The taller towers of tomorrow

The world has a new tallest building. Last week it was announced that, rising above the desert coast of the Persian Gulf, the Burj Dubai became taller than any other structure on the planet. And it's not even due to stop climbing until 2009. According to a press release issued by its developers, Burj Dubai currently stands at 629 meters, at least one meter taller than the KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, which has held the mantle of world's tallest structure on and off since 1963. Burj Dubai is already taller than the CN Tower (553.33m), the tallest free-standing structure in the world and Taipei 101 (508m), the world's tallest building which has floors throughout.

The exact final height of the Burj Dubai is a closely guarded secret, anything between 700m and 818m (the latter making it roughly twice the height of the Empire State Building) is reported. It is also reported that its total number of habitable floors will be around 162. The arrival of the Burj Dubai, moreover, heralds a new age of skyscraper design that promises to rival the astonishing rise of 20th-century American cities.

Since the completion of the Sears Tower in 1973, the height of the world's tallest buildings has stalled around the 450m mark. For over 30 years, the construction of taller skyscrapers has been held back by two difficulties: building enough elevators to reach the top and a diminished fervour for record-breaking buildings.

The Burj Dubai is only the first of a new generation of skyscrapers that will see that desire unbound and push the record over 1,000m, into the kilometre-high club and beyond: buildings as tall as a mile high. In Dubai, the proposed Al Burj could stand as tall as 1,200m (down from the initial proposal of 1,600m, or just under a mile). Further up the Gulf in Kuwait, Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir could tower as high as 1,001m, although its UK-based architects, Eric Kuhne and Associates, admit that such a structure is likely to take 25 years to build and require triple-decker elevators to make it feasible.

Then, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, preliminary designs for a building provisionally called the Mile-high Tower is about to be put out for tender, according to Meed, a business intelligence service covering the Middle East. Apparently you will be able to see North Africa from the top.

Away from the Gulf (credit crunch permitting), we can expect the International Business Centre in Seoul possibly some time next year weighing in at 580m and then Foster and Partners' Russia Tower which will soar above Moscow at 612m, all of which puts the current hoo-hah about tall buildings in London into perspective.

But it's not outside the realms of possibility that London could one day join the mile-high club. Indeed, preliminary plans for a super-tall tower rising above St Paul's were drawn up as early as 2005. Populararchitecture describes its Super Tower as a building "of unprecedented scale conceived not as a building so much as a vertical extrusion of the city - a new town in the sky complete with parks, public squares, schools and hospitals."

It would rise 1,500m above London, be hollow of structure and have great gaping holes - hundreds of metres in the air - to let in the light. Of course, several engineering and logistical challenges have to be overcome to break into this new bracket of super-tall buildings, while questions about their economic and environmental sustainability also have to be asked. But the sheer audacity of these designs is simply so striking.

Nakheel trumps Emaar with 1,200m tower

Dubai developer Nakheel is to build a tower 1,200 metres high, comfortably surpassing the Burj Dubai as the tallest building in the world, a source at a company working on the project has told ArabianBusiness.com.

The source at Australian architects Woods Bagot, which was recently awarded a contract for the project, said the tower is to be located on the Arabian Canal, a $61 billion project being developed by Limitless.

Both Limitless and Nakheel are part of state-owned conglomerate Dubai World.
The source would not reveal the name of the project, which is commonly referred to as Al Burj or the Tall Tower.

Nakheel confirmed to ArabianBusiness.com that it was working with Woods Bagot, but said it could not discuss details about the project.

"We are still finalising the design concept of a new project involving an iconic structure - Woods Bagot are a consultant on this project," Nakheel said in a statement.

"As we are still in the design concept stage, it would be premature to discuss any details at this early stage."

At 1,200 metres high Al Burj would be significantly taller than Emaar Properties' Burj Dubai, which is expected to be up to 900 metres once complete in early 2009, although the final height remains a closely guarded secret.

Speculation over whether Nakheel would trump rival Emaar in the race to build the world's tallest tower has been rife ever since the developer announced the Al Burj project back in 2006.

The tower was initially planned to be over a kilometre high and form part of Nakheel's Dubai Waterfront development, but the location was changed.

The tower is now expected to be built between Jumeirah Lake Towers and Ibn Battuta Mall close to Sheikh Zayed Road, according to Construction Week.

The magazine revealed in January that French company Soletanche Bachy had begun piling work on the project.

Nakheel told ArabianBusiness.com the location had yet to be finalised.

"The location of the project has not yet been confirmed, as we are currently conducting test piling to ascertain the suitability of a potential site,” the developer said.

The project is expected to be officially launched "sometime toward the end of the first half of this year", a company spokesperson told ArabianBusiness.com in January.

The Arabian Canal project will include a 75-kilometre canal and extensive waterfront development stretching inland from Dubai Waterfront in Jebel Ali, passing to the east of the Dubai World Central development before turning back towards the Palm Jumeirah.

Limitless is spending around $11 billion to build the canal alone, and another $50 billion on a sprawling 20,000-hectare development that will stretch for 33 kilometres along the inland section of the waterway.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/51573...0m-tower?ln=en

Al Burj location on a diagram map

Al Burj will be next to JLT and Discovery Gardens and opposite of Dubai marina.

Al Burj could go as high as 1462 meters

There are some renders out that show the Al Burj at a height of 1462 meters, here is the renders that ive collected. Please take this news with caution as Nakheel hasn't released the official designs yet to the public.




You may want to also look at these renders as well:

New SkyCity of Dubai part one
New SkyCity of Dubai part two

The new skycity of Dubai part 2

The new skycity of Dubai part 2

Here is some possible renders of what the Al Burj will look like on its completion, please remember design changes may take place this is a extremely early render of the building.