The BBC have a progress report on the Burj Dubai, to become the tallest building in the world on completion. 50 metres of the foundations have been completed, it is certainly an impressive looking building. I will try and get a closer look next time I am in Dubai.
The Burj Dubai is a supertall skyscraper currently under construction in the “New Downtown” of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Although not yet complete, it is currently the tallest high-rise building in the world. When it is completed, it will be the tallest man-made structure in the world. Scheduled for occupancy in 2009, the building is part of a huge development located at the “First Interchange”.
Today, Taipei 101 leads in the first category with 1,671 ft. The first category was formerly held by the Petronas Twin Towers with 1,483 ft, and before that by Sears Tower with 1,451 ft.
On 21st July 2007, the tower’s developers reported the Burj Dubai’s height as 512.1 metres (1,680.1 feet), with 141 completed floors, surpassing the Taipei 101 (509.2 m (1,671 ft) as the tallest high-rise building in the world.
In February 2007, the Burj Dubai surpassed the Sears Tower as the building with the most floors in the world.
Burj Dubai will make the biggest surprise when it complete in 2009. Even now – it is not completed yet, it already surpassed all the well known tall towers.
Comments
26 responses to “Burj Dubai”
I am a bit surprised your diagram doesn’t include the planned India Tower Katangi, which will clock in at 2222 ft, admittedly a tad shorter than Burj Dubai, but still pretty big. It’s supposed to go up around 2008.
I’ve separately sent you my own slide comparing tall buildings which I prepared for a talk on another big building (Petronas Twin Towers).
I think that you should have put the indian tower on the diagram. You should also have told people if there were any other plans for an even taller building in the world. Apart from this your website is very good.
P.S. Please include this in the future.
I just thought I’d point out that the CN Tower in Toronto CANADA remains the tallest building AND freestanding structure in the world. It stands 553 metres, exceeding Taipei 101 by 44 metres. However, when completed Burj Dubai will surpass it as the tallest structure man has ever concieved. I think it’s strange they wouldn’t be boasting about that… perhaps because the CN Tower is capable of an extension.
Since I have heard of this project, I have followed it closely due to my love for monumental architecture. On the website for the building, they bill the building as the most exclusive address in the world. Certainly, I would agree that Dubai is fast becoming a hub of activity in the Middle East. I hope their tower is a success, as I am sure it will be. My only wish is that we here in the U.S. will remember that we too can build in a monumental fashion, not only because it is fiscally reasonable, but also because we can. If I am not mistaken, there is still a spot in lower Manhattan that could benefit from some real monumental architecture and not just bureaucratic runaround.
i am surprised because the planned india tower katangi has not been included in this list. if burj dubai completes by 2008 i would admit that dubai is heaven on earth.
Just happened upon this site but in response to Joshua Price, let me remind you that it was an American firm (SOM) that designed Burj Dubai and will see it through construction. They are also doing Trump Tower here in Chicago and although not nearly as tall as even the Sears Tower, I’d say it’s monumental none the less. SOM also is considered to have one of the top structural engineering departments in the world and is probably more familiar with monumental architecture than any other firm (after all, they invented it) so I think the US is quite aware of their capabilities. What’s holding them back is the lack of investors and safety concerns. I think it’s understandable.
In my opinion it will not even stand that high. If you look at the plans for it, surveighors have said there isn’t enough support and they have been told to take some height off but refused to.
EEXXEELLLLEENNTTSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!voyage
i know the middle east very well going back some 30 yrs. dubai in particular. i actually think there is so much hype which surrounds this project and many others in dubai. the most exclusive address in the world i think is totally over stating it. this is afterall dubai!! it is surrounded by desert – saudi, oman, bahrain, kuwait etc. etc. it ain’t exactly the most stable place in the world. and it is desert! the cn tower in toronto may not be the tallest, the empire state bldg – and so on and so forth, but look what surrounds them. unfortunately, dubai just doesn’t have it. its trying to become nyc overnight. it will never happen. certainly not in my life time or my great great great grand childrens’. you want big city do nyc or london – you want skiing do whistler – you want cool city do toronto or historical – do paris or east europe – whatever? but with very little effort they all have so much more to offer than dubai. location location location!!!! i think dubai has spoiled itself. it would do far better to just open its culture to the world -something which is unique to dubai instead of trying to be something it is not. having said that, hypocracy in the region would seem to fit quite well. burj dubai is hardly the people of dubai’s accomplishment! i’d be surprised if one emiratee had laid a single grain of sand in building it.
