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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)."

40 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. Great timing by ta+bu+shi+da+yu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Right in time for the Dubai economy to start tanking.

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    1. Re:Great timing by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

      You... want to buy a building? I can get you a great price.

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    2. 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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    3. Re:Great timing by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Oh definitely. I ride a bike to work in Melbourne and I agree totally we have serious problems.

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    4. 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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    5. 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.

    6. Re:Great timing by A12m0v · · Score: 5, Informative

      lol what?

      Burj Dubai wasn't built nor designed by Arabs. The architect was Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, structural engineer was Bill Baker, and it was built by cheap labor from South Asian countries like India and Bangladesh.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Dubai

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    7. Re:Great timing by jonbryce · · Score: 4, Informative

      Abu Dhabi has lots of money, and lots of oil, yes, and has followed traditional prudent Islamic financial practices.

      Dubai has very little oil, and lots of debt, and has not followed traditional prudent Islamic financial practices, instead preferring to be more "westernised".

      When Dubai World Ports (nothing to do with Abu Dhabi) took over Peninsular and Oriental from the British, the Americans forced them to sell the US ports division as a condition of allowing the sale to go through.

  2. 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 pecosdave · · Score: 3, Funny

      Monday - Worried a Jew or American Capitalist pig might fly a plane into it or something?

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    2. Re:More than tallest building by ls671 · · Score: 4, Informative

      > freestanding or otherwise

      I have regularly worked to build more than 1 mile tall structures while working on the oil rigs back then. We inserted permanent steel casing after digging the hole most of the time so the casing would constitute a taller non-freestanding permanent steel structure ;-)

      While drilling in the Rockies, we were well above sea level so our steel structures would actually be standing higher than the 'Dubai Tower' which I think is is at sea level (or almost).

      The deapeast holes are well above 5 miles !

      http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/AdamCassino.shtml

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_well

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    3. Re:More than tallest building by PingPongBoy · · Score: 3, Informative

      The only thing possibly taller would be offshore oil rigs, but I can't remember how those stack up against it

      In the open sea height is not your friend. Some platforms that have legs all the way down operate at depths up to 170 m. The above-water portion is about the size of a regular office tower. The deep water platforms float, so their height doesn't include the water depth.

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    4. Re:More than tallest building by Trepidity · · Score: 5, Informative

      This building has occupied floors higher than the world's tallest TV mast.

      That part isn't actually true (though not by much). The roof of Burj Dubai's highest occupied floor seems to be 620m or so, slightly less than the 629m TV mast (the last 200m or so of Burj Dubai is unoccupied structure). However, the structure as a whole is much taller than any other structure, and the highest occupied floor is over 100m higher than any other building's occupied floor.

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    5. Re:More than tallest building by Majik+Sheff · · Score: 4, Funny

      nah, it'd have to be the prince cooperating with an international cabal to plant explosives/incendiaries in the building and setting them off at the exact moment volunteers fly aircraft into it.

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    6. Re:More than tallest building by amRadioHed · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm not sure how having a building at a higher elevation in the Rockies is relevant. If height above sea-level is considered instead of height above local ground-level then the first homeless guy to set up a cardboard box in Denver beat the Dubai Tower by half a mile.

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    7. Re:More than tallest building by sznupi · · Score: 3, Informative

      ...which took the lead when a mast in Poland fell down if I am not much mistaken about the history...

      Yup, radio mast in Konstantynow which fell down in 1991 due to cable handling error during maintenance (which was a bit neglected anyway). 646 meters, though supposedly chosen because it was half-wavelength of its transmission (giving it fabulous "range")
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_radio_mast

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    8. Re:More than tallest building by sznupi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Having at least a parachute while living on upper floors might be a good idea in such a building...

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    9. Re:More than tallest building by Muad'Dave · · Score: 5, Funny

      Americunts like you lack the education required to understand the difference between the words you are so ignorant of.

      Education indeed.

      That would be:

      Americunts like you lack the education required to understand the difference between the words of which you are so ignorant.

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    10. 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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  3. Impressive.. by Entropy98 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Too bad it was built with slavery...

    1. Re:Impressive.. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I suspect that that was largely seen as a bonus. Dubai is like the Disney World of unbridled global neoliberalism(the "warts and all" version, not the idealists' version).

      Having a bunch of not-quite-slaves-because-we-said-we-would-pay-them to build the scenery and fill drinks for the people who matter is just part of the "charm".

