CASE STUDY: WORLD’S SUPERTALL SKY-SCRAPER Burj Dubai Burj Dubai ("Dubai Tower") is currently under construction in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. When it is completed in late 2009, it is predicted to be the tallest man-made structure in the world. Scheduled for occupancy in September 2009, the building is part of a 2 km² (0.8 sq mi) development called 'Downtown Dubai' Project.

The total budget for the Burj Dubai project is about $4.1 billion US and for the entire new 'Downtown Dubai', $20 billion US.

Burj Dubai Tower

Architect - Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP

Developer - EMAAR Properties

Contractor - Samsung Constructions / BESIX / Arabtec

Construction - Steel Reinforced Concrete / Steel Spire

Rendering - UV Solar Glass / Aluminum / Stainless Steel

Floors - 216 above ground floor plates / 164 occupied floors

Height - 818m / current design

(Proposed height not released officially)

Elevators - Fastest in the world with a speed of 1050m/min

Completion due - 6th August 2009

Website-http://www.burjdubai.com

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The tower is being constructed by a South Korean company, Samsung Engineering & Construction which also built the PETRONAS Twin Towers and the 101.

The tower is designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, who also designed the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Freedom Tower in New York City.

The design of Burj Dubai is reminiscent of the Frank Lloyd Wright vision for , a mile high designed for Chicago, Illinois. The building resembles the bundled tube form of the Sears Tower, but is not a tube structure. Purpose:

Burj Dubai has been designed to be the centerpiece of a large-scale, mixed-use development that will include 30,000 homes, nine hotels such as the Burj Dubai Lake Hotel & Serviced Apartments, 0.03 km² (0.01 sq mi) of parkland, at least 19 residential towers, the Dubai Mall, and the 0.12 km² (0.05 sq mi) man-made Burj Dubai Lake.

. The silvery glass-sheathed concrete building will give the title of Earth's tallest free- standing structure to the Middle East — a title not held by the region since 1311 AD when Lincoln Cathedral in England surpassed the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza, which had held the title for almost four millennia.

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The decision to build Burj Dubai is reportedly based on the government's decision to diversify from a trade-based economy to one that is service and tourism-oriented. According to officials, it is necessary for projects like Burj Dubai to be built in the city to garner more international recognition, and hence investment.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum wanted to put Dubai on the world map with something really sensational. Facts and Figures:

 The design of Burj Dubai is ostensibly derived from the patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture, with the triple-lobed footprint of the building based on an abstracted version of the desert flower hymenocallis.

 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. Viewed from above or from the base, the form also evokes the onion domes of Islamic architecture.

 The exterior cladding of Burj Dubai will consist of reflective glazing with aluminum and textured stainless steel spandrel panels with vertical tubular fins of stainless steel. The cladding system is designed to withstand Dubai's extreme summer temperatures.

 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 on 64 floors.

 Corporate offices and suites will fill most of the remaining floors, except for a 123rd floor lobby and 124th floor (about 440 meters (1,444 ft)) indoor/outdoor observation deck. The spire will also hold communications equipment. An outdoor zero-entry swimming pool will be located on the 78th floor of the tower.

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It will also feature the world's fastest elevator, rising and descending at 18 m/s (40 mph). The world's current fastest elevator (in the ) travels at 16.83 m/s (37.6 mph) . A total of 56 elevators will be installed that can carry 42 people at a time and are double- deck elevators.

 Engineers rotated the building 120 degrees from its original layout to reduce stress from prevailing winds. Over 45,000 m³ (58,900 cu yd) of concrete, weighing more than 110,000 tones (121,000 ST/108,000 LT) were used to construct the concrete and steel foundation, which features 192 piles buried more than 50 m (164 ft) deep.

Construction:

Burj Dubai is made from reinforced concrete. As construction of the tower progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to vertically pump the thousands of cubic meters of concrete that are required.

 The previous record for pumping concrete on any project was set during the extension of the Riva del Garda Hydroelectric Power Plant in Italy in 1994, when concrete was pumped to a height of 532 m (1,745 ft).

 Burj Dubai now holds this record as of August 19, 2007, as it has a height of 536.1 m (1,759 ft), to hold the record for concrete pumping on any project; and as of October 2, 2007 concrete was pumped to a delivery height of 588 m (1,929 ft).

 Special mixes of concrete are made to withstand the extreme pressures of the massive weight of the tower; each batch of concrete is tested and checked to see whether it can withstand certain pressures. The concrete pumps, pipelines and booms are provided by Putzmeister AG of Aichtal, Germany .

 As the consistency of the concrete on the project is essential, it was difficult to create a concrete that could withstand the thousands of tones bearing down on it, but also to

withstand Gulf temperatures that can reach 50 °C (122 °F).

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 To combat this problem, the concrete is not poured during the day. Instead, ice is added to the mixture and it is poured at night when it is cooler and the humidity is higher. A cooler concrete mixture cures evenly throughout and therefore is less likely to set too

quickly and crack. Any significant cracks could put the whole project in jeopardy. Future Trends:

Burj Dubai's potential competitors are:

The proposed Murjan Tower, in Manama, Bahrain. It is expected to be 1,022 m (3,353 ft) in height with 200 floors

The proposed 1,001 m (3,284 ft) Burj Mubarak al-Kabir to be erected in Kuwait as part of a massive development project called Madinat al-Hareer (City of Silk).

Another proposed tower which may surpass the height of Burj Dubai , is Al Burj (The Tower), near Dubai Marina. Speculation has suggested various heights between 700 m (2,297 ft) and 1,200 m (3,937 ft), but the developer is keeping the final height tightly under wraps. If built, it will be only 22 km (14 mi) from the Burj Dubai site.

India is joining this race with proposed under construction “Palaris Royale Tower” Worli,Mumbai with a 320 m height.

Information Collected By:

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