Chapter 9: Skyline
Awe Inspiring
09.09.2022 - 09.09.2022 103 °F
Chapter 9: Skyline
September 9, 2022
The tallest building in the world, at 2,717 feet tall, the 163-floor Burj Khalifa, is here and has hosted me twice since it was completed in 2010. The Burj Khalifa, at more than ½ mile high in height, sways several feet in the wind. Architects designed it so that the sway would be too slow for the vestibular system of the inner ear so visitors would not notice it. The 1,358 foot tall Princess Tower is nearby; it is the second largest residential tower on the planet (after 432 Park Avenue in New York City.)
The architecture in Dubai is quite interesting. Aside from being 'the tallest', the designs are amongst the most unusual. The Museum of the Future is shaped in an oval on its side with cut outs all over it, there is another building with a horizontal section extending perpendicular to the main building with the far side just suspended in air, the frame building of course, and on it goes. The high rises are all lined up pretty much on top of each other so views are not always the greatest unless you want to see the folks in the windows across from you. And the amazing architectural design of these buildings unfortunately is sometimes lost as the buildings are so on top of each other it is impossible to see all of the detail and they overwhelm each other. But they are all amazing, each one a landmark in and of itself. The Eagle in the downtown Philadelphia Wanamaker's was the landmark I recall as a kid. The Eagle had nothing on these buildings.
Dubai has 18 topped-out or completed structures of at least 984 feet in height. That’s more than any other city can boast. After that are 73 more skyscrapers of 656 feet in height—also more than any other city on the planet.
Signs emblazed “EMAAR” adorn many of these, letting us know that Emaar Properties, owned by Mohamed Ali Alabbar, is the force behind them. Emaar had a plan to build an even taller property nearby but that has not come to pass as yet. Maybe they should wait. To my eye, many of these Emaar Towers appear to be empty or partially so. DAMAC signs come in as a close second.
EMAAR was created in 1997 by Mohaed Alabbar and is the leading developer here. They have been busy. Initially, the government owned the company but it was later involved in an initial public offering of stock. Foreign nationals were allowed to own the shares. Funds from all of that were used to build the Dubai Mall and Burj Kalifa. Emaar has since expanded internationally.
Even with all that is here, there is more to come. Construction is everywhere and jumps out at you in various stages of completion. Mentioned before, the untrained eye sees vacancies and lot of them. At night, one infers empty apartments. But then, it is the dog days of summer. Maybe these units are owned but vacant as the well-off owners summer in Switzerland or some other cooler clime.
There is also DAMAC, developer of DAMAC Hills, a mix of horizontal and vertical community living set around the championship-standard Trump International Golf Club Dubai and nearly four million square feet of private parkland. A second development has a Tiger Woods golf course. Golf is important here. When I was in college, the local public course had sand greens. Somehow, even though that would be easy to do here, there are no sand greens in sight. Back in Chapter 7 we wrote about water. One can only imagine the amount of water needed to keep all this grass alive in this oppressive heat.
In 2015, fire raged through 10 to 15 stories of a nearby 1,100 foot residential tower but nobody died.
So, what's that weird shaped zig zag shaped structure attached to the mall? Oh; that's a snow-filled ski slope. Baby, it's cold inside.
Then, it almost seems as whimsy sets in...
