Burj Dubai: A Monument, a Jewel, an Icon

Photograph of the Burj Dubai, located in the Emirate of Dubai and soon-to-be, the tallest building in the world. (Credit: aheilner/Wikipedia Encyclopedia)

Before I forget, let me say that Dubai is the name of an emirate (one of seven) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the eastern Arabian Peninsula, or that emirate’s main city, sometimes called “Dubai City” to distinguish it from the emirate. The Arabic meaning for the word Burj is “tower”, which gives Burj Dubai a meaning of “Dubai Tower” or “Tower of Dubai”. Having said that, let me get to the nitty-gritty of today’s post.

The Emirate of Dubai has attracted world-wide attention through innovative real estate projects and sports events. It’s one of the most expensive sites on the planet with imposing architectural structures competing with those located in Shanghai or Beijing in China.

“During the course of the 1990s many foreign trading communities—first from Kuwait, during the Persian Gulf War, and later from Bahrain, during the Shia unrest, moved their businesses to Dubai. Dubai provided refueling bases to allied forces at the Jebel Ali Free Zone during the Persian Gulf war, and again, during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Large increases in oil prices after the Persian Gulf war, encouraged Dubai to continue to focus on free trade and tourism. The success of the Jebel Ali Free Zone allowed the city to replicate its model to develop clusters of new free zones, including Dubai Internet City, Dubai Media City, and Dubai Maritime City.

The construction of Burj Al Arab, the world’s tallest freestanding hotel, as well as the creation of new residential developments, were used to market Dubai for purposes of tourism. Since 2002, the city has seen an increase in private real estate investment in recreating Dubai’s skyline with such projects as The Palm Islands, The World’s Islands and Burj Dubai.” [Wikipedia Encyclopedia]

The Burj Dubai, currently under construction, is headed to be the tallest building in the world. It will be considered a monument, a jewel and an icon for the City of Dubai. The authorities of Dubai are very determined that this is so. Construction began on September 21, 2004, and is expected to be completed and ready for occupation in September 2009.

The total budget for the Burj Dubai structure is approximately $1 billion and for the entire new “Downtown Dubai”, $20 billion. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, the CEO of Emaar Properties, said that the price of office space at the Burj Dubai had reached $4,000 per square feet. This is one of the reasons, they say this building is an expensive jewel.

As of June 17, 2008, the Burj Dubai had reached a height of 636 meters (2,087 feet), with 160 completed floors. Although the tower actually has risen higher since that time, no height increases will be officially reported until the tower is completed on September 2009.

The design of the Burj Dubai is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision of the The Illinois Building, a mile high skyscraper designed for Chicago. Also the design of this giant tower is derived from patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture, with the triple-lobed footprint of the building based on an abstracted version of the flower hymenocallis.

Needless to say, this structure is absolutely impressive. Just describing it will take hundreds of pages, and that would be kinda boring. Instead, I will show you stunning photographs of this giant of the desert that will knock your socks off. I found these photographs while surfing Gizmodo Website. The photographs were taken by David Hobcote who hired a helicopter in order to take a series of amazing high resolution pictures from the air which provide an exact impression of the breathtaking, massive scale of this building.

Sources:

1. Wikipedia Encyclopedia

2. Burj Dubai Official Website