IM Iqbal

There were dignitaries and there were fireworks and all around jubilation as the world's tallest man-made structure came alive, no matter if the name was changed slightly. Burj Dubai became Burj Khalifa in gratitude to the ruler of neighboring Abu Dhabi's who  bailed out Dubai in its economic crisis and enabled the Burj (Tower) to tower above all the tall buildings in the world.

Burj Khalifa is not only a marvel of civil/structural engineering but also the fulfillment of the dream of the Dubai entrepreneurship. It has made this small part of the United Arab Emirate's large and more progressively faster diversifying economic structure the envy of the world.

The world's tallest structure standing at 2716 feet (828 meters) and 160 stories, and developed by Emaar Properties, had a spectacular display of sound, light, water and fireworks on the evening of January 4. It was a splendid spectacle displaying the joys of a pioneering effort to tower over other tall structures the world over and give Dubai yet another head start in the economic race. The slowing down of global economy did affect Dubai and also the construction miracles but Burj Khalifa has overcome it.

Before the economic downturn, Dubai has been the hub of international trade and development. The real estate business has been booming and the power and prestige of this tiny sheikhdom was larger than its size. Burj Dubai was aimed as a symbol of that power though now it's named after the benefactor Khalifa, of Abu Dhabi who was reported to have generously rescued the project.

a visit to Dubai should now start with an astounding trip to the Burj Khalifa with its myriad charm of swimming pools, restaurants, shopping malls and hotels and office spaces. It's a city in itself rightfully boasting as the tallest building in the world. Its design is different, its look is different and its outside and inside world is different - but with all the charm a modern structure could offer.

The Burj has both residential suites and offices. Among the prestigious occupants of Burj Khalifa is an Indian businessman from Bangalore, BR Shetty who will occupy two full floors of the Burj paying a whopping Rs. 1.2 billion. 

Reports said the January 4 opening was splendidly awesome. A combination of dazzling fireworks, light beams, choreographed water displays, and sound and music effects describe the evolution of the world's most iconic new building in a breathtaking sensory journey.

The entire display was controlled by a sophisticated arrangement of ultra high-tech IT systems, which choreograph at least 50 different sequences of lighting, fireworks, water and sound effects.

Event experts from France, Britain and the United States collaborated on the project, demonstrating the global spirit of teamwork which defines Burj Khalifa.

[The opening itself was truly international with hundreds of reporters and cameramen descending from all over the world to capture the charm of the building and the spirit of the occasion.]

The inauguration performance began with a short film depicting the story of Dubai and the evolution of the Burj Dubai as the world's tallest building. A precisely choreographed sound, light, water and fireworks display followed..

The first act in the Light and Sound show, themed ‘From the Desert Flower to Burj Dubai (Khalifa)' a co-ordinated water, light and firework display was breathtaking. Guests watched the unfolding of the desert lily, Hymenocallis, the design inspiration of the Burj.. The segment ended with a rhythmic water and fireworks show.

The second act, ‘Heart Beat,' designed to capture the construction of the tower in a dynamic light show, was awesome. An astonishing example of technological innovation, the display recreated the effect of a beating heart and used no fewer than 300 ‘space canon projectors' to generate a shadow-like image of the tower.

In the third act, ‘From Dubai and the UAE to the World,' sky tracers and space canons enveloped the tower in a strong halo of white light before reproducing the sun beams of the Emaar corporate logo. These then expanded in all directions as the lighting rig on the tower's spire was activated.

In its spectacular finale, the show had an impressive display of 10,000 firework effects on and from the tower, envisaged as the highest in the world. The sparkling display illuminated the entire Downtown Burj Khalifa area.

Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Managing Director, UAE, Emaar Properties, had said before the opening that the performance would be unprecedented and symbolic of Burj Khalifa's pioneering status. It will be a memory to cherish.

The tower anchors the 500-acre Downtown Burj community, described as the new heart of the city. [It's another matter that the city is billions of dollars under debt - but that might be liquidated sooner than expected.]

A closely guarded secret, the official height of Burj Khalifa was flashed onto a giant screen before an estimated crowd of more than 400,000, as lasers and fireworks lit up the night sky.

The height was disclosed in arithmetic progression, with the numbers being flashed onto the screen, one after another. The tower's height breaks all existing world records for tall buildings.

Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world according to the three main criteria of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The CTBUH ranks the world's tallest buildings based on ‘Height to Architectural Top,' ‘Height to Highest Occupied Floor' and ‘Height to Tip.'

At 828 meters (2,716.5ft), Burj Khalifa is 320 meters taller than Taipei 101, which at 508 meters (1,667 ft) had held the record for the world's tallest building measured to the architectural top since 2004, the year the project was announced.

