Frank Gehry's twisting Luma Arles tower nears completion in France

Scaly aluminium cladding and projecting glass boxes wrap around Frank Gehry's Luma Arles tower, which is nearing completion in the south of France.

Revealed in new photos by Atelier Vincent Hecht, the twisting tower in the city of Arles has reached its full height of 56 metres ahead of its opening in spring.

The structure was designed by Gehry as the centrepiece of the Luma Arles, an arts centre established by Swiss collector Maja Hoffmann that began construction in 2014.

The project has transformed an abandoned rail yard once owned by SNCF that was left vacant in 1986.

Atelier Vincent Hecht's photos reveal the distinctive facade of the Luma Arles tower, which is finished with 11,000 aluminium panels irregularly arranged around its concrete and steel frame.

Described by architecture critic Frank Miller as a "stainless-steel tornado", the cladding was designed by Gehry to evoke the craggy limestone cliffs around the city for which it is known.

The photos also reveal the building's glass and stone base nearing completion.

This cylindrical base makes reference to the Roman amphitheatre in Arles, part of the city's designated UNESCO World Heritage site.

Once complete, Gehry's tower will contain a mix of artist studios, workshops, seminar rooms and research facilities.

These will be complemented by a series of exhibition spaces across the complex that are being designed by New York-based Selldorf Architects within six existing industrial buildings on the site.

Hoffmann has contributed €150 million (£133 million) to the project through the Luma Foundation, which she also set up to support independent artists.

The scheme will be complete with a public park, named the Parc des Ateliers, which is been developed by Belgian landscape architect Bureau Bas Smets.

Pritzker Prize-winning Gehry is an American-Canadian architect best known for the titanium-clad Guggenheim Museum Bilbao that opened in Spain in 1997.

More recently, he completed the Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul that features a facade of sweeping glass sails and proposed iceberg-like headquarters for the Warner Bros in Los Angeles.

Photography is by Atelier Vincent Hecht.

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