Burj al Arab Hotel Dubai World’s Tallest Free-standing Structure

September 19, 2008 · Filed Under Architecture Rumbling · 3 Comments
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The title says it all, Burj Dubai Tower (Wikipedia) is now the world’s tallest tower and is about to be completed by the end of this year. One can’t help but wonder where did the inspiration came from? and people loves to call iconic buildings such as ‘The Sail – Burj Al Arab” and “Bird Nest – Beijing Stadium” by its nickname.

Image Copyright: David Hobcote | Source: Gizmodo

The city appears to be dusty…

Image Copyright: David Hobcote | Source: Gizmodo

I’m not interested in the technical knowhow, the concept or the overall height of the tower, I find the sarcastic jokes very interesting, here goes:

I’m just waiting for the first suicide attempt from the observation deck. He burns up in the atmosphere, and incinerates before he even touches the ground! The best part is, he doesn’t even need to clean up his mess!
Doesn’t get more phallic than this.
Thunder! Thunder! Thunder Cats!
And it works just like a regular crane. 2,000 some odd feet really isn’t that far of a lift. Granted you have to deal with weather conditions, but it’s not as ludicrous as it would appear.
I’ll bet a high level exec leaving his car at ground level probably takes longer to get to his office than it takes me to leave my house, drive to work, and get to my Office cubicle.

Image Source: Fahad

With their new found wealth due to the sudden spike in petrol price, plans for a mile-high tower in Saudi Arabia have been unveiled by billionaire Price Alwalid bin Talal. For the moment, the proposed Jeddah’s Mile-High Tower is twice as high as Burj Dubai on the drawing board.

Towers, don’t you just hate them? They’re an eye-sore! Food for thought: The Arabic meaning for the word Burj is “tower”, which gives Burj Dubai a meaning of “Dubai Tower” or “Tower of Dubai”.

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Rem Koolhaas’s Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre

April 28, 2008 · Filed Under Architecture Rumbling · 3 Comments
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Image Source: Tropolism

Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre
Image Source: Tropolism

Known as the Disneyland of architecture, Dubai has lost it all, to quote Tropolism: "Koolhaas and OMA have officially lost their marbles", a rather extraordinary big marble.

Taken from George Lucas’s Rem Koolhaas’s drawing board, the Death Star like 44-story sphere shaped building appears to be floating on the water is the proposed Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre in the UAE, news had it that the project was shelfed due to some unknown reasons. Just like every large scale building in dubai, it holds a convention centre, hotel rooms, apartments, offices, retail space, and a man made oasis.

Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre
Image Source: Treehunger

To say the building resemble the Death Star from the movie Star Wars is entirely not accurate, Gravestmor thinks that the Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre was modeled after Panasonic’s Panapet radio dates back to 1972, five years before Star Wars made it to the big screen.

A golf ball like building, a bowling ball? Probably the designer was inspired by Harmon Kardon speakers for Apple computers .

Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre
Image Source: Gravestmor

Come to think of it, it is somewhat different, something new in the architecture world. After all, the Sydney Opera House received some really nasty feedbacks from architects around the world, who knows, the Death Star like building could be the next big hit. Biologist P.B. Medawar once said: "The human mind treats a new idea the way the body treats a strange protein; it rejects it."

Ras al Khaimah Convention and Exhibition Centre
Image Source: Guardian