06 agosto 2007

Burj Dubai: The Tower that Slaves Built



Will the Burj Dubai mark the top of the Dubai property boom
“…Tall building syndrome is a well known phenomenon. The topping out of the world's tallest buildings has frequently happened at the point when a local market turned down… When it is completed next year the Burj Dubai will be a symbol of Dubai's achievement in quadrupling local GDP in the past decade. Then the global competition to build higher will take a new turn, and Australian James Packer has just announced plans to build a super-tall building in Las Vegas…”



Touch the sky
“…High-rise housing has a rich history that embraces the very top and the very bottom of the social pile, serving paradoxically as the preserve of both the super-rich in their glamorous skyscrapers and the poor in their tenements and concrete slabs. It is the ultimate dream of the modernist architect, offering up the minimalist visions of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe as well as the extravagantly sculptural forms of the latest blockbuster buildings. It is a form that fascinates and seduces planners, developers, designers and homebuyers. And this has never been more true than today…”



The Tower that Slaves Built
“…According to news reports Burj Dubai is set to overtake Taipei 101 and the Sears Tower as the world’s tallest building in the coming months. The Burj, which means tower in Arabic, will have 124 floors upon completion, as well as a luxury hotel and four luxury swimming pools along with offices and residential units. Designed to resemble a glittering desert flower, the Burj Dubai when completed will also be the tallest manmade object ever built on earth… Indeed, given this iconic position on the human landscape, the Burj is not unlike the Egyptian pyramids of yesteryears which were also testaments to the wealth and might of the burgeoning Pharoanic kingdom and commanded awe and respect from all who viewed them. Undoubtedly the United Arab Emirates is now a world trading giant, having successfully harnessed the forces of globalisation and free market capitalism in its favour. Its increasingly crowded skyline and its cavalcade of luxury shopping malls, selling all manner of luxury items from Mikimoto pearls to Armani suits, are testament to its voracious desire to be respected as an international destination for investors and tourists…”



How long can Dubai's boom last?
“…It's big, brash and it's all about cash. Is there any stopping Dubai? The emirate may have a couple of newly-arrived boutique hotels on the scene, but these are very much out on a limb. Essentially Dubai is still all about trying to out do everything else on the planet. Vegas, once unrivalled as the world's most absurd place, needs to up its game if it wants to compete… Appearing in the desert soon: Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping mall; the Burj Dubai, the world's tallest building; and Dubailand, the world's largest theme park. That's not forgetting the Palm project, containing man-made islands visible from the moon, and Dubai China Town, set to be the largest outside China, complete with its own Great Wall…”



Redesign rumours slammed
“…Marwan Al Qamzi, managing director, Palm Jebel Ali, dispels rumours of any redesign on Nakheel's second offshore island… What is currently happening on Palm Jebel Ali?.. The contract for bridges has been awarded to Samsung, which is worth around US $300 million (AED1.1 billion). This covers the connections to the crescent; six bridges connecting the mainland with the crescent on both sides and connecting the five islands of the crescent with each other. We will award the contract for the trunk bridge shortly, after evaluating contractors. It is not big; the contract is worth $25 million… A lot of focus and attention has naturally been spent on the Palm Jumeirah, as it was the first of the three. Do you think Jebel Ali's public perception suffers slightly because it is not the first?... Not really. The advantage of Palm Jebel Ali is that there are a lot of lessons learnt from Palm Jumeirah. And each Palm, we believe, will have its own personality and identity. Palm Jebel Ali is designed to be a resort city, to accommodate between 250,000 - 300,000. But it will be a first-class city. Palm Jumeirah is designed for 80,000 and so is obviously smaller in scale…”


Dubai must watch out for less pleasant superlatives
“…The tallest, the biggest, the fastest - superlatives such as these are what Dubai is all about at this point in time. Over the past few years especially, the city has been keen to maintain a frenetic speed of development and innumerable ostentatious projects have underlined the emirate's self-belief and, shall we say, chutzpah… Dubai's place at the forefront of some of the UAE's most headline-grabbing projects is undeniably impressive. How many countries of any magnitude around the globe have four large-scale offshore development schemes on the go? Yet, Dubai, just one emirate within a relatively small Gulf state, does - with its three 'palms' and The World.”

1 comentario:

aisha dijo...

I have no words!!
Pictures are breathtaking!!
I cannot imagine, how human beings could build such masterpieces!!
Arabs are really fine fellows.
They want to be the first, and they will be, definitely!
So many fantastic projects are rising day by day, people from all over the world are interested in investing in Dubai property.
Thanks to the government and UAE's people who really aim at high successes.