I am very interested in the proceeding of this buildung. It looks very nice and has a slender form.
A diagram like the above gives the right feeling
But …..
I have a little comment on the diagram. The height of Taipeh 101 is 508 m including the spire. The same with the Petronas Towers. The heigth ist 452 m including the spire. So they are not as tall as the diagram shows. The Empire State Buildung has a height of 381m plus the height of the antenna. So only then Burj Dubai and the Sears Tower have the correct height.
The building makes me scared. Is that possible? I mean, are u sure the building’s not collapse some day? It’s exelent but….
Yes they are building the tallest building, and they are doing it on the cheap through exploitation of cheap imported labour, disgraceful.
Other experiences from my visits to Dubai, equal right for women.
As mentioned above, Dubai is losing its identity, they are trying to copy the west, but really they should be focusing onto their roots.
Hey, I say we need to stop bashing dubai, and give them props for building the 2 highest structures in the world, bolth probalbe of half mile heights, I dont care what there city life is like, but any city that steps up to the plate like that gets my vote, Looks like it will beat new york in the tower scene.
dubai is really a great place for structural skyscrapers. a tower in the middle of the desert is very pleasing in the eyes. when i look at the features of the burj dubai.. is really amazing. i think dubai was not spoiling itself. it just need to show what they have to have investments and tourism. hope that the project by the SOM firm be successful. hope to work with that firm someday affter graduating. hehe
I have to agree with kenny on the fact that the middle east should focus more on their roots. it’s the same with the Petronus Towers and Taipei 101; it seems to me that they had no real need to build those towers, and just did it to be recognized. in Chicago, however, population is increasing very rapidly, and since it cannot expand, it must build up (the Chicago Spire). i personally feel that it is only fair that the title of city with the world’s tallest building should go to the city that invented the skyscraper. Also, the diagram is misrepresented. they show the heights of the buildings to be at the top of the antenna, whereas it should be shown at the highest floor/room a tourist can legally occupy. If the diagram were to actually show the heights of the structure itself, the sears tower would be the second tallest at 527.3m.
Sorry, a little clarification. The diagram is distorted because they measure Taipei 101 and the Petronus Towers at the roof, along with the Seas Tower. But actually, Taipei 101 and the Petronus Towers should be measured at the top of the antenna because there is a little room up there for tourists to go and stuff. therefore, they are 508m and 452m tall, respectively.
If you would like to see an accurate representation of these structures, i found one at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Skyscrapercompare.svg. Unfortunatly, it does not include the Burj Dubai, and even if it did, it would not fit on the diagram. Also, wikipedia actually has correct information this time because i checked it out on many other sources.
Concerning the CN Tower in toronto, it may be the tallest free-standing structure in the world, but it is not the tallest building, only because it’s not considered a building in terms of a skyscraper. it is actually a communications tower.
One more thing: I don’t see how the Burj Dubai can possibly last as long as some of the other skyscrapers out there. it must weigh millions of tons, the ground conditions constantly change, and its large surface area absorbs wind energy. i hope the technology involved in its construction is state of the art because the collapse of a tower like that would be completely horrendous.
Also check out the Chicago Spire.
I find it ridiculous that there are people actually criticizing Dubai for not “focusing on their roots”! What arrogance and ignorance! What if they criticized our structures for not focusing on our roots – only gothic towers anyone? Or how about Romanesque skyscrapers or Greek television towers? Those would really be inspiring and innovative!
