It seems like ages have passed since New York's Empire State Building ranked as the tallest tower in the world. Other buildings overshadowed the landmark, but they were always in the West, like Sears tower in Chicago and the CN tower in Toronto. Recently, Asian buildings started raising attention as worthy rivals. Alas, not much action was taking place in our region until the idea of Burj Dubai came about.
Burj Dubai, which translates to Tower of Dubai, is a skyscraper under construction in the United Arab Emirates. How tall will the building be? Few know, as the number is being very much kept a secret, maybe to avoid competitors ruining the plans to build the tallest skyscraper in the world. Some "guesstimates" put the height a bit shy of an astounding one kilometre, but none of these accounts are official.
Artists' renditions of the building put this magestic and gigantic structure in the middle of the Dubai skyline, dwarfing everything else in sight. It looks more like a fairy tale than a real structure. To compare this building to other skyscrapers might be an understatement of the structure and its function, which looks like something related to the concept of a "sky city" which is a city built vertically instead of horizontally -- what many architects suggest is the way to go for the future as metropolises get more crowded and land becomes a premium. Of the more famous concepts of sky cities are those in Tokyo and Sky City X4000. But these are concepts; the only attempt that comes close the Burj Dubai.
Construction started in April 2005, and the structure currently stands at over 40 stories high. Some unverified resources put the scheduled completion in 2008, which is very aggressive for a such a one-of-a-kind concept. At its peak, more than 20,000 workers will be on site.
Once completed, the building is expected to take away the tallest building title from the Taipei 101 building in China, and that of the tallest structure on land, held by the CN tower in Toronto. Furthermore, it should rise higher than other planned buildings like the proposed Freedom Tower, to be built at the location of the World Trade Centre in New York. There are reportedly a couple of competitors to Burj Dubai, interestingly enough from the same region -- one said to be planned in Dubai by Al Nakheel, and a second one in Kuwait.
The building architect designed this monument with a steel structure peek that can be raised even higher vertically in case the title of the tallest building should be disputed by another competitor. Some say that the tower has already gone through multiple increases in planned height through modifications to the original design.
As far as design, Burj Dubai will use themes from the region like the desert flower geometries as well as other Islamic architecture, blended with modern themes. The interior design, according to Wikipedia sources, will be by Giorgio Armani, who will also have a hotel in the building. The exterior will be made of a high performance exterior cladding system to withstand the extreme summer temperatures and is expected to be silver.
By Ammar W. Mango
© Jordan Times 2006
