Burj Dubai - The World's tallest man-made structure (to be)

[Whomp]

The Spire in Chicago won't sway!?

Can I get some information on this?

Apparently it will have some.

It will also include a relatively unique design feature: a twisting exterior designed to deflect wind. The seven-sided corkscrew design will reduce wind gusts at street level by directing most of the wind upward along the channels.

In rectangular buildings, a fluid wind flow puts pressure on the windward face of the building, while as air moves around it, a suction is applied to the leeward face. This often causes a sway in tall buildings which can be counteracted, at least partially, by stiffening the structure or by using a dynamic wind damper, according to the Mario Salvadori book Why Buildings Stand Up.

Although the curved design — which is similar to that of Sweden’s Turning Torso — will not completely negate wind forces, a tapering concrete core and about a dozen shear walls emanating from it are installed to counteract the wind forces.

Each of the building’s floors is anchored to a central column but offset. Each floor rotates on average 2.44 degrees from the one below, with a total rotation of 360 degrees as it reaches its 2,000 ft. height. The result is, in fact, very similar to a drill bit.

http://www.asme.org/NewsPublicPolicy/Newsletters/METoday/Chicago_Spire_Feat_2000_Feet.cfm

 

[Merkinball]

Okay, I was gonna say...

You don't make structures 100% rigid.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Okay, I was gonna say...

You don't make structures 100% rigid.

*snicker*

10freakingchars

 

[Esckey]

I think its kind of stupid. It is pretty and innovative(especially that Palm Tree island of theirs) but thats a crap load of money.

Some of these plans looking good on paper but others just don't pan out.

 

[Babbler]

I have the impression that Dubai is the most glibly ephemerally city on Earth today, a modern gold rush town that will simple crumple when the conditions sustaining it end.

 

[RulerOfDaPeople]

That looks like a city that is being built for the future. If you can envision what a super city/new powerful civilization of the future might be, I'm sure that is the vision and dreams of those behind this project. Right now Dubai looks like it's at it's stages where New York was 150years ago.

But like bigdog said, that natural energy tower will beat them all.

 

[nivi]

Can you imagine what the place would look like deserted? And the desert creeping up reclaiming its land, that would be amazing, a "fallout" feel to it.

 

[Theige]

That looks like a city that is being built for the future. If you can envision what a super city/new powerful civilization of the future might be, I'm sure that is the vision and dreams of those behind this project. Right now Dubai looks like it's at it's stages where New York was 150years ago.

Among the many differences being, there were actually many people in New York

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

Huh? I'm staring out my living room window and see two black rectangle buildings. Sears Tower and the IBM building. Maybe you're not familiar with architecture. Every architecture student is familiar with the likes of Louis Sullivan, John W. Root, Daniel Burnham, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Helmut Jahn and now Santiago Calatrava (who's building the Spire). Maybe you were in the wrong part of Chicago...

You forgot the Hancock. Yeah, looking at the skyline, you're right. They're not all 'black' rectangles. But they all are almost exclusively giant fricken rectangles. A few of them have an ounce of flair here and there, but there is absolutely no architectural imagination in any skyscraper in the city. I see alot of buildings eliciting 'eh's' and yawns. I see nothing that would warrant a 'Holy sh*t, do you see that?!!?! Hell, I'd settle for a 'hey, that's kinda neat'. But none of that either. Apparently Dubai has bought up all the imaginative architects as well.

 

[sp1023]

Isn't there one they're building in Brazil that's supposed to be like 2K feet?

 

[Whomp]

You forgot the Hancock. Yeah, looking at the skyline, you're right. They're not all 'black' rectangles. But they all are almost exclusively giant fricken rectangles. A few of them have an ounce of flair here and there, but there is absolutely no architectural imagination in any skyscraper in the city. I see alot of buildings eliciting 'eh's' and yawns. I see nothing that would warrant a 'Holy sh*t, do you see that?!!?! Hell, I'd settle for a 'hey, that's kinda neat'. But none of that either. Apparently Dubai has bought up all the imaginative architects as well.

I'm pretty sure most any architect would disagree with your assessment of the city's architecture especially known for its variety.

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

Anyhow, the Hancock is not a rectangle. In fact, Chicago's much better known for chair like buildings that have dual utility like the Board of Trade or the Opera House (Trading floor/Opera on the bottom and office space on the top) or the the Boeing building which is cantilevered from the top over railroad tracks.

 

[Oerdin]

Dubai is the best of the Arab world but it still has a crappy climate and an absolute dictator. Sure, he's an enlightened dictator who hasn't hoarded all the money for himself like most other Arab dictators but try to speak out against the government and you're butt will end up in jail. The UAE knows they only have about 15 years of oil production left so they're trying to diversify their economy. Good for them but that doesn't mean I want to live there.

 

[Oerdin]

There are already plans to build a 50% taller building.. also in Dubai.. The Al Burj, standing at 1,200m (4,000 feet)

The U.S. (and many other countries) could easily build a building taller than the Burj Dubai.. It would just cost a couple billion dollars. The Burj Dubai is going to be tough to beat.. and if the Al Burj goes up.. I don't expect the record to be beaten for at least a decade.

The basic facts are that the rest of the world builds buildings based upon market needs and market forces. In the UAE the government subsidizes skyscraper construction as a sort of welfare and bragging rights system. At the end of the day they're going to end up with a lot of really tall and really empty office towers. The government is already suffering massive financial losses due to unrented office space yet they are building more.

 

[Fifty]

Im just here to point out that there are lots of neato pictures in this thread!

 

[Abaddon]

As cool as they are, why are they building sky scrapers when the land around is not used?!?!

 

[Oerdin]

Welfare for construction companies combined with bragging rights. What else?

It sure isn't based upon market needs or the most efficient allocation of resources.

 

[Dubai Vol]

The government is already suffering massive financial losses due to unrented office space yet they are building more.

Got a source for this? That would make my day

This WAS a great place to live until about 3 years ago. Now the inflation and traffic are killing it.