Controversial skyscraper alters Chile money skyline The skyline of Chile's capital has been altered over the past year by a skyscraper the tallest in South The united states and one so towering it casts a shadow nearly two kilometres long. The 70storey Gran Torre Costanera Middle, a giant that dwarfs the city's other skyscrapers, overwhelms the see of a metropolis founded in 1541 by Spanish conquistadors and that stays happy of its colonialera buildings. The 300metre tall Gran Torre is not as tall as New York's Empire State Building (443 metres) and is less than half the size of the world's tallest developing, Dubai's Burj Khalifa (828m). But it is significantly taller than the other regional large, the Trump Ocean Club in Panama City (293m). A sixfloor shopping shopping mall has also risen subsequent to the Gran Torre, and three other skyscrapers two highend resorts and an workplace building are going up nearby. The Gran Torre was constructed to stand up to earthquakes Chile, cheap nike air max 95 located on the Pacific Ring of Hearth, is especially susceptible to powerful quakes. The developing came through with traveling colors in February 2010, surviving the 8.8magnitude quake that devastated much of southcentral Chile with no structural harm. Residents and city planners complain that individuals going to and from the complicated will generate massive visitors jams and gridlock in an currently tightly packed city. Once the edifice is finished, there will be almost 700,000 sq. metres of building space accessible built on forty seven,000 sq. metres of land. Planners estimate there will be some 240,000 individuals heading to and from the website each day. "We're speaking about 5 percent of the city circulating within a couple of sq. kilometers," complained architect and urban planner Julio Hurtado. "The longterm consequences of this chaos will be a topic for specialists to study," he informed AFP. Capitalist extra or icon of progress? The Gran Torre is situated in the coronary heart of Santiago's monetary district, and recognized regionally as 'Sanhattan.' It was developed by Cesar Pelli, the Argentine architect who also developed the 452meter tall Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. Taller than even some of the Andean hills surrounding Santiago, the Torre is now a common point of reference in this city of 6 million people. Its proprietor, Germanborn grocery store magnate cheap louis vuitton handbags Horst Paulmann, as soon as gushed that the site will nike air max cheap be for Santiago what the Eiffel Tower is for Paris a comparison that raised eyebrows, if not snickers. "The Eiffel Tower is a discount louis vuitton handbags monument, not a building. There is no comparison," said Luis Eduardo Bresciani, head of Chile's Architects' Affiliation. The developing may absence the sleek curves of Gustave Eiffel's iconic construction, but the torpedolike construction is not without some grace. "It is a fairly neutral building," said Bresciani. Hurtado was kinder. "From an architectural stage of see, it is interesting and unique. A nike air max 95 cheap fairly object," he informed AFP. In numerous