Absolute World Towers

Two slender, twisting residential towers at the eastern edge of the city centre, completed in 2012 and easily the city's most recognisable buildings. The taller, at 56 storeys, rotates a total of 209 degrees from base to roof; the smaller is shorter and rotates less. The effect is unexpectedly graceful at close range.

You can't go inside — they are private apartments — but the plaza on the south side is a good vantage point. The towers won the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's best tall building in the Americas award the year they opened.

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A story
The pair of curved residential towers, designed by Beijing-based MAD architects after an international competition, are universally known as the Marilyn Monroe towers because of their twisting waists. Their actual names are Absolute Tower 4 and 5; the nickname was coined by local press the moment the renderings were released.