This Article is From May 28, 2019

Statue Of Unity Enters 2019 World Architecture News Awards

The WAN Awards showcase the best international design in current and future projects, and the award ceremony is likely to be held in July.

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All India

The Statue of Unity, at 182 metres, is twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Mumbai:

The Statue of Unity has entered the globally-acclaimed 2019 World Architecture News (WAN) Awards, an official said on Tuesday.

The WAN Awards showcase the best international design in current and future projects, and the award ceremony is likely to be held in July.

"This is a significant and deserving recognition of India's engineering skill and project management," SN Subrahmanyan, CEO and MD of Larsen & Toubro - the engineering giant that built the world's tallest statue - said on the recognition for the Statue of Unity.

"The Statue of Unity was by far one of the most complex and challenging assignments we have executed and being featured along with several other global engineering marvels is a truly remarkable achievement, not only for L&T but for the entire nation," he added.

Constructed in a record 33 months, the world's tallest statue stands at 182 metre as a memorial to the contributions of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the country's freedom struggle and the role he played in unifying the country into a nation.

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A staggering 6,500 tonnes of structural steel, 18,500 tonnes of reinforced steel, 210,000 tonnes of concrete and 1,700 tonnes of bronze cladding went into the making of the statue by over 4,500 designers, architects, global consultants, engineers and workmen.

The Statue of Unity -- one of the few man-made objects visible from space -- is situated on Sadhu Bet, 3.2 kms downstream from the Narmada Dam, comprising a complex with a museum, a memorial garden, a designer bridge connecting Sadhu Island with the mainland along the Narmada River, an internal five km-long roadway, an administrative complex, a conference centre and a star-rated hotel.

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The statue, designed by Maharashtra's legendary architect Ram V Sutar, was conceived as a naturalistic depiction of Sardar Patel in his characteristic style in a walking pose, rising out of a star-shaped geometric base that covers the entire Sadhu Hill.

Two vertical cores that house high-speed passenger elevators support the steel frames to which around 6,500 bronze panels are clad.

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A viewing gallery has been constructed at 135 metres, at the chest level, from where 200 visitors can take in the views of the Narmada Dam and other landmarks.

At its height of 182 metres, it is twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty in New York, 100 times larger than a normal human being, and at 70 feet, Sardar Patel's face is bigger than the faces of the US Presidents cut out on Mount Rushmore in the US.

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The Statue of Unity is built to withstand winds of up to 290 kmph and earthquakes of up to 6.5-magnitude on the Richter scale.

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