From its early days as a small fishing village
at the start of the 20th Century,
Dubai has transformed into a truly global city.
From the vast Palm Jumeirah formed on land
reclaimed from the Arabian Gulf
to the 7-star Burj Al-Arab hotel
and the mega-tall Burj Khalifa
the emirate is now synonymous
with some of the world’s most impressive
construction projects.
But the ambition, scale and extremity of the
city’s latest scheme, will quite literally
take engineering and construction to new heights.
Dubai Creek Harbour is a vast residential,
retail and entertainment development that
is set to rival the existing Downtown Dubai district.
Designed by Santiago Calatrava to stand at
the centre of this new destination,
Dubai Creek Tower will rise to over 1.3 kilometres
in height
and become the tallest structure constructed by mankind to date.
Resembling a lily and drawing inspiration
from a traditional Arabian minaret, the tower
will consist of a simple shaft topped with
an ovoid bulb structure that houses observation
decks and restaurants, along with broadcast
and telecommunications infrastructure.
In addition, the tower will be steadied by an
array of steel cables, reaching up from an
extensive new plaza below.
Constructing a scheme that extends higher
than any structure which has preceded it
and in such an extreme climate
is far from easy.
Work on the USD $1BN project first commenced
in October 2016 with the excavation of over
170,000 cubic metres of earth.
From here, the scheme’s foundations – consisting
of 145 piles each extending to a depth of
75 metres – were formed.
This process alone
required more than 15,000 tonnes of steel
and over 211,000 tonnes of concrete.
Despite foundation works completing in May
2017, two months ahead of schedule,
there has been little work above ground since.
With the project initially intended to be
complete ahead of the 2020 Dubai Expo, delivery
has now been postponed to 2021.
While this date may still feel unfeasible
for such an extreme structure, the relatively
simple design of the Dubai Creek Tower – as
compared to denser, fully habitable skyscrapers
– allows for an accelerated construction
schedule.
Though the tower's final height of 1,300 metres
has been widely reported
developer Emaar Properties are keeping exact details of its summit under wraps
in an effort to protect it from new, rival proposals
particularly across the Middle East and Asia.
At 1.3 kilometres, Dubai Creek Tower would
easily eclipse the height of the world’s
current tallest structure, the 828 metre Burj
Khalifa and even that of the Jeddah Tower
currently under construction in Saudi Arabia,
that is expected to stand a kilometre tall
when it finally completes.
However, it should be noted that while the
Dubai Creek Tower would easily lay claim to
the title of the “world’s tallest structure”,
it would not be eligible to take the title
of “world’s tallest skyscraper” away
from the Burj Khalifa
as it does not meet
two specific skyscraper classification criteria,
as set out by the Council on Tall Buildings
and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).
Firstly, the tower will not be completely
self-supporting, partly relying on its tensioned
steel cables for stability.
In addition, to be considered a skyscraper,
at least 50% of a building’s total height
must be habitable –
a threshold that Dubai Creek Tower will not reach.
Technicalities aside, this remarkable structure
will set a new benchmark in tall building
engineering, further propelling mankind’s
seemingly endless race for the skies and once
again demonstrating what our industry is capable of.
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