Posted on 01/04/2010 11:16:22 AM PST by SeekAndFind
The world's tallest building has been opened with a dramatic fireworks ceremony in the Gulf emirate of Dubai.
The Burj Khalifa was revealed to be 828m (2,716ft) high, far taller than the previous record holder, Taipei 101.
Known as the Burj Dubai during construction, the tower has been renamed after the leader of Dubai's oil-rich neighbour, Abu Dhabi.
Last month, Abu Dhabi gave Dubai a handout of $10bn (£6.13bn) to help it pay off its debts.
Construction of the Burj Dubai began in 2004, at the height of an economic boom.
Clad in 28,000 glass panels, the tower has 160 floors and more than 500,000 sq m of space for offices and flats.
The tower also lays claim to the highest occupied floor, the tallest service lift, and the world's highest observation deck - on the 124th floor.
The world's highest mosque and swimming pool will meanwhile be located on the 158th and 76th floors.
Technical challenges
The opening ceremony, held 1,325 days after excavation work started, was attended by some 6,000 guests.
Though not complete on the inside, it was officially opened by Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Burj Dubai The Burj Dubai dwarfs its neighbouring buildings
In a surprise move he renamed it Burj Khalifa - after the president of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Well if we made a building to look like a vagina it would just be a whole in the ground
RE: Now that Obama has turned 911 into a day of service the “One World Trade Center” was built by volunteers and stands as a testament to America’s new greatness ...
I can understand your sarcasm but....
Let’s put things in perspective before we get too carried away with Arab Grandeur as opposed to America’s decline.
The Dubai tower is NOT a ‘ Dubai’ or Arab achievement. It is of course an AMWERICAN achievement, designed and constructed by Chicago’s Skidmore Owings & Merrill, the architects who designed and built Chicago’s Sears Tower, now known as the Willis Tower and still the highest building in the United States.
So much for Arabic glory & grandeur.
Dubai is of course not doing all that well financially either, as its sovereign fund wobbled & collapsed forcing a $25 billion loan from wealthier neighbor Abu Dhabi.
Abu Dhabi has chosen of course to become an educational mecca in the Middle East.
How? HECK, By inviting the USA’s best academic communities, including Harvard, Stanford, Cleveland Clinic Mayo Clinic and others to open branch campuses there.
The Arabs can accomplish NOTHING or LITTLE without outside help. Even their construction workers, engineers etc. are mostly imported from overseas ( Filipino technicians make up a huge portion of them ).
Taipei 101 the world’s SECOND tallest building, incidentally, was designed and constructed by local firm C.Y. Lee & Co, in Tawan. Now THAT is something their locals can be proud of.
I just watched that video. I have to say, when he pointed the camera down, even though I knew I was watching it at home, in front of my computer, I had a very visceral moment of fear.
My hands break out in a sweat just watching that video, the guys that built it have guts, that’s all I’ll say ...
And would be unusable for about a week out of every month.
*Although some disagree with me, I think the biggest problem is that there’s currently no economic incentive to build the new building.*
Yeah, there’s that, and then there’s the little matter of American’s not having the balls to do grand things like this anymore.
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