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An observation tower that has been proposed for downtown Phoenix is currently being called the "Big Pin" because of its likeness to that of the drop pins used in the iPhone Apple Maps app. (BIG /January 16, 2013)
An observation tower that has been proposed as a landmark for downtown Phoenix is being dubbed the "Big Pin" because of its likeness to that of the drop pins used in the iPhone's Apple Maps app.
The tower would be 420 feet tall, and at the top, it would take on the shape of a sphere. In one artist rendering, which shows the project and downtown Phoenix from afar, the tower certainly looks like the red pins that appear when searching for a location using Apple Maps.
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Although the tower looks like a drop pin, it wasn't inspired by the Apple app. Rather, the muse for the "Big Pin" was Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum in New York and its spiral, sloping ramp layout, according to Bjarke Ingels, the project's creative director.
Ingels said the tower also resembles a giant honeycomb wand, and from certain angles, the structure almost looks like a "heavenly body."
It's "like some weird orbiting moon that has come a little bit too close to the Earth," he said.
But for now, Novawest LLC, the tower's developer, needs to acquire financing to make it a reality. Once that's done, Ingels said the "Big Pin" could be completed in three years.
As for what the official name would be for the tower upon its completion, Ingels said they don't know yet.
"When you're building something that will become a significant landmark of a city, you have to be prepared that people won't necessarily call it what you want them to," he said. "They'll call it what they see as most fitting."
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