World’s tallest freestanding clock tower to be built by Infosys

In what could be a first from a tech giant, Infosys is geared to build the world's tallest freestanding clock tower. The tower would be built at its 345-acre global education centre located in Mysuru, a site that is proudly claimed to be the world's biggest corporate university.

The height of the tower would be 135 metres, making it taller than Big Ben (96 m) in London, Hoover Tower (87 m) in California and McGraw Tower (53 m) in Cornell.

The tower woukd be built in Gothic style so that it matches the classical look of the other buildings located in the campus. It will have 19 floors, a boardroom at the seventh level and will be erected from a 22x22 metre base.

As per the company estimates, it would cost about Rs 60 crore and 20 months.

Confirming the plans to ET, Murthy said the Mysuru training centre was "incomplete without a clock tower".

"A clock tower brings a sense of academic breathing to the campus, and I felt we too will need one. And Vishal (Sikka) felt it is a good idea," he said.

The design of the tower has been designed by Hafeez Contractor, who is a Mumbai-based architect responsible for the design of Infosys' Mysuru campus. The structural consultancy services are being provided by LERA, which is a New York-based firm of structural engineers, and the structure would be built by Bengaluru-based KEF Infra.

"We are trying to marry tradition with modern technology at this tower. The tower will have a large digital screen on all the four sides. We will also use it to run text messages on important occasions," K P Nagaraj, Infosys' resident architect, told ET.

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