The Burj Dubai (Arabic: برج دبي for “Tower of Dubai”) is a skyscraper currently under construction, since April 15, 2005, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its exact final height remains a closely-guarded secret, but is believed to go well beyond the estimated 705 metres and is estimated to have 200 habitable floors, which would make it have almost twice as many floors as that of the Sears Tower, Chicago which currently has the highest number of habitable floors (108).
Expected to be completed in 2008, the Burj Dubai is a formidable threat to other bids to the title of world’s tallest structure. These include the 541 m (1,776 ft) Freedom Tower in New York City, the Shanghai World Financial Center (492 m), the planned Fordham Spire in Chicago, Illinois (610 m), and the current record holder, Taipei 101 (509 m). It will as well usurp the record for tallest free standing structure from Toronto’s CN Tower (553 m). The Burj Dubai’s developer Emaar Properties has suggested that the Burj Dubai will become the tallest manmade structure of any kind in history. The highest structure to date was the 645.4 m (2,120 ft) Warsaw radio mast which was built in 1974 and which collapsed during renovation work in 1991.
The tower is designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, who also designed the Sears Tower and the Freedom Tower.
The design of Burj Dubai is derived from the geometries of the desert flower, which is indigenous to the region, and the patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture. The tower is composed of three elements arranged around a central core. As the tower rises from the flat desert base, setbacks occur at each element in an upward spiraling pattern, decreasing the cross section of the tower as it reaches toward the sky. At the top, the central core emerges and is sculpted to form a finishing spire. A Y-shaped floor plan maximizes views of the Persian Gulf.
The interior will be decorated by Giorgio Armani. An Armani Hotel (the first of its kind) will occupy the lower 37 floors. Floors 45 through 108 will have 700 private apartments in 64 floors (which, according to the developer, sold out within eight hours of going on sale). Corporate offices and suites will fill most of the remaining floors, except for a 123rd floor lobby and 124th floor indoor/outdoor observation deck. The spire will also hold communications equipment. An outdoor infinity-edge swimming pool will be located on the 78th floor of the tower.
It will also feature the world’s fastest elevator, at 18 m/s (40 mph). [2] The world’s current fastest elevator is in the Taipei 101 office tower, Taipei, Taiwan, at 16.83 m/s (37.5 mph).
