Let's Build The Burj

The world’s tallest tower - Dubai’s Burj Khalifa - had its grand opening ceremony on 4th January, 2010, heralded with the launch of 10,000 fireworks. Previously known as ‘Dubai Tower’, it was re-named at the last minute in tribute to the Sheik of Abu Dhabi, who’d bailed out the neighbouring Emirate with a $10billion loan.

Despite being built on sand, the 160-storey structure is over half a mile tall - but that includes 244 metres of unusable space in the spire. It’s so high up that Ramadan begins two minutes earlier at the bottom than in the mosque at the top!

In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how the building’s architects avoided the tower being toppled by winds; consider the cost of the 22 million hours of mostly immigrant labour it took to construct; and explain why, despite its state of the art design, it still isn’t connected to Dubai’s wastewater system… 

Further Reading:

• ‘Economy Is Down, but Dubai Tower Tops All’ (The New York Times, 2010): https://archive.nytimes.com/dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/economy-is-down-but-dubai-tower-tops-all/?searchResultPosition=13
• ‘The lost floors of Dubai's Burj Khalifa - why 200m of world's tallest building is empty’ (Daily Star, 2022): https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/lost-floors-dubais-burj-khalifa-26173492
• ‘Richard Hammond: The Physics Behind The Burj Khalifa And Why It Doesn't Fall Over’ (Quest TV, 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5i3UsiSoYY

#UAE #Dubai #Architecture #2010s

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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.

Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King.

Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022.

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