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World's Tallest Building To Open Monday

Posted by timothy on from the things-humans-do dept.

dtmos writes "The Burj Dubai ('Dubai Tower' in Arabic) is scheduled to open to the public on Monday. Its height, claimed to be 824.55m (2,705.2 feet), but believed to be 818m (2,684 feet) — either way, more than half a mile — makes it far taller than Taiwan's Taipei 101, which had been the world's tallest skyscraper at 509m (1,670 feet)."

10 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. More than tallest building by ari_j · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is the tallest manmade structure in the world, freestanding or otherwise. The previous record was held by a TV mast in eastern North Dakota, which took the lead when a mast in Poland fell down if I am not much mistaken about the history. This building has occupied floors higher than the world's tallest TV mast. The only thing possibly taller would be offshore oil rigs, but I can't remember how those stack up against it. A very impressive accomplishment, so long as it stays standing through Monday.

    1. Re:More than tallest building by Muad'Dave · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You're correct about it being a half-wavelength, but that has less to do with 'range' and more to do with matching the impedance of the antenna with that of the transmitter. An antenna that is a half wavelength and fed in the center is called a dipole, and typically presents an impedance of 50-80 ohms to the transmitter (with most of being purely resistive, one hopes). This arrangement would allow the station to omit a matching circuit, which would be enormous and costly for 2 MW of power.

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  2. Impressive by Animats · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's an impressive achievement. I'm glad they got it finished before the economy tanked. Dubai is overbuilt, and many of the sillier projects there will never be completed, but Burj Dubai is a prestige location and will probably be rented out successfully. It's partly a hotel and residential building, not just an office tower.

    The Empire State Building was built during the Great Depression and wasn't fully rented for years.

  3. Re:Great timing by thePig · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not quite. This building already made 10% more than what was spent. The company was hoping at max for break-even, since their whole idea was to make money from the 500 acres near it which is also owned by it.
    That part might have to wait a little, but anything else now is a bonus.

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  4. dubai faq (misconceptions) by majid_aldo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    - dubai doesn't have oil
    - dubai is very western-oriented
    - dubai is not a country
    - dubai has been largely isolated from regional tensions

    got that?

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  5. Re:Truly sad by ThrowAwaySociety · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You're right, it is a pissing contest, and there's really no point in it. The US does not need to build that high. For that matter, western Europe does not have a single building in the top 100 for height. This is a huge white elephant for the UAE, and white elephants are something the US already has plenty of.

    Building a building that goes to 11 is not a technological challenge. Heck, Burj Dubai was designed by a US firm. There are a dozen firms in the US and around the world that could build a building a hundreds of feet taller than the Burj Dubai if there was a need. There isn't. Pursuing a giant national phallic symbol is not what the US should be spending its resources on.

  6. Re:Great timing by ta+bu+shi+da+yu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You'd be amazed how many people ride bikes in Sydney.

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  7. Re:Great timing by feepness · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Did significant regional economic troubles follow the construction of Taibei 101 or the Petronas Towers?

    The Petronas Towers were initiated during the boom which preceded the Asian Financial Crisis.

    I would consider Taipei 101 to be part of the financial boom engineered following the Dotcom crisis and 9/11.

    You are correct that this is only a correlation. I am recalling it from a study I read that also included an analysis of the fortunes of those who financed and those who operated these "tallest" projects. They were not good. I wish I could recall the author/book I read it from. I apologize for my inability to do so.

  8. Re:And this changes what? by Xest · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Yeah, I've always wondered what sort of people are happy to work at the top of buildings like this.

    I'm not scared of heights in the slightest, but I have to say I'd feel a bit nervous purely because of a lack in the faith of the stability of a building like this with the strong winds and earthquakes the area is prone to coupled with the fact it was built using nigh-on slave labour which isn't exactly going to give you the type of worker that particularly cares about being thorough or doing a good job. Not to mention this is quite a symbol of modern capitalism in a region known to have many people with a severe distaste of capitalism.

    Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine it'd be easy convincing people to rent or buy the upper floors of this thing.

  9. Re:The way to go is up by c6gunner · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Building cities in deserts is just not a good idea, and exploiting the environment to the absolute maximum it can take is bound to fail in the long run.

    Tell that to the Israelis. Either they really DO have Yahweh on their side, or it's not as hard as you're implying. I'm gonna go with the latter.