Burg Dubai: World's Tallest Building!

I think we have all gotten used to the extravagance with which buildings are erected in Dubai and the Burg Dubai (which simply means Dubai Tower in Arabic) with its initial $4 billion budget embodies that perfectly. Though still under construction, with its topout set for September of 2009, the tower is already the tallest structure in the world standing (as of Sept 26th of this year) at 2,320 ft or 707m. To give you an idea of how tall it is, the Petronas Towers are 1,482 ft; spire and all. Though the final height is still being kept a secrete, from the planned 162 floors, the completed height is being projected at about 2,297 ft.

The tower's architect Adrian Smith, formerly of SOM, explains that he derived his design from patterning systems found in much of Islamic architecture, with the triple lobed footprint of the building based on an abstracted version of the flower hymenocallis and gives a Y-shaped floorplan which helps maximize views. The Burg Dubai, which is part of the 0.8 sq mi development called "Downtown Dubai," is located along Sheikh Zayed road at Doha Street and like most highrises is composed of a central core but this will eventually emerge from the rooftop to be tapered and sculpted into a spire. As the tower rises back from its base, staggered setbacks at each element occur in an upward spiralling pattern thereby decreasing the tower's cross-section.

The structural materials used are primarily reinforced concrete and steel which created challenges on how to pump more than 110,000 tonnes of concrete vertically as the building progressed and also have the mix withstand the Gulf temperatures which can reach 122 degrees during the day. The South Korean construction company, Samsung Engineering and Construction (the same responsible for the Petronas Towers and the Taipei 101) combated these problems by pouring the concrete at night and adding ice thereby cooling the mixture and allowing it cure evenly and prevent possible cracks.

I have spoken with many of my peers about the Burg Dubai, some love it and some hate it with a passion but I think it is an amazing feat of architectural technology. Now, I don't think any country needs a tower that high until we come to the point where we have used up all our land resources and can only go upwards. I am never a fan of buildings that are tall just for the sake of being tall because they never relate to their surroundings. But you cannot evaluate buildings in Dubai with the same standards one would use elsewhere. Dubai sets its own standards in design and we can only marvel at the outcome every time. The only issue I have with this tower is the fact that at its tallest levels, it currently sways with a maximum displacement of all of 4 ft. I don't know what they have done to address how occupants would feel or maybe one requirement to leasing any top level space, which by the way are already going for $4,500 per sq ft, is being impervious to sea sickness.

Images obtained from www.madarchitect.org/super-structures