    2. Re:Impressive.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In your rush to comment, you failed to read past the first section. Try again, you will find real descriptions of government-supported slavery.

    3. Re:Impressive.. by the_womble · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You are missing the point. The construction workers, maids etc. are often enslaved. This guy was a CEO, or fairly senior.

      The Saudis, Emiratis, Kuwaitis etc. are almost racists, and the countries are tyrannies far worse than the West's enemies like Iran, Libya, Syria Saddam Hussain etc: Syria, Iran and Iraq allow minorities freedom of worship, and religious minorities where much better off under Saddam Hussein than they are in Iraq now.

  4. Wow by DemonBeaver · · Score: 5, Funny

    They sure put a lot of effort in the Citadel and City 17 sets for the upcoming Half-Life movie...

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  5. My hopes by nicc777 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That the building is more stable than their web server... Damn request time out every time.

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  6. 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.

  7. Re:The way to go is up by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The principle of building up is right, however. Higher population density makes for better public transportation, more services available within walking distance, and nicer, more pristine outdoors spaces.

    50 years ago, Dubai (and Abu Dhabi) was nothing more than a small mud brick & stone town in the desert.
    Once oil was discovered, the revenues were used to fund explosive development...
    BUT the emirates did a terrible job of planning.

    There are highrise apartment buildings everywhere, but no parking.
    They have incredible population density, but no sewage system to speak of.
    Anything you see that is green must be watered constantly or it'll die.
    Dubai is a rather good example of how not to build a city.

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  8. Re:The way to go is up by MichaelSmith · · Score: 3, Funny

    They have incredible population density, but no sewage system to speak of

    Gee thats interesting. So how...

    Never mind.

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  9. 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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  10. Truly sad by mcrbids · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The USA once was dominant in metrics like this. Now, our leadership position, being pissed away for so many years by inept leadership and increasily divisive politics, has been compromised in many areas.

    In education, we rival the 3rd world. There is actually serious discussion about teaching so-called "Intelligent-Design" as a part of our Science curriculum! Our math and science scores are near the bottom, and are actually beaten by 3rd world countries in many cases.

    Our production and manufacturing idustries have been bleeding red ink for decades. Once the pinnacle of the 1st world, we now sardonically compliment our own quality. Our upper-middle and upper classes don't buy our American-made cars.

    Our leadership in Science development is tanking fast. From our until-recent ban on stem cell research funding, and our generally soft support for "basic Science" research, to our cancelling funding for the SSC supercollider, we've sent the message to the scientific community - support is elsewhere!

    Tallest building in the world is a pissing contest, that we led for a long time in the last century. We've not only lost it, but our vain attempt to regain it in the so-called "Freedom tower" is mired in controversy, bad design, and travesty, bungled so badly that it's the architectural equivalent of the "mission accomplished" poster of GWB notoriety.

    I'm an American, and it's really, really sad to watch my nation slowly collapse in on itself.

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    1. 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.

  11. Re:The way to go is up by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Every night, the stuff is pumped out of municipal septic tanks by a half-mile long convoy of trucks, which then dump it in nearby storm drains. It all ends up on the beach.

  12. Re:The way to go is up by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

    I told you not to tell me that...

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  13. Re:Holes, not poles. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Digging holes is WAAAAYYYYY more expensive than building stories (with "normal sized buildings").

    A 10 story building costs more than a 5 story building mainly because the taller building needs a deeper fundamentum in the ground.

  14. 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.

  15. Re:The way to go is up by machine321 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Huh, no shit.

  16. 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.

  17. Chuting by feufeu · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are special parachutes for this (which will probably open when jumping from a not-so-high-building), but i'd suspect that given the height of this tower any "normal" parachute will do. http://www.fallschirm.de/index-Dateien/Page932.htm (it's in german, i came across this one not so long ago)

    1. Re:Chuting by Zerth · · Score: 3, Informative

      And remember, jump with the wind, if possible.

      It isn't pleasant when you jump on the windward side and get blown into the side of the building.

  18. World's Tallest Building To Open Monday by PCWizardsinc · · Score: 5, Informative

    Kaspersky AV when going to http://www.burjdubaiskyscraper.com/ shows the following: "detected: Trojan program Trojan-Downloader.JS.Agent.ewi" Be careful...