The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Fridge => Topic started by: The Chronicler on January 05, 2010, 10:52:32 AM
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_dubai_tallest_building (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_dubai_tallest_building)
Yesterday, the Burj Dubai (recently renamed Burj Khalifa) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates opened, allowing it to officially claim the title of the tallest building in the world. At a height of 2717 ft (828 m), not only is it the tallest skyscraper, it is also the tallest freestanding structure and tallest man-made structure ever built.
(here's the wikipedia page)Burj Khalifa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa)
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The thing is essentially ridiculous, twice as tall as the empire state building, its half a mile tall! Its going to bite them in the ass one day, billions spent on a structure that is not very useful. I read on CNN that the top several floors are so small that they are essential an inefficient storage closet half a mile in the air.
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I do wonder why they it's that big anyway, why make it big? I mean, if they're aiming to be the world's tallest tower, what's going to happen if they want a tower that's taller than Burj Dubai?
Soon you'll have buildings going up past the atmosphere.....
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It's a white elephant. They can't possibly use it. It is like that useless hotel in North Korea. Cooked up for the egos of a few rich eccentrics. As it is, the Willis Tower is still LARGER, just not as tall. And yes, the Sears Tower is now the Willis Tower, and the Burj Dubai is the now renamed the Burj Khalifa.
And no matter what, my city (New York) STILL has a collectively larger skyline.
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Hehe yeah, granted through, my country still has the tallest free standing structure in the southern hemisphere, the Sky Tower ^^
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Oh. Your from New Zealand, then. XD
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Hehe yup ^^
I do have to admit, I reckon that the Burj Bubai does look rather impressive, but I doubt I would go there.....too expensive anyway, besides, I want one of those world island things they're making in the ocean somewhere :p
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I don't think it looks so impressive. It looks like a LOT of aluminum cans stacked on top of one another. :DD :DD
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Wait a second....you have aluminum cans!? Curse you! :lol:
I do remember watching something about the struction on the National Geographic channel once and of how it was made.....expensively by the sounds of it! :lol
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Given how tall it is and that the materials, labor, and expertise are almost entirely foreign, it makes it hard to say that it was really middle-eastern.
As it is, my city is still 20-30 times more important than Dubai is, and given how fast that crappy little state's economy is falling, it will likely be 40-50 times more important in a year. XD
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I still wonder why they even built it half the time.....couldn't they at least given it more of a middle-eastern look?
Besides, I still like my country better.....save for having no snow :(
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I don't think middle-eastern architecture can go that high!
Still, This will be topped eventually. I give it 10-12 years. Hopefully in the USA.
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Yeah, that sounds about right, around 10 or so years, someone else will want to top it like you said. I doubt it'll be here, no one seems to be wanting to build real tall structures, only apartment buildings, that's about the tallest things now they'll build here.
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Another thing; why was mentioning aluminum cans significant to you? :DD
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*shifts eyes* You don't want to know :lol:
Nah, seriously, I don't even know myself, just something random :lol
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Well looks like us Canadians cannot be proud of our CN Tower as the world's tallest building anymore, but hey at least it held the record for a long LONG time. With the world going bigger, higher, faster everyday it was a record that was made to be broken.
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The thing that gets me is why, after the events of 9/11, folks are still wanting to build even bigger skyscrapers :huh:.
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Yeah, I mean, wouldn't it be a target for another plane or something? No offence to anyone either intended.
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And no matter what, my city (New York) STILL has a collectively larger skyline
Unofficial capital of the world my friend, I'll never stray too far.
The thing that gets me is why, after the events of 9/11, folks are still wanting to build even bigger skyscrapers
Well in the U.A.E. terrorism isn't much of an issue, but it still makes no sense considering they have plenty of land to expand on. In other places it does make sense to build up though. For example in Tokyo's financial district a single square yard (roughly .8 square meters) of land is worth more then a million dollars. You either build up, or pay up.
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That thing will be a burden on an already-collapsing economy. The UAE really isn't as rich as it would like to have others think it is. All those luxury hotels, mound-of-sand islands, and apartments were bought with the equivalent of a giant credit card, with no way to repay the huge debts, and way too much celebration. Really. Dubai will NEVER equal New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, or Rome.
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That thing will be a burden on an already-collapsing economy. The UAE really isn't as rich as it would like to have others think it is. All those luxury hotels, mound-of-sand islands, and apartments were bought with the equivalent of a giant credit card, with no way to repay the huge debts, and way too much celebration. Really. Dubai will NEVER equal New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, or Rome.
Or in New Zealand....it will never be like Auckland! *pauses* Okay, so Auckland isn't as big as other places....but still! It's pretty much our biggest city, so that must compensate for something! :lol:
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I'm sure that Auckland is a good place. Dubai is becoming a ghost town really fast.
And New York... at this rate, we'll never fall like Dubai has. :DD
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I'm sure that Auckland is a good place. Dubai is becoming a ghost town really fast.
I went to NZ in 2005, and visited some family in Auckland. Though I only saw the city skyline from a distance, I can tell you it's a great place. Heck, the whole of New Zealand is a great place. If I didn't love Perth and Oz so much I'd move there. :DD
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I'm sure that Auckland is a good place. Dubai is becoming a ghost town really fast.
