Just as Adrian Smith predicted, the Burj Dubai, a dwarfish 818 meters (2683 feet) tall , hasn't even been completed yet, and already plans for a taller building have been drawn up. Developers in Dubai have announced their intention to build a one kilometer high tower (3,281 feet straight up). Announced the day after world markets dropped about a kilometer in value, the announcement seemed timed to poke a thumb in the eye of battered Western bankers and investors, not to mention worried homeowners across the United States. The building will be 200 stories high and house 100,000 people. Chris O'Donnell, the Australian CEO of Nakheel, which is developing the project, informs us, "We are pushing the boundaries of sustainable design." Sustainable in what sense? Sustain a straight face while talking about it?
According to Nakheel's website, the tower's design will incorporate "elements from great Islamic cities of the past - the gardens of Alhambra in Spain, the harbour of Alexandria in Egypt, the promenade of Tangier in Morocco and the bridges of Isfahan in Iran." Trying to make sense of this pretentious mishmash of design elements is Woods Bagot, a firm based in Adelaide, Australia. The Nakheel project hasn't made it to the Woods Bagot website yet, but the press photos make it look thrillingly vulgar in the Dubai tradition. Evidently the design tries to use the fractal geometry characteristic of Islamic architecture, which lends itself well to the brute repetition of a supertall building. After dark, however, the tower loses its inhibitions, becoming a diorama of reptilian menace and F/X silliness. If this building ever gets built, don't be surprised to be greeted at the door by Jar Jar Binks.
I don't suppose there's any use in protesting the grotesque wastefulness of the Persian Gulf supertalls. More are on the way, funded by a bubble in the world oil markets. However, the United Arab Emirates is burning its candle from both ends. Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, chairman of Dubai World, the parent company of developer Nakheel, says the 1K tower will send "another message to the world that Dubai has a vision like no other place on Earth." This vision is to be a temporary home of a globally transient population. As the price of oil rises above $135 a barrel and stays there, the mobility of the transient population will be severely hampered. When oil reaches $200 a barrel, as many economists predict it will eventually, Dubai will be richer, and emptier, than ever.
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