June 27, 2007
Coming Up in Dubai:
The World's 'Tallest' Building by Aroonim Bhuyan
Dubai
The pattern of the virtually extinct desert flower Hymenocallis is
the inspiration behind what is going to become the world's tallest
building in this desert boomtown in the next one month or so.
The Burj Dubai tower will not be conferred the title of the world's
tallest building officially yet by the Council on Tall Buildings and
Urban Habitat (CTBUH) as it is still under construction. But it will
unofficially become the world's tallest building once it crosses the
509-metre mark of the now tallest building in the world, the Taipei
101, by early August.
As of now, the tower is a little over 480 metres - '132 floors and
rising', proclaims a signboard near this architectural marvel.
"The building will be ready for inauguration by December 2008,"
Scott Pottruss, director of development in Emaar Properties, the
real estate giant behind this imposing structure, told a visiting
Indian media team on the 106th floor of the tower. Construction had
started in 2004.
This iconic super-tower is the flagship component of downtown Burj
Dubai, touted as "the most prestigious square kilometre in the
world" by developers Emaar.
It is one of the two anchors of downtown Burj Dubai, the other being
The Dubai Mall, which is going to be the world's largest mall. And
the mall will house an aquarium, which again will be the world's
largest.
Downtown Burj Dubai is an integration of residences, commercial
space, hospitality projects, retail outlets, boulevards, landscaped
parks and lakes.As of now, 143 floors of the Burj tower are already
sold out. And the going rate is 4,000 dirhams (1 US dollar = roughly
3 dirhams) a square foot.
Designed by Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings and & Merrill, the Burj
Dubai tower is being constructed by high-rise experts South Korea's
Samsings Corporation. Turner Construction International is the
project and construction manager.
In all, 35,000 people will populate this tower, which will comprise
a hotel, private apartments and office space.
The centrepiece of the tower will be a haute couture Giorgio Armani
Hotel in the first 37 floors. Floors 45 through 108 will have
private apartments while the rest of the floors will have corporate
offices and suites.
There will also be recreational facilities and entertainment venues
including four luxurious pools and a cigar club, a library,
exclusive residents' lounge, serviced residences and 15,000 sq ft of
fitness facilities.
An observatory deck on the 124th floor or 442 metres above ground
will be the world's highest publicly accessible observation deck.
As for safety aspects, the super tower will have a unique fire
safety system.
"People need not run to the ground floor in case a fire breaks out,"
said Pottruss. "There will be refugee zones at various levels, where
people can wait for rescue operations."
Overall, the structure will be a reflection of Islamic motifs based
on the Hymenocallis flower. From a broad base, the building tapers
off as it rises, with a steel shaft shooting up at the top.
As 3,000 workers work in multiple shifts to meet the December 2008
deadline, the tower is changing the Dubai skyline every few days.
"Almost 23 billion man hours are have been put in till now," Roger
Krishnamurthy, the Indian safety head at the construction site,
said.
For trivia buffs, here are a few facts about the building: the Burj
Dubai's spire can be seen by a person 95 km away on a clear day; the
building service/fireman's elevator will have a capacity of 5,500 kg
and will be the world's tallest service elevator; the curtain wall
of the building will be equivalent to 17 football fields; and the
concrete used for the building is equal to a sidewalk 1,900 km long!
"Burj Dubai will ever present on the skyline and the centre of the
new city," according to the monument's designer Adrian Smith, whose
other works include the Trump International Hotel and NBC Tower in
Chicago, the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai and the Rowes Wharf in
Boston. "It will bring a sense of awe and wonder to a city that
already contains such traits and will redefine the limits of these
words."
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