Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Tower: Observation Deck Open, Mouths Closed

"World's tallest tower in Dubai reopens"
The Associated Press (April 4, 2010)

"The observation deck of the world's tallest skyscraper reopened Sunday in Dubai, two months after an elevator malfunction left visitors trapped more than 120 stories above the ground and forced it to close.

"Dozens of tourists were lining up Sunday for tickets to take an elevator to the 124th floor of the half-mile-high Burj Khalifa, where the tower's observation deck is located.

"The deck was shut in February after an elevator packed with visitors got stuck between floors for 45 minutes before rescuers dropped a ladder into the shaft so those inside could crawl out. Two months later, it's still unclear what caused the elevator to fail.

"The accident proved a major embarrassment for Dubai, whose rulers hoped the Burj Khalifa, which officially opened in January, would be a major tourist draw and buoy the Gulf city-state as it struggles to revive its image as a cutting-edge Arab metropolis amid nagging questions about its financial health.

"At 2,717 feet (828 meters), the tapering, silvery tower ranks as not only the world's highest skyscraper, but also the tallest freestanding structure in the world.

"Its developer, Emaar Properties has not officially announced the observation deck's reopening...."

Good news for Dubai.

I noticed a recurring situation in the article:

"...The firm handling Emaar's public relations did not immediately respond to calls from The AP...."

"...Otis spokesman Dilip Rangnekar previously told the AP that the installation is ongoing. On Sunday he did not respond to a request for details on the elevators' repairs or their safety...."

"...Emaar, the state-linked company that owns the tower, had little to say about February's accident. The company said nothing about an elevator malfunction at the time of the accident and did not provide details of any repairs or maintenance work on the elevators before the viewing deck reopened Sunday...."

It seemed like quite a lot of 'no comment.' I've mentioned before, that the folks who run the Dubai tower, Burj Khalifa, seemed to be more hesitant to talk about what happened than you'd expect from an American company.

Well, Emaar isn't an American company, and Dubai isn't America. Not everybody works at the somewhat frantic pace we consider 'normal.' Which is fine. The world would be less interesting if we were all alike.

I don't know why Otis and all have been so reticent - maybe it's because they're all following the lead of Dubai's culture. Or maybe they're not sure where on the continuum from 'investigative reporter' to paparazzi the lot that's been calling them fall.

And, remembering the sort of hatchet job that the Western press can do: I can't say that I blame Emaar and all with being a tad cautious.

Related posts:

• "Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Tower: Points of View"
  (February 10, 2010)
• "Explosion and Evacuation at Burj Dubai / Khalifa - and Lots of Silence"
  (February 10, 2010)

Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Tower: Points of View

So much depends on how a person - or news service - looks at things:

"Terrifying lift ordeal at Burj Khalifa tower, the world’s tallest building"
Times Online (February 10, 2010)

"Turkmenistan president visits Burj Khalifa"
UAE / General, gulfnews (February 10, 2010)

"Dubai tower visitors were stuck almost 'At the Top' "
France24 (February 10, 2010)

The impression I've gotten from these and other news accounts is that Dubai officials have decided to comment on the elevator situation.

The official account, which is that an electrical malfunction caused the "bang" and dust/smoke that visitors noticed, is - in my opinion - consistent with eyewitness accounts that made it into the news. I think that the tower's owners and Dubai officials might have been a little more prompt in giving an explanation - even a 'we don't know, but we're looking into it' statement - but then, I'm an American. Not all cultures have our somewhat manic sense of urgency.

Which is okay. This world would be rather boring if everybody was alike.

For Dubai's sake, I hope the folks who run the tower get its systems up and running soon. I get the impression that the country could use the tourism revenue, if nothing else.