I went to NZ in 2005, and visited some family in Auckland. Though I only saw the city skyline from a distance, I can tell you it's a great place. Heck, the whole of New Zealand is a great place. If I didn't love Perth and Oz so much I'd move there. :DD
As for me, I would never want to leave New York City. Just about anywhere else would seem like a small town, except for maybe Tokyo, and even that is not a match for New York.
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I find this interesting. While on the one hand the tower as such is being criticized and ridiculed as unimpressive and for the egos of rich eccentrics the fact that it was built up by architects from other countries is emphasized and the hope is being expressed that the next higher tower will be in your own country.
Really it sounds like some of us too would be all to glad to join in such a silly nationalist "who has the longest?" kind of competition :huh:
I admit that I do think this tower looks fascinating, but in these times I would be a lot more impressed if a country for example invested such amounts of money to improve thermal insulation of existing buildings on behalf of the environment.
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The next tower will probably be built for a legitimate reason, Malte. The USA actually has an economy that can fill a tower of that size with real businesses and jobs. Germany, Japan, China, France, even Canada have real economies with real production and a serious reason to build such a thing. No offense meant to the Canadians. :lol
Dubai was a place for rich people to invest in properties, expecting unrealistic returns, and hoping that prices would keep going up forever. It didn't work. Speculation and construction are not the same things as real production.
And yes, helping the environment is a more noble cause. I agree.
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My best guess is that if they're going to build another tall as building, it'll be out of bordem, you know, they need something to do with all the money they have and would say something along the lines of "Okay, we've got this extra money....let's go build another tower, it'll pass away the time" :p
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That's not why those towers are supposed to be built. There are actual concerns about money and return on an investment. When people invest irresponsibly, it is known as rampant speculation. I think the term used in the United States was "irrational exuberance." Anyway, the idea is that a building is to be tall because it maximizes valuable space, such as in New York City or Tokyo, as opposed to feeding the egos of a few heavily-indebted sheiks.
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Hehe yeah, I know what you mean ^^
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As it is, it takes more than a few really tall buildings to make a decent skyline. New York City has over a thousand such buildings, possibly more, depending on how it is defined. Few of them were built for someone's ego.
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You mean like Trump Tower? Wasn't that built for Donald Trump's ego?
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Note that I said "FEW of them were built for someone's ego." :lol
He has many such towers with his name on them, and even so, they generally serve a legitimate purpose in a functioning economy. Dubai, by contrast, has less of an economy, and more of a set of bad investments which blew up in its face, like a credit card bill that can't be repaid. :blink:
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Wait, you mean there's more than one Trump Tower?
But yeah, it seems like that for the UAE in regards to Burj Dubai. All we must do is wait and see before they loose even more money.
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Yes. Trump has many towers, usually built in the legitimate expectation of returns on his investment, as opposed to just building it in the vain hopes that people would continue to shovel money into something which they couldn't hope to profit from.
Here are some of them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Interna...r_%28Chicago%29 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Hotel_and_Tower_%28Chicago%29)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Tower_%28New_York%29 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_Tower_%28New_York%29)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_World_Tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_World_Tower)
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If I were to build sky scrapers, I would at least name then something different, not Trump this and Trump that :lol:
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The naming of those towers is hardly original, I will grant you that. :lol:
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Yeah, at least Burj Dubai is original....at least, it sounds original :lol:
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It means "Dubai Tower." They changed it to "Burj Khalifa"; the Khalifa Tower.
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Burj Khalifa? That does sound more original at least. At least it's not called the UAE Tower :p
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Maybe they were hoping that by renaming it, people would buy space in it? A foolish hope.
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This reminds me of those Arcologies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcology).
Insanely cool looking but almost useless.
I hope Dubai does not carry Dubai City Tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_City_Tower) into fruition. The building is over a mile high! What good is it?
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Well I am impressed with the 2,717 foot giant Dubai has. I might see it sometime in the future who knows?
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This reminds me of those Arcologies (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcology).
Insanely cool looking but almost useless.
I hope Dubai does not carry Dubai City Tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai_City_Tower) into fruition. The building is over a mile high! What good is it?
Dubai isn't the only city that's proposing to have a mile-high skyscraper.
Proposed tall buildings and structures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proposed_tall_buildings_and_structures)
According to this page, Kuwait City and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia also have their own plans for a mile-high skyscraper.
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I've heard that all of those plans have been canceled or scaled back. Chicago has a plan for something 2000 feet tall, but it is on hold.
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I saw an artist's rendering of Dubai Tower while the real thing was under construction. 160 stories! And I thought I'd get a a nosebleed going up in the Sears Tower. :lol BTW I've yet to venture out on the glass balcony but one of these days I'll shell out the $15 just to see what it's like to look out with no "floor" under my feet. Just don't look down! :blink:
I think it's lovely. Let's hope no crazy in a plane decides to crash through it.
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That remains a threat, I guess. Still, the UAE has done little to provoke such attacks. It doesn't have armies occupying the Middle East. Heck, it hardly HAS a military. Still, it might not be beyond the realm of reason to see that a western symbol of greed and decadence might be attacked. After all, the tower was made in the name of Western ideas.
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i doubt trying to build a 3000 foot high building makes any economic sense. especially in light of 9-11, if that building is targeted while full of people, that's tens of thousands of life at risk. ok so UAE is not the top terrorist target than the US is, but still i don't see the logic in building it that high