Dubai's Amazing Buildings

             
      The city of Dubai has some of the most architecturally advanced buildings in the world. Two of these buildings are the Burj Khalifa and the Burj Al Arab.

      The Burj Khalifa, also known as the Burj Dubai, is the tallest building in the world. It reaches a whopping height of 828 meters (2,717 feet). That’s pretty impressive! Construction for this building in September of 2004 and ended in October of 2009. In 2009 the price for square foot was $4,000. The building was created by an American architecture company called Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which was established in 1936. “The design of Burj Khalifa is derived from patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture. According to the structural engineer, Bill Baker of SOM, the building's designing corporate cultural and historical elements particular to the region such as the spiral minaret.” The building can hold 35,000 people at any given time. The building contains 57 elevators and 8 escalators. Each of the floors has a specific job, for example, the floors from 160 and up are for mechanical purposes and floors 139 to 154 are corporate suites. This amazing architectural feat was announced the world’s largest building in March of 2010; 5 months after it was built. In 2012 it was reported that 80% percent of the apartments in the building were filled up. This building is estimated to be worth $1.5 billion USD.

      The second building that is truly astounding is the Burj Al Arab. The building was classified as the “tallest building in the world used exclusively as a hotel at the time of its completion”. The Burj Al Arab is a luxurious hotel in the city of Dubai. A room in this beautiful hotel runs from $2,500 and up. Pretty expensive! Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to the actual building itself. The Burj Al Arab is 321 meters (1,053 feet) tall and contains 60 floors. The shape of the building is supposed to mimic the mast of a boat. The building was created by Tom Wright of Atkins. The hotel lies on an artificially made man beach which runs 980 feet wide. Construction on the hotel began in 1994 and ended in 1999. An interesting feature of this building is that if you look at it from the back, it resembles a cross. This was noticed only after the building was created. They were unable to fix it or remove the horizontal bar. This made a few people angry. The hotel accommodates 202 rooms. One of the most expensive rooms in the building is the Royal Suite which runs about $19,000 per night. The hotel has 2 restaurants; one of them is an Oyster bar. This is almost half the price of the Burj Khalifa coming in at a whopping $650 million USD.

      These are just two of the elite buildings in the city of Dubai. If you have $19,000 to blow, I recommend staying in the Royal Suit of the Burj Al Arab. You won’t regret it (until you see the bill). These buildings were designed with the utmost technology and are unparalleled today.

Burj Al Arab

Burj Al Arab "cross view"

 Burj Khalifa

If you would like to read more, visit these links:

List of Tallest Buildings in Dubai

Burj Khalifa

Burj Al Arab

Dubai and its History

Dubai, the most architecturally advanced city in the world, has some of the most beautiful and intricate buildings and skyscrapers known to man. The city has over 900 high-rises and more than 440 skyscrapers. This magnificent city is home to over 2.1 million people according to the 2013 census.

                The city contains over 100 skyscrapers that reach over 180 meters high. The tallest building in the city and in the world is the Burj Khalifa, which has a height of 828 meters (2,717 feet) high and contains 163 stories. The city of Dubai also contains the tallest residential building, the Princess Tower and it also contains the largest hotel, the JW Marriott.

                If you go back to Dubai in 1955, you would realize that it’s completely different than it is today. 58 years ago, the city used to be a small fishing town. In 1959, they decided to make the city a trading city. Millions of dollars were spent to renovate the creek to allow for larger ships to come in and out. By the mid 1980’s they renovated the city to make it a destination for tourists. And that’s exactly what they did. In 1999 they finished construction on one of the tallest hotels in the world, the Burj Al Arab. The construction of this building marked the beginning of one of the greatest tourist cities in the world. By 2003, the city was nothing like it was 48 years before.  In 2003 they started to create its 200 man-made islands.

So, how has the city changed since 2003? Well, for starters it surely didn’t have the world’s tallest building, tallest residential building, or tallest hotel. They have creates hundreds of skyscrapers from 2003 to now, and there are many more to come. The city has become a true tourist city.

                The city currently has over 20 buildings that are currently under construction, the tallest of which is only half the size of the Burj Khalifa. There are currently 13 buildings that are on-hold or have been temporarily suspended but not canceled. 18 new buildings have been approved for construction and are ready to be constructed. This last part almost amazes me. There are 14 buildings that have been proposed, one of them will be 2,400 meters (7,900 feet) tall. That’s a little bit less than 3 times of the Burj Khalifa. Another amazing building they want to create is the Dynamic Tower. This tower will revolve 360 degrees, so by the end of the day you would be able to see the whole city (if you were to stay in your room all day). If these buildings amaze I don’t know what will.

                This city has everything you could imagine. It has beautiful architecture, night life, lavish lifestyle, cars, and every other aspect of high end living. You should thinking about visiting these beautifully designed architectural feats to get the true feel for the city. And if you can’t go there, do some research and you will learn of its great journey of a small fishing 



Burj Al Arab



Man-made Islands


Burj Khalifa


If you would like to learn more about Dubai and its history click on these links:

The New Dubai- 20 Years back to 10 years ahead

Dubai before the boom

List of Tallest buildings in Dubai