Related posts:

• "Explosion and Evacuation at Burj Dubai / Khalifa - and Lots of Silence"
  (February 10, 2010)
• "Burj Dubai: Record-Setting Superscraper Opens Today - With the Usual Complaints"
  (January 4, 2010)

Explosion and Evacuation at Burj Dubai / Khalifa - and Lots of Silence

"Faulty elevator to blame for Dubai tower shutdown"
The Associated Press (February 9, 2010)

"A faulty elevator was behind the shutdown of the observation deck on the world's tallest tower that effectively closed the half-mile-high Burj Khalifa to the public, witnesses and a Dubai rescue official said Tuesday.

"Visitors who were on the viewing floor at the time of Saturday's incident told The Associated Press they heard a loud noise, then saw what looked like smoke but turned out to be dust seeping out of the crack in one of the elevator doors.

" 'It almost sounded like a small explosion. It was a really loud bang,' said Michael Timms, 31, an American...."

"...The 2,717-foot (828-meter) building's owner, Emaar Properties, has revealed few details about the incident since closing the observation deck indefinitely.

"In a brief statement Monday, the company said the viewing platform was temporarily shut for 'maintenance and upgrade' because of 'unexpected high traffic.'..."

"Emaar has made no mention of problems with the elevators. That angers some involved in the incident.

" 'What just kind of shocks me is that they were going to brush this under the rug to save face. If it broke, at least tell people it broke,' Timms said.

"The company has not responded to specific questions about the incident or made anyone available to speak despite repeated requests by the AP...."

(News services were calling the tower the Burj Dubai last month. Looks like it's the Burj Khalifa now. I rather doubt that Dubai put up two identical supertowers.)

I don't know why the owners have clammed up. Maybe it's a cultural thing: something that folks living in that part of the world would understand as something other than an effort to wish a problem away. In contrast, an American company that got that unresponsive, that fast, would have me wondering about what the brass knew that they didn't want anyone else to know. In Dubai, maybe ignoring the press is a tradition.

It's not smart, though, I think. Particularly since foreigners are probably expected to come to the Burj Khalifa (Dubai?). Some of us have gotten used to getting information, in some level of detail, quickly. Even if it's 'we don't know what happened, but we acknowledge that it's serious: and we're investigating.'

And, Americans may remember cases like last year's poison peanuts. (February 26, 2009) The lesson from that affair should have been that ignoring a problem doesn't make it go away.

Something involving an explosion and a building isn't what I'd choose to keep quiet about, if I was responsible for the tower's public image. Particularly since the tower is in a part of the world which has the reputation for producing terrorists. (Sorry, but it only takes a few outfits like Al Qaeda to make an impression.)

But, happily, I don't have to worry about deciding how to handle this embarrassment.

I'm just glad that everybody got out okay.

As far as we know.

Later related post:

• "Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Tower: Points of View"
  (February 10, 2010)

Related posts:

• "Burj Dubai: Record-Setting Superscraper Opens Today - With the Usual Complaints"
  (January 4, 2010)
• "Peanut Peril: Remembering"
  (February 26, 2009)

In the news:

• "Burj Khalifa tower deck shut over power problem"
  CNN (February 9, 2010)
• "World's tallest tower in UAE closes"
  Aljazeera.net/english (February 9, 2010)
  • Includes "The Burj Khalifa in numbers" stats

Background:

• "World's Tallest Building Opens"
  Scholastic (February 4, 2010)

The Scholastic article includes this explanation of the tower's new name:

"...A New Name for the Middle Eastern Tower

"The Burj Khalifa was originally named the Burj Dubai, or Dubai Tower, after the region where it was built. Dubai is a sheikdom, or a region in the Middle East that is governed by a ruler called a sheik. It is part of the United Arab Emirates, a country made up of seven sheikdoms. Recently, Dubai needed a loan. Sheik Khalifa, President of the United Arab Emirates and sheik of neighboring Abu Dhabi, helped out. Burj Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa in his honor...." Fair enough: and a custom shared by quite a few cultures, I'd think. For example, quite a few buildings here in America have been named after the person who provided the financing.

Burj Dubai: Record-Setting Superscraper Opens Today - With the Usual Complaints

"Dubai's 'superscraper' makes history in hard times"
Reuters (January 3, 2010)

"Started at the height of the economic boom and built by some 12,000 laborers, the world's tallest building will open on Monday in Dubai as the glitzy emirate seeks to rekindle optimism after its financial crisis.

