E1 Tower

Erbil One Tower
General information
Status	Completed
Architectural style	Postmodern
Address	60m Street
Town or city	Erbil
Country	Iraq
Coordinates	36°10′29.2″N 44°00′21.9″E / 36.174778°N 44.006083°E / 36.174778; 44.006083
Construction started	2019
Completed	2022-2023
Cost	$35,000,000
Owner	Eng. Sabah Noori Ali
Height	172m 180 m (591 ft)
Technical details
Structural system	Bearing Wall System
Material	Reinforced Concrete
Floor count	50
Floor area	44,480 m2 (478,779 sq ft)
Lifts/elevators	8
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Eng. Rapar Wali Jabbar
Structural engineer	Dr. Bahman O. Taha MSc. Kovan Azeez
Other information
Parking	400+
Website
www.kirmanj.com

The Erbil 1 Tower, also known as Zaniary Tower, is a 48-story, 180 m (591 ft)^[1] tall multi-use skyscraper in the heart of Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The E1 Tower is the tallest building in the country. The project was part of Kirmanj Construction Company owned by Eng. Sabah Noori Ali whose objective is to develop and revitalize the area, opening new opportunities for people and enhancing the quality and standard of living of people in the area. The building is of reinforced concrete and all the concrete totaling up to 40,000 m3 is being supplied by Lafarge company, the leading concrete supplier in Iraq and internationally.^[2][3]

Construction of the project began in 2019 and it was completed in 2022-2023. The project as a whole is a great boost to Erbil's economy opening over 300 job opportunities and improving the infrastructure of the city. The building has 46 above ground floors and 2 underground floors. It will include over 400 apartments and 400 parking stalls. It also includes an open view restaurant and dedicated office-use floor and other facilities such as a gymnasium, indoor swimming pool, saunas, ...etc. The building is serviced by 8 elevators on the lower floors with varying speeds to keep waiting times for upper story residents to a minimum.^[4][5][6]

The architect of the building is Eng. Rapar Wali Jabbar, whom opted for a post-modern architectural style with a façade of glass curtain walls covering the building to provide future residents with full view of the city and countryside. The tip of the building features arches derived from those of Erbil's Citadel which is unique to the structure.^[7]

The structural engineers of the building are Dr. Bahman O. Taha and MSc. Kovan Azeez, whom designed the structure as a reinforced concrete frame coupled with concrete shear walls. Due to the location of E1 Tower it lies near the Arabian-Eurasian fault line, thus the region is seismically active and recently in 2017 experienced a Richter 7.2 magnitude earthquake.^[8] The region can also be impacted by fast wind gusts from the surrounding flat plains and low lands. So great care was taken in designing the lateral-force-resisting system of the building to minimize side swaying of the upper floors and provide the required strength. Thus it's composed of reinforced concrete shear walls, of up to 7m long and 60 cm wide on the lower floors, with a central concrete core to house the elevators and act as the building's spine when it comes to load carrying.

The building lies on Erbil's clay soil strata so the design required a deep foundation. Furthermore, the engineer specified 226 piles of up to 27m deep a with the piles being capped at the top with a concrete cap of 2.5m in depth. Also the floors are of reinforced concrete slabs supported by beams but on the lower parking floors the use of two-way ribbed slab was utilized, due to its economy and versatility.^[9]

• 
  15th floor construction on July 5, 2020
• 
  15th floor construction aerial view

Media related to Erbil 1 Tower at Wikimedia Commons