Everyone is talking about Burj Dubai (meaning Dubai Tower), from newspaper columns to architectural magazines to radio talks… As of 21 July 2007, the tower’s developers reported the Burj Dubai’s height as 512.1 meters (1,680.1 feet), with 141 completed floors, surpassing the Taipei 101 (509.2 m - 1,671 ft) as the tallest high-rise building in the world.
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, among numerous other famous high-rises.
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 desert flower native to the region. 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 the 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 (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 zero-entry swimming pool will be located on the 78th floor of the tower.
It will also feature the world’s fastest elevator, rising and descending at 18 m/s (65 km/h, 40 mph). Engineers had considered installing the world’s first triple-decker elevators, but the final design calls for double-decker elevators. A total of 56 elevators will be installed that can carry 42 people at a time.
No mention was made about the green design features like those of the SOM designed tower in China. Is there any energy saving features in this design?