"Burj Dubai, whose opening has been delayed twice since construction began in 2004, will mark another milestone for the deeply indebted emirate with a penchant for seeking new records.

"Dubai, one of seven members of the United Arab Emirates, gained a reputation for excess with the creation of man-made islands shaped like palms and an indoor ski slope in the desert.

"With investor confidence in Dubai badly bruised by the emirate's announcement in November that it would seek a debt standstill for one of its largest conglomerates, the Burj Dubai is seen as a positive start to the year after a bleak 2009...."

The article is a pretty good overview of Burj Dubai ('Dubai Tower') and its official opening today. And a report of the predictable background noise.

Drearily Predictable Complaints

Environmentalists, naturally, don't like Burj Dubai because it's big. "Carbon footprint" is the catchphrase these days.

Human rights groups, naturally, figure the workers involved must be suffering. Hey: they're workers, so they must be oppressed, right? For some folks the idea that laborers, working outside a collective, might not be ground under the heel of the bourgeoisie seems to be unthinkable.

Like I've said before, the Lemming is apathetic only in the sense that I don't care about the 'right' things.

Burj Dubai: Lots of World Records

Burj Dubai is over 800 meters, 2625 feet, tall, with more than 160 stories. Today, the tower holds quite a few world records:

• Tallest building in the world
• Tallest free-standing structure in the world
• Highest number of stories in the world
• Highest occupied floor in the world
• Highest outdoor observation deck in the world
  • Not a typo:
    • Outdoor observation deck
• Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world

It's even got the world's tallest service elevator. Four floors of the superscraper, under the spire, are set aside for communications and broadcasting.

The superscraper's core is a spiral Y-shaped structure designed to minimize stress from wind pressure. The wings of the core are joined at the center by a hexagonal 'pipe.' From an architectural point of view, this is a quite impressive pile of concrete and steel. (Burj Dubai website, "Structure," "Burj Dubai Height, Facts & Figures")

I think that the title of one section of Burj Dubai's website gives a pretty good feel for how big this thing is: "Downtown Burj Dubai."

Related posts:

• "Strange and Fantastic Buildings: 80-plus Architectural Photos"
  (February 23, 2009)
• "Kilometer-High Tower on Hold"
  (January 14, 2009)
  • It's in Dubai, too
• "Dubai Architecture: A Photo Gallery"
  (October 25, 2008)
  • Micro-review of an impressive collection of photos, which were accompanied by mildly vulgar statements
• "Dynamic Tower in Dubai"
  (July 11, 2008)
• "Masdar City: Impressive Architecture, Ambitious Goal"
  (March 14, 2008)
• "More Dubai Architecture and Development"
  (March 3, 2008)
• "Dubai Architecture"
  (February 23, 2008)
• "Big-Budget Architecture"
  (November 29, 2007)
• "Another Dubai Development: Rich Country, Innovative Architecture"
  (October 3, 2007)
• "Indoor Ski Resort in Dubai"
  (September 15, 2007)

More:

• Burj Dubai
• "Massive Burj Dubai Skyscraper to Open Amid Crisis"
  The Wall Street Journal (January 3, 2010)
• "Burj Dubai Reaches Final Height"
  blog, International luxury property listings (February 2, 2009)
• "Labour unrest hampers Burj Dubai work"
  Khaleej Times Online (March 22, 2006 )
  • Short version:
    • Some workers at Burj Dubai didn't like
      • How much money they were getting
      • Having to wait for a bus
    • So they
      • Beat security officers
      • Smashed about $1,000,000 worth of equipment
  • The wages listed were quite low by American standards
    • But the article omitted any information about local or regional costs of living
  • Other issues:
    • "better medical care"
    • "humane treatment by foremen"

Masdar City Video - Looks Cool

"Masdar City"
kotajotun, YouTube (November 23, 2007)


"[I] n April 2006, Abu Dhabi took a bold and historic decision to embrace renewable and sustainable energy technologies.

