Dubai: The tallest building in the world...and still growing (photos)

Dailynew.co.uk ^ | 6th April 2008 | staff writer

[Rebelbase]

About 30 years ago I recall a 20/20 or 60 minutes episode about an Prince in a tiny, backwards country called Dubai talking about how he intended to use the oil wealth to build a city greater than NYC for world trade, business and architecture.

I thought it funny as hell the guy was riding around in the desert in a Mercedes 300 from oasis to oasis. He should be credited as being one of the great visionaries of the prior century.

[G8 Diplomat]

[Rebelbase]

I wonder if they intend to build a Nuke power plant for when their oil runs out?

[Young Scholar]

Why do you say that?

[G8 Diplomat]

Dunno. There oil’s gonna run dry soon, and tourism is another mega-million dollar industry, plan B I guess, but they’re going to need some way to power it all. Nuclear would seem like it’s the answer. I wish our leaders would let us build nuclear power plants...

[timer]

You are familiar with the idea of a blimp and tether line to the ground, yes? With twin blimps at about 1000’ intervals, flat platform between, you could build a tension tower up to 10 miles high; the tropopause. The tether line would be power cable, lightning ground rod, and elevator cable. The blimps, with 4 or more propellers, would fly into the wind maintaining a fixed position over the ground tether point.

Best place to tether it : the equatorial doldrums with usually mild weather, although it could be tethered almost anywhere, the 50+ twin blimps are individual units that fly to grade with an on-coming violent storm.

Compression towers like this burj pebble sway side to side in the ambient wind, this puppy would tend to move up-down with stretching tether lines. Icing and lightning(50V/m electropotential gradient)issues are the main concerns. This tension tower would be a test bed for the proposed space elevator concept.

As one FR person opined, these arabs have more money than brains, a 1/2 mile high tower is a pebble between the toes of a tension tower. And it would be far cheaper to build. How would you like a 1/2 hour elevator ride to the edge of space?

[G8 Diplomat]

*THEIR oil...

[BJungNan]

[SamAdams76]

I don't get the hostility towards these skyscrapers. It's a sad statement that the United States is apparently no longer interested in reaching for the sky and is content to let other countries achieve skyscraper dominance.

Let's hope that some American spirit is revitalized and we can once again build the skyscrapers we are capable of. We should have dozens of skyscrapers over a mile high by now and within 25 years, we ought to have skyscrapers topping 10,000 feet - with several of them joining each other in some of our bigger cities to literally form "cities in the sky."

There was a science fiction story I read some time ago that talked about such a city in the future. There were so many skyscrapers linked to each other that people lived their entire lives above street level, never having a need to come down to the lobby. The roofs of these buildings were covered with parks and gardens and there were even professional sporting events going on up there.

[hosepipe]

[ I don't get the hostility towards these skyscrapers. It's a sad statement that the United States is apparently no longer interested in reaching for the sky and is content to let other countries achieve skyscraper dominance. ]

The U.S. has lots of land.. Mile high scrapers are inefficient targets for cretins in the current enviorment and death traps in a hundred ways.. Better 10 or 20 smaller serviceable buildings.. In my estimation.. Mile high buildings are cemented in testosterone..

[bannie]

Love the greenery. So lush.

[Straight Vermonter]

Here is tall tower that really is asthetically pleasing as well as being tall.

[LS]

These are truly beautiful, and the one in Taipei is appropriately designed. Human engineering is a marvel.

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

Obviously someone is compensating for something or lack of something : )

[G8 Diplomat]

The Al-Fattan towers are kinda cool. They're also in Dubai.

[SamAdams76]

The America I used to know did not cower in fear of terrorism.

[G8 Diplomat]

LOL nice. A smart move would be to place missile sheilds around these hypothetical structures to guard against Tehran.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"I am 23 days away from outliving Steve Rubell"

Studio 54 fan ? ;-)

[cva66snipe]

I don't get the hostility towards these skyscrapers. It's a sad statement that the United States is apparently no longer interested in reaching for the sky and is content to let other countries achieve skyscraper dominance. Let's hope that some American spirit is revitalized and we can once again build the skyscrapers we are capable of. We should have dozens of skyscrapers over a mile high by now and within 25 years, we ought to have skyscrapers topping 10,000 feet - with several of them joining each other in some of our bigger cities to literally form "cities in the sky."

Lower story buildings are cheaper to build, cost less to maintain, offer much more actual usable space meaning more profit, and can be built much faster resulting a a quicker investment return. Skyscrapers tie up most of at least the first 60 or so floors with elevator shafts, ventilation shafts, piping risers, switchboards, and equipment rooms. The ones the Sauds and UAE are building is strictly an insane ego trip. Look at the pictures of the lobby of the WTC towers for example. Most of it is elevators.