Nakheel Tower
| Al Burj | |
|---|---|
| File:Alburjrenderlowres.jpg Nighttime rendition of Al Burj | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Location | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
| Height | |
| Antenna spire | Template:M to ft |
| Roof | Template:M to ft |
| Top floor | Template:M to ft |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 228 |
| Floor area | Template:M2 to ft2 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Woods Bagot |
| Developer | Nakheel Properties |
| Engineer | WSP Cantor Seinuk |
| References | |
| [1][2] | |
Al Burj (Arabic: البرج "The Tower") is a supertall skyscraper proposed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by developer Al Nakheel.
Nakheel is in talks with several potential contractors which include South Korean Samsung Engineering & Construction who are also building the Burj Dubai, Japanese Shimizu Corporation and Australian Grocon. An article posted on Construction UAE and MEED.com[3] on 16 March, 2007 indicates that construction on the tower was slated to begin later that year and that the final height of the tower would be Template:M to ft, reduced from an initial height of Template:M to ft or just under one mile. However, more recent indications are that the project has been considerably downgraded, and construction has still not started.
Location
The tower was originally proposed in 2004 as the centrepiece of Palm Jumeirah, one of the world's largest man-made islands. It was to be named "The Pinnacle" and rise from the centre of a canal on the trunk of the island. The height was to be Template:M to ft tall and consist of 120 floors of luxury apartments but it was replaced by the Trump International Hotel and Tower and moved to the Dubai Waterfront. Although ground leveling and land reclamation has begun on the Dubai Waterfront, construction of the tower never started because of the proximity to the Jebel Ali Airport, which is currently under construction.[2]
The location has now been changed again to a plot near Jumeirah Lake Towers and Dubai Marina, and soil testing has begun.[4]
Design
To date very little has been revealed about the exact design but Nakheel keeps stressing that it will become one of the tallest towers in the world and become a new icon for Dubai.
The original design conceived by Pei Partnership Architects was to have Template:M2 to ft2 of floorspace comprising ultra-luxury apartments, restaurants, a large health club, and an observation deck. The building actually consisted of three separate towers built around a hollow interior and joined together by several sky bridges functioning as sky lobbies. On top of each sky bridge was a sky garden. One of the towers was shorter than the other two with a large outdoor pool on the roof, while the other two were topped with large spires.
In the latest redesign the basic shape has remained the same, three towers connected by sky bridges with two twin spires and one tower shorter than the others. What has changed is the number of sky bridges: the original design showed only 4, but later renderings show 6, while an even more recent one suggests this has been increased again to about 9 or 10. The building is also to be mixed-use rather than wholly residential.
There appears to be a new architect on the project, with Woods Bagot replacing Pei Partnership. This was indicated by an August 10 article in MEED.com which does not mention Pei but refers to Woods Bagot as one of the consultants on the project.[1]
Height
According to officials at Al Nakheel, the tower was originally designed to be at least Template:M to ft tall and have more than 160 floors, but no specific figures have been disclosed. This is very much the same strategy as that employed by Emaar with the Burj Dubai, which is under construction. The secrecy behind Al Burj's height originally suggested that it will also try to compete for this title and rumours even suggest it will break the Template:M to ft mark. There is indeed evidence from the latest renditions that height increases have been made. One of these renders even shows the tower with more than 200 floors. The 16 March 2007 article by Construction UAE referenced above stated that the tower would indeed begin construction later that year and that it would be Template:M to ft tall.
However, in an article from Construction Week,[5] Al Nakheel CEO Chris O'Donnell said that "height isn't everything" and that iconic buildings were more important. This may indicate that building Al Burj to be taller than the Burj Dubai has been deemed financially infeasible by Nakheel, the project has been significantly scaled back, and that this building is no longer a competitor for tallest building in the world.[5]
Only a week later, an article in MEED.com claimed that the tower will be taller than 1 kilometre.[1]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Nakheel designs 1km-high tower". Retrieved 2007-08-10.
- ^ a b "DUBAI: Al Burj". Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ "Waterfront Tower to be World's Tallest Landmark". Retrieved 2007-03-27.
- ^ "TALL TOWER (aka Al Burj), 228F Res+Com+Hotel, 1050m". Retrieved 2007-11-15.
- ^ a b "Al Burj to shrink?". Retrieved 2007-08-02.