Samsung to build tallest building

The BBC ^ | Thursday, 9 December, 2004, 13:35 GMT | Anonymous BBC story monkey

[alnitak]

Samsung to build tallest building

The tower is set to change Dubai's skyline

South Korea's Samsung Corporation has won the contract to build the world's tallest building, the Burj Tower in Dubai.

Samsung won the $306m(£160m) deal, after an 11-month bid process.

The concrete and steel tower will be part of an $8bn(£4.2bn) 500-acre project in the United Arab Emirates.

Workers have already started to clear the ground for the 800-metre high, 160-floor skyscraper and it should be completed by November 2008.

Construction work on the Burj tower will begin in January, and when completed it will be taller than the world's current highest building, Taiwan's 509-metre TFC 101 building.

Burj Dubai Tower 800 metres (2,640 feet) tall Upward-spiral design Exterior cladding system Built of glass, aluminium, concrete, steel Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago Total floor space of 500,000 sq m (5.35 million sq ft)

The building will have a hotel, a shopping mall, offices and luxury apartments.

It was commissioned by Emaar Properties, as part of its Downtown Dubai development.

"Samsung Corporation's appointment is a defining moment and the tower is set to rise and change the face of Dubai," said Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties.

"The tower represents the next stage of growth for Emaar and will be the basis for future developments and act as a signpost for the ambitions of the region."

Dubai is proud of its adventurous construction projects, such as the seven-star Burj al-Arab hotel which has already become an iconic structure.

Samsung teamed up with Belgium's Besix and local company Arabtec to outbid seven other groups for the contract.

[alnitak]

1. Wow!

2. Amazing what $50 per barrel oil can buy you isn't it?

3. Will probably be featured in a Bond movie when complete.

4. Hope they put a rollercoaster on the top.

5. I would consider going to Dubai just to go to the top.

[sukhoi-30mki]

Actually Dubai is not exactly soaking in oil like it's other Arab cousins-so they have diversified their economy to become a tourism & high-tech business hub-sort of a new Singapore.

[HEY4QDEMS]

That's half a mile high!!! Un freaking believable!!

[mvpel]

I wonder how far it will sway when the wind picks up. Wow...

[drt1]

Not exactly a place where I would want to live. This place is surrounded by would be suiciders wanting to get to heaven and airport security is lax to say the least. A formula for disaster.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

That building will be one more mother structure. Would be interesting to know some of the technical considerations of building such a structure.

[Bluegrass Conservative]

Okay, is it just me, or does the picture remind anyone else of the Tower of Babel?

[MattinNJ]

The Samsung 61 inch DLP rocks.

[APFel]

Atop the tower, Saruman sits and plots.

APf

[skeeter]

Whats up with Asia & this fixation with tall buildings? Up till recently I used to travel regularly & half the casual conversation I encountered was regarding which country had the tallest tower.

My impression was that construction stds in certain of these countries is relatively loose & this race to build the tallest tower seems like a disaster waiting to happen.

[Gefreiter]

And as seems often to be the case, they had to look to foreigners to get this project moving.

[Monterrosa-24]

While a bit less restrictive, at least by reputation, than Saudi, it is still Muslim. And the symbolism is.....

A. The World Trade Center is down in the USA.
B. A taller and prettier building is going up in UAE.
C. the center of power has shifted from the West to the ME.

[sukhoi-30mki]

I don't exactly think so.Actually a lot of "the world's tallest buildings" are planned!!-in Shanghai,Taipei,the US,even Pakistan & Saudi Arabia are reportedly in the running.So you will see a newsreport every 6 months that some country has just completed the world's tallest building.The folks in Dubai are projecting themselves as one of the new business capitals of the world,along with Shanghai-so a bit of symbolism & style isn't unexpected.It's relatively near to Africa,Western Europe & the Indian subcontinent-so that boosts it's potential.

BTW-how tall will the replacement for the twin towers be??I heard somewhere that they will be the tallest.

[Lurking2Long]

I wonder if a cruise missle was fired just so...

[Shady]

"Freedom" tower to be 70 stories with another "scaffold like" structure bringing final heigth to 1776 feet. Already obsolete.

[Edgerunner]

It's gonna take more than a tall building to have the power!

[Edgerunner]

1776 feet tall...

[bmwcyle]

I like the 61md10 InFocus better.

[OhMike]

So if Samsung gets the contract for building it, I wonder who'll get the contract for putting up the memorial to the victims who are killed when terrorists knock it down?

[sukhoi-30mki]

The United Arab Emirates,of which Dubai is one of 7 member Kingdoms is a big US ally(never mind it harbouring folks wanted by Russia,Israel & India).It is a big buyer of American weaponry-including the brand new F-16 BLK60,Apache choppers,Patriot Missiles to name a few.It's armed forces are among the most powerful in the Middle East(not counting Israel),alongside Turkey,Saudi Arabia & Egypt,all of whom incidently are US "ALLIES".