company VBB (renamed
Sweco in 1997). Chief architect of the company and husband of Malene Bjørn,
Sune Lindström, erected five groups of his typical "mushroom" water towers, the
Kuwait Water Towers, but the
Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh
Jaber Al-Ahmed, wanted a more attractive design for the sixth site. Out of ten different designs, three were presented to the Amir, who chose the design built. VBB contracted construction of the three Kuwait Towers to
Union Inženjering construction company of
Belgrade,
Yugoslavia (now part of
Serbia). The towers were built of
reinforced concrete and
prestressed concrete. Building took place from 1971 to 1976 and the main tower was opened to the public on 1 March 1979. Approximately 41,000 enameled steel discs cover the three spheres in eight shades of blue, green and gray, recalling the tiled domes of historic mosques. The discs are arranged in spiral patterns around the spheres. According to the architect, the Kuwait Tower group refers to ideals of humanity and technology, symbolised by the globe and the rocket. The towers were damaged heavily by the Iraqis during their occupation of Kuwait from 1990 to 1991. In 1991, after the liberation of Kuwait City during the First Gulf War, Vic Clarke of Nottingham UK abseiled the Kuwait Water Towers during structural surveys. ==Recognition==