"As the first major hydrocarbon-producing nation to take such a step, it has established its leadership position by launching Masdar, a global cooperative platform for open engagement in the search for solutions to some of mankind's most pressing issues: energy security, climate change and truly sustainable human development."

This is a seriously cool video.

A tip of the hat to VL, who left the YouTube URL in a comment in another blog. That comment read, in part: "Masdar City to me is super scary and yet addictive." I think I see what VL meant - but I don't get as excited quite as easily as I once did. I think it has something to do with seeing catchphrases come and go, like:

• Global warming
• Communist threat
• Sustainability
• National security
• Climate change
• Creeping socialism
• Energy conservation
• Upward mobility
• Quality of life
• The American dream

I'd be a whole lot more worried about global warming, for example, if I didn't know that we're just coming out of - or maybe still in - the most recent of three (or four, depending on who's counting) major glacial periods Earth has experienced. It'd be a bit disturbing if Earth weren't warming up - as was the case when I was in high school. Then, civilization was doomed by the coming ice age.

Not that cities couldn't be engineered better than they are. One of the reasons I like living in a small town in central Minnesota is that the air doesn't make my eyes sting.

If the Masdar Initiative delivers on its promises, it'll be quite a place. The video does a fine job of extolling the virtues of the coming utopia. Just to be picky, I'll mention some things that jumped out at me from the narrative:

Walled City

Masdar will be a walled city: something we haven't seen in Europe for quite a few centuries. Still, I think I see the point, considering the climate and nearby airport.

Zero Carbon Emissions

Phrases like "carbon footprint" and "carbon emissions" are very 'in' just now: like "sustainable." I suppose the Masdar's "zero carbon emissions" don't count the carbon dioxide that human beings emit.

The Ultimate City?

"One day, all cities will be built like this."

I don't doubt that some elements of Masdar City will be employed elsewhere. However, I remember Brasilia.

"New" isn't always "better" - and the control-freak style of city planning that was popular in my youth didn't work out as well as some had hoped.

An intriguing look at Masdar City

The video, however, is entertaining, informative - and an intriguing look at another grand project in the United Arab Emirates.

Background:

• City Planning:
  • "Brasilia"
    Viva Travel Guides
  • "The costs of Utopia: Brasilia, Johannesburg, and Moscow"
    Alain Bertaud
  • "History Of Cities And City Planning"
    Cliff Ellis (undated)
  • "City Planning online"
    Environmental Design Library, University of California Berkeley
  • "The City Planning and Landscape Architecture Library"
    CPLA Reference & Resource Center, now merged with the Isaac Funk Family Library
• Glaciation:
  • "Neogene"
    Wikipedia (a pretty good overview, and acknowledges a lack of consensus on whether or not we're still in a glacial period
  • "Glaciers"
    Dr. Mark Fischer(?) Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University
• Climate Change, from Space.com
  • "Jupiter's Spots Disappear Amid Major Climate Change"
    (21 April 2004)
  • "Mars Emerging from Ice Age, Data Suggest"
    (08 December 2003)
  • "Sun's Output Increasing in Possible Trend Fueling Global Warming"
    (20 March 2003)
  • "Global Warming on Pluto Puzzles Scientists"
    (09 October 2002)

Kilometer-High Tower on Hold

"UPDATE 1-Dubai's Nakheel stops work on 1-km tower for a year"
Reuters (January 14, 2009)

"DUBAI, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Nakheel, the state-owned developer of Dubai's palm-tree shaped islands, said on Wednesday it would halt work on a kilometre (3,281-feet) tall tower for a year in the Gulf's trade and tourism hub....."


(NakheelHarbour.com, via FOXNews, used without permission)
Even for Dubai, that's an ambitious project. Impressive, too.

Looks like times are tough all over. For the sake of the people who were working on the project, I hope that work does resume in a year's time.

Besides, I want to see what the completed tower looks like.

