Burj Al Arab hotel
Posted on 01/03/2010 12:49:36 AM PST by bruinbirdman
The world’s tallest building opens for business this week — if it can find any
For years, Dubai boasted that whatever bling project it embarked upon, from carving its coastline into palm-tree-shaped resorts to building vast ski domes in the sand, it would be the “number one in the world”. After the credit crunch, however, it looked like the only record the Gulf city state would claim is the biggest boom and bust.
Burj Al Arab hotel
Tomorrow, though, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al- Maktoum, the emirate’s ruler, will celebrate at least one global milestone he can be proud of when he opens the tallest building on the planet.
The £1 billion Burj Dubai is at least 2,683ft from its base to the tip of its spire — that’s more than half a mile, the equivalent of three-and-a-half Canary Wharf towers or two Empire State buildings stacked up. Its final height is being kept secret until tomorrow, but architects who have worked on the building have hinted it could break the 2,700ft mark.
The tower is more than 1,000ft higher than its nearest inhabited rival, Taiwan’s 1,671ft Taipei 101. It is also the tallest man-made structure in the world, surpassing the 2,063ft KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, America.
The steel-ribbed, glass-clad structure looks like a giant hypodermic needle piercing the desert sky. As the 169-floor building rises, it passes through several climatic zones. The temperature at the top is up to 10C cooler than at the bottom.
It has the highest swimming pool in the world, on the 76th floor, and the most elevated place of worship with plans for a mosque on the 158th floor.
The Burj Dubai — “burj” means tower in Arabic — is the culmination of Sheikh Mohammed’s vaulting ambition for the
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
I would never visit it due to it muslim centric image and more.
Was the architect, the same one who designed the Ryugyong “hotel of doom” hotel in Pyongyang?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel
If they can’t rent it, I can imagine how good the maintenance will be as it goes along - I would love to rent office space there in about 5 years; the elevators probably won’t even be working by then.
$1.5 billion aint' jack.
These guys own about 70% of The City ($7.5 billion) that just opened in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip last month.
Can we move the UN headquarters there?
Can we move the UN headquarters there?
Somebody's o v e r c o m p e n s a t i n g . . .
LOL - world’s largest tree-shaped pine freshener.
It looks a little better than Kim I'm Ill's effort, the Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, a measly 105 stories at 1089 ft.
yitbos
If you're going to spend 1.5 Billion...just saying. :o)
/sarc
Collapsing buildings is the new architectural might.
an incredible feat of engineering and construction.
It impressive to look at, but I’d hate to be around when it falls down.
A tower of Babel.
Seems like the ultimate 9-11 plane bait!
I’d be careful about allowing any muslim pilots near it, moths to a candle
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