Let them do what they want – that is what free people and dreamers do. Who are we to tell them what ‘style’ is right for them, that they can only build to our notions of what is appropriate for an entire region? What would we tell them if their designers had said to us, “Well, the Chrysler Building. That’s nice, but you should have built it to look more like the structures the Native Americans lived in – that would be a better choice for you. You know, closer to your roots.”
And you did not even consider the conscious choice that they may have made to break from the past. After all, what are they to draw their inspiration from – the Bedouins? They are remaking their country in a new image, one that does not focus on the problems of the past, the wars, the inner strife, the lack of progress. I think they should be applauded for it. It is an amazing achievement and hopefully the foundation of a prosperous, peaceful future that provides equal rights and opportunities for all of it’s citizens, not a backwater that looks to its roots (aesthetic or otherwise) like all of its neighbors.
Congratulations, Dubai. You are making a country that I would like to visit someday.
I had a stop over last year in Dubai, This city is Amazing and beyond. I think the world knows that but we are little behind in the US. I was surprised to find out there are 20 direct flights from France to Dubai weekly and 30 direct flights from Australia. Yes that is weekly.
The people that say they should have stuck to their root, what roots. The pre civilized roots. Yeah O.K. they should stay inn tents and raise camels hah.!! I find this statement to be uneducated. There is nothing wrong with people advancing when they can. Just because they have the tallest building in the world does not mean they are not the same people.
Way to go Dubai
havin grown up here in uae, I’m proud of the changes here. dubai is an international city. I’m an Indian here, and UAE is more home for me than my native country. people should stop criticizin too much. if safety is an issue, it deserves to be looked into. otherwise, bring the towers on. and the women’s rights in the UAE isn’t somethin too much to complain about. ppl of all cultures do what they want and wear what they want. nudity bein prohibited isn’t s sign of oppression. so kudos to nakheel and emaar for all their projects
The royals in UAE are doing all of these developments in Dubai because when the oil runs out they will have a tourism industry to fall back on, and that will expand into other industries, the rest of the region better wake up because when the oil dries up in a century or two there will be no economy left. And all these people saying Dubai must stick to their “roots”, what the hell does that mean? I wasn’t aware that America had the sole rights to building skyscrapers LOL!
I cannot wait to visit Dubai!
I thought that Americans with their hi-speed communication technologies, their claims as the only superpower and the liberty of people made themselves backwards! I know, theres a lot of americans know little about this place (UAE) and Arabs and other Muslims countries. Just make your search for any of that, sure you’ll see a really different story… I found one in contra of the “terrorist”. Never the same at all…. Cant wait to be in UAE in the near future! Been to Malaysia, looking up to the spires of Petronas Towers make my heart pounding! What kind of beauty reflected by a building that bears Islamic design! Yup, that for a building, and thinks about Islam as a whole! I’m nearly crying…. Undescribable mixed feelings of peace and freedom! Oh ya, there a beautifully designed mosque nearby the Towers!
Hope the Burj Dubai will create the same miracle too!!!
First and foremost, congradulations to Dubai. Obviously you have made some of us Americans Jealous of your fantastic accomplishments. Question, when did America stop hiring cheap labor to do great things? (adressing a previous posting) Never.. Also, a nod to Dubai for beating out urban sprawl issues like the “great” city of New York…. (even if the tall structures were not intended to do such a thing) Smarter to go up than out is it not? (with mass transit) Took NYC how long to figure that out? So, is Dubai not ahead of the curve for the most part? I mean they are surrounded by an abundance of open earth, yes they are also making their own earth in the Persian gulf. But, even with open land around. Boston did the same thing. So in essence, there is actually nothing that Dubai is doing that is out of the range of what we american people have done historically. Stop with the hipocracy, Dubai is an aspiring nation that is beaming with technological and archectural advancements. Their Economic boom is just 100 years better than ours.
first pahse of Burj dubai will open on 9 september 2009 with the metro station.
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regards
sears parts