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| Beyoncé … Now able to add “skyscraper inspiration” to her CV.
Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images
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Fans of both gentrification and Beyoncé’s last album may have just found their architectural sweet spot. A 78-storey skyscraper inspired by the pop star is due to be built near Melbourne’s Southern Cross railway station, offering up apartments, retail space and hotel rooms.
The
Premier Tower’s undulating curves were inspired by one of the 17 music videos Beyoncé released as part of her eponymous visual album in December 2013. “For those more on the art than science side,” reads architecture firm Elenberg Fraser’s press release about the building, “we will reveal that the form does pay homage to something more aesthetic – we’re going to trust you’ve seen the music video for Beyoncé’s Ghost.”
Well, if you haven’t, the video mostly features Beyoncé flapping a swathe of billowing black fabric in front of a wind machine, and women who look as though they’re struggling to wriggle their way out of skintight sheaths. The building’s resultant “twists and turns” have been rendered life-like in a visualisation made by company Pointilism.
The project has been financed by the Fragrance Group, a real estate company owned by Singaporean billionaire Koh Wee Meng. 1970s-era pub the Savoy Tavern is due to be demolished to make way for the tower, just months after it reopened in 2014 following a 20-year closure.
There are no confirmed reports to suggest that Beyoncé will visit or ever perform at the skyscraper, but that all could change in time.