Burj Khalifa achieved the distinction of being the world's tallest structure - surpassing the KVLY-TV mast (628.8 meters; 2,063 ft) in North Dakota, USA - 1,325 days after excavation work started in January 2004.

The tower also beats the 31-year-old record of CN Tower, which at 553.33 meters (1,815.5 ft) had been the world's tallest free-standing structure on land since 1976.

Burj Khalifa employs a record-breaking 330,000 cubic meters of concrete, 39,000 metric tons of steel rebar and 142,000 square meters of glass; and it took 22 million man-hours to build.

Other world records for Burj Khalifa include the highest occupied floor in the world, at over 550 meters (1,800 ft); the highest outdoor observation deck in the world - At the Top on Level 124; and the tallest service elevator, which travels to a height of 504 meters (1,654 ft).

Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar Properties, said that with the unveiling of the final height of Burj Khalifa, the world now had a new reference point for high-rise developments.

"Burj Khalifa is an example of collaboration on a global scale, and the tremendous positive energy that can be generated when people from all over the world come together to work towards a common goal. Thousands of professionals and skilled workers from around the world worked on this once-in-a-lifetime project."

"More than 60 of the world's leading consultants including South Korea's Samsung Corporation and New York-based Turner Construction International realized the design for Burj Khalifa of Chicago-based Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM)," he said.

Burj Khalifa employed the latest advances in wind engineering, structural engineering, structural systems, construction materials and methods. All design considerations took into account the 12,000 people who will live and work in the tower. The handover to residents of the various components of Burj Khalifa will begin in February.

With a total built-up area of about 6 million sq ft, Burj Khalifa features nearly 2 million sq ft of residential space and over 300,000 sq ft of prime office space, in addition to the area occupied by the keenly awaited Armani Hotel Dubai and the Armani Residences. The tower also features modern lifestyle amenities including clubs, health and fitness facilities, gourmet restaurants and the 124th floor observation deck, 'At the Top.'

The world's tallest building opened with a bang and has cost over 1.5 billion dollars.

Dubai was built as a lavish tourist and business destination but the economy crashed during global financial meltdown.

"What better address than 'BR Shetty, 100, Burj Khalifa, Dubai'," was the first reaction of NRI entrepreneur BR Shetty when asked about his latest acquisition: a couple of floors in the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

Shetty, the Managing Director and CEO of Abu Dhabi's first multi-specialty healthcare facility, New Medical Center (NMC), owns a "monstrous" amount of floor space at Burj Khalifa.

Monstrous because Shetty (67), who is a medical representative-turned multi-millionaire, still hasn't figured out how many apartments he owns at this marquee tower, apart from the two floors. The floors cost him approximately Rs 57 crore each.

Shetty bought the space for Dirham 3,000 (Rs 38,000) per sq-ft. "Since I bought it, I have been receiving calls quoting as high as Dirham 12,000 per sq-ft. Even in these recessionary times, the price is still quoted at Dirham 8,000 for the space I bought for Dirham 3,000," said the proud owner, who added he wouldn't sell what he owns at Burj Khalifa for any price.

Shetty will get possession of the two floors plus the apartments in February this year.

To stay afloat Dubai has taken billions of bailout dollars from its oil rich neighbor Abu Dhabi, the ruler of the state is currently the President of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai being a part of the group of these seven states.  

In the ultimate ‘Thank You' the Burj Khalifa was named after Abu Dhabi's ruling Sheikh ... his face displayed as skydivers floated to the ground during the grand opening.

Dubai hopes the new building will help spark a financial turnaround.... putting the city's economy back on solid ground. No wonder, Dubai is also called the City of Gold, not long ago. 

A mere 50 years ago, it was no more than a cluster of shanty shacks used by itinerant Persian Gulf pearl divers. But things changed with the first export of Dubai light sweet crude oil in September 1969.

Contrasts like this are at the heart of Jim Krane's City of Gold: Dubai and the Dream of Capitalism (St. Martin's, 368 pp., $27.99). Krane is more than qualified to pull the curtain back on Dubai, having done so regularly for the Associated Press, the Financial Times, the Economist and as AP's Persian Gulf correspondent covering all six Gulf Arab countries.

In essence, notes Krane, Dubai is a family-run business run by the Maktoum family. And a well-managed business, it would seem, with quality infrastructure, transportation and communication - and, perhaps most notably, a freedom that is rare elsewhere around the Persian Gulf. This makes Dubai an oddity, in that it is everything the rest of the Arab world isn't.

Yet Krane's epilogue, while not predicting the magnitude of economic collapse that occurred recently, makes clear there would be a price to pay for Dubai's unfettered capitalism. Indeed, even before this informative book hit the shelves, "thousands of workers already had been laid off, including 500 at Nakheel (Dubai's largest developer), which mothballed most of its projects, including the kilometer-high skyscraper and the zanier of its offshore islands," wrote Peter Howard.