More, at Nakheel Harbour & Tower
(Be ready for cool graphics and music - and a link to a movie)

Dubai Architecture: A Photo Gallery

"DUBAI IS NUTS!!!"
A page on dubai-architecture.info

For the record, I don't agree with the title, or one possible interpretation of the the mildly-vulgar statements at the end of this page.

However, this collection of photographs and renderings is spectacular - from


(From dubai-architecture.info, used without permission)
"Dubai in 1990 prior to the craziness"

to


(From dubai-architecture.info, used without permission)
"The UAE Spaceport would be the first spaceport in the world if construction ever gets under way. I'm not joking... "

This page is mostly a gallery of photos and renderings of Dubai's architecture.

In my opinion, if you want to know what the 22nd century will look like, visit this page.

About Dubai's Spaceport

Based on Dubai's established record for outstanding and innovative architecture, I don't doubt that Dubai's spaceport will be spectacular.

But it isn't the first.

There's a commercial spaceport in use now. The passenger terminal hasn't been built yet, and the only in-use launch facility is a 20-by-100 foot concrete pad, but Spaceport America is up and running. That's a subject for another post: "Spaceport America: It's Real, and Open for Business " (October 25, 2008).

Another Dubai Skyscraper: This One Spins

"The spinning skyscraper of Dubai"
Times Online (June 27, 2008)

"Another week, another skyscraper is announced in Dubai. However, the Dynamic Tower, designed by the architect David Fisher, is quite different. The 420-metre tower, with an hotel, offices and flats, is permanently on the move: each of its floors can rotate 360 degrees.

"Fisher, who is married to a descendent of William Shakespeare, ...."

Very cool architecture.

Related posts on Apathetic Lemming of the North:

• "Dubai Architecture"
  (February 23, 2008)
• "Big-Budget Architecture"
  (November 28, 2007)
• "A New Spin on Skyscrapers: Literally"
  (September 13, 2007)

Masdar City: Impressive Architecture, Ambitious Goal

"Enter the Planet’s First 0-Carbon and 0-Waste City" Techpin (February 29, 2008)

"Back in 2007, at Cityscape Dubai, the world’s largest business-to-business real estate investment and development event, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology presented an amazing project consisting of building a 0-carbon and 0-waste city with the finalizing date estimated for the year 2009."

The 0- part is impressive, but then I remember Biosphere 2.

Still, the Masdar City renderings look like very cool architecture, and the design ideas are valid.

More Dubai Architecture and Development

"Paradise is moving to Dubai" Oddity Central (March 3, 2008)

Photos of Dubai's Palm Paradise: That's the offshore land development, shaped like a palm frond.

Quite impressive.

Dubai Architecture

"Dubai Architecture"

Photos, descriptions: a very good resource for one of the architectural hotspots of the world.

Big-Budget Architecture

"Dubai Wonders" shows what can be done with a huge budget, and a willingness to build something new and different.

Photos, renderings, almost no text. Knowing quite a bit about what's been getting built, and planned, in Dubai helps when viewing this page.

Another Dubai Development: Rich Country, Innovative Architecture

"Seven star 'Jungle' hotel tempts developer in Dubai - images" "Building staff have variously named it 'The Rollmop', 'The Pringle' and 'The Funnel'. Any better suggestions should be posted below."

I suggested "The Vase."

Indoor Ski Resort in Dubai

"Pista de esqui en Dubai (27 fotos)" (I think that means something like "Ski Track in Dubai (27 photos)) - but I could be wrong.)

My Spanish is rusty, at best, and that might not be Spanish.

Never mind that: Those photos are worth looking at. Ski resorts are fairly common, here in Minnesota. Not surprising, since water is a mineral for several months out of the year. In Dubai, it's a different story.

The ski resort isn't a particularly large one, but it's all there, including a ski lift. My hat's off to the people who imagined, designed, and built it.

In my opinion, this shows how the perils of overcrowding are overrated. It's not being "crowded" that's a problem: it's what can be done with the available space.