I’ve always had an obsession with tall buildings, which happens to be very convenient as right now, visible from my area, stands the new world’s No.1, the Burj Dubai.
Situated along the majestic Sheikh Zayed Road (known by many as Skyscraper Avenue) which runs through the very heart of Dubai, UAE the tower is leviathan sized.
Very few people have access to the top level, apart from the workers and people employed by the contractors. I once managed through a connection to obtain the clearance needed to get there, but tragically one of the construction workers fell to his doom just before I was due to go, so it was restricted and I couldn’t go (much to my disappointment). Apparently the last couple of floors are wooden, as they are just temporary and knocked together on a schedule.
I know someone personally who got the clearance to go up there with a camera and was so terrified he was shaking, and as a result, all the pictures he took came out blurred!
Almost three quarters of it is completed right now, but even being under construction doesn’t mean that it doesn’t look three times as high as any of its neighbours. It’s already the world’s tallest building at over 585 metres – and it’s stolen the title from Taipei 101 in Taiwan. The final height, however, is kept secret. You may ask why the final height has not been disclosed, well, think of it this way. Say you’ve just finished making the world’s tallest skyscraper and its 800 metres high exactly. Then a rival contractor suddenly announces that it’s they’re building a tower that will be 801 metres tall. I think you’d feel just a bit like you’ve wasted your time and money on what will very soon be obsolete.
Some skyscraper developers, particularly those in Kuwait and Bahrain (other developing Gulf Nations) have proposed higher buildings than the Burj Dubai even. Due to the way the Burj is designed (which is somewhat like the Sears Tower in Chicago, and incidentally by the same architectural firm) if another rival firm confirms that they are going ahead with construction of something higher, the Burj builders can simply add a few more floors on each of the stepped sides as well as to lengthen the central spire.
As well as being the world’s tallest building, the Burj is also the world’s tallest free standing structure (i.e. one that is not supported by steel cables) and is soon to be the world’s tallest structure (structure meaning anything such as a radio mast, or a monument that isn’t habitable) beating the KVLY-TV Mast in North Dakota in the USA.
But it’s not easy being the world’s tallest. The tallest structure ever was the Warsaw Radio Mast in Poland, (646.38 metres) which stood for just 31 years until it collapsed in 1991, to the presumably great embarrassment of its designers. And that was just a skeletal radio mast. It didn’t have to perform all the tasks of the Burj Dubai – accommodate a central steel core, lifts, an air conditioning and water system, furniture, restaurants, 700 private apartments (which are, interestingly enough, designed by fashion guru Giorgio Armani) a hotel, underneath of which is planned to be the world’s biggest mall.
Not since the construction of the pyramids around 3000 years ago has there been an undertaking as enormous as this one. And of course the costs are astronomical. The tower itself will cost an estimated 800 million US dollars, but an insider source informed me that it would cost much more than that. Judging by its appearance, I wouldn’t doubt that 800 million bucks is not enough.
Picture of the Burj Dubai tower originally posted by Pete the painter
Topic: General Travel |
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About the author
Paul Crompton is an avid reader and has a passion for cars and technology, primarily. He loves traveling to whichever exotic travel location which is cheap. His dream is to become an advertising executive.
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