Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir, 1001m tall tower was approved
The war is on for who constructs the tallest building in the world. On one hand you have the Burj Dubai, which is supposed to be over 800 meters; the actual height has not been disclosed and as they are in mid-construction, they may add on a bit to up the ante. The other hand sees the Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir coming up in the City of Silk or Madinat al-Hareer. This city outside a city is coming up in Kuwait. Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir will stand 1,001 meters (3,284 ft).
Kuwait joins the race to build the world's tallest building after Kuwait's Municipal Council on Wednesday approved drawing sketches of Madinat al-Hareer. Madinat al-Hareer (meaning "City of Silk"), is a proposed 250 square kilometer planned urban area in Subiya, Kuwait, an area just opposite Kuwait City which, upon construction. The area will include Burj Mubarak al-Kabir witch will stand at 1,001 m tall almost twice the height of Taipei 101, officially still the world's tallest building.
Height 1,001 m (3,284 ft) Height to roof 900 m Height to top floor 897 m Floors 250
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Madinat al-Hareer (Arabic: مدينة الحرير, meaning "City of Silk"), is a proposed 250 square kilometer planned urban area in Subiya, Kuwait, an area just opposite Kuwait City which, upon construction, would include the Burj Mubarak al-Kabir , the world's tallest structure, a natural desert reservation of 2 square kilometres, a duty free area which will be beside a new airport, in addition to a large business center, conference areas, environmental areas, athletic areas, and areas that concentrate on media, health, education, and industry. The City of Silk will also include numerous tourist attractions, hotels, spas, and public gardens. As of this time, it is unclear as to the scope of this project, if it has received any approvals, or if it has the required funding; however, the city will be built in individual phases with total completion within twenty-five years. The development will cost an estimated 25 billion Kuwaiti Dinars (86.1 billion USD). Burj Mubarak al-Kabir should not be confused with the Al Jaber Tower proposed by the famous Italian architect Amero Marchetti, part of the planned "ethic city". If built the Al Jaber Tower would reach 1852 meters.
The City will be linked to Kuwait City by a causeway which will stretch across Kuwait Bay to make the driving time to the City of Silk from Kuwait City 23 mins.
The city will be composed of 4 main districts which are:
1) The Financial District: will be located on the new coastal road and will be facing Kuwait City. This will be the CBD of the City of Silk and will be next to a new International Airport. The distrcit will of course contain the centrepiece tower, Mubarak Tower.
Mubarak Tower will be 1001 m high and will form the landmark for this new city. The tower was inspired by the 1001 nights story and the desert plant life. The tower will be composed of 7 vertical villages which will consist of hotels, offices, residences and entertainment facilities.
2) The Entertainment District: will be facing a channel connecting the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers with the gulf. This district will contain resorts, hotels and entertainment villages. The district will also contain a sports complex, a centre for sports medicine, a sports academy and water sports which will be found all along the channel.
3) The Cultural District: will be located on the peninsula of the northern shore of Kuwait Bay. Over here there will be a centre for research and studies of ancient artefacts, a historical museum and an arts centre. This district will be subdivided into 3 areas for academic, diplomatic and political studies.
4) The Enivronmental District: will be located at the heart of the city with an area of 45 km2. This district will be part of the Bird Reserve for migrating birds from Africa to Central Asia. There will also be an Environmental Research Centre for the scientific research of plant life and animal life of the region. It will also include an extended network of a university and a health resort.
The entire city will be surrounded by an emerald belt which will contain ponds, lakes and parks which will ensure that no one is except a couple of steps away from the emerald belt.
This project will be controlled by public shareholding companies where a part of these companies will be owned by the government and another part will be owned by the private sector and a large part will be filed for an IPO.
The "Silk City" project presented by a number of Kuwaiti private sector companies based on directions of the Amir of Kuwait sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
A number of experts and specialists from international consultation offices made a detailed presentation of the project's aims; a multi-purpose city accommodating aspects of economy, commerce, culture, residence, and entertainment and built over 250 square kilometers in Subbiya.
The city would include a resort, a 200 hectare desert preserve, and linked to Kuwait City by the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Bridge, as well as holding a free zone near a new international airport that would be linked by a new railway line and road and air networks extending to Central Asia.
The city would also hold a business city and an area for forums and exhibition, as well as cities dedicated for sports, culture, environment, media, industry, education and health.
Furthermore, it would include tourism centers, hotels, resorts, public gardens, spacious residential areas and a 1,001m-tall tower.
Participants discussed legal aspects pertaining to the construction of "Silk City", as well as the construction and management phases that would extend over 25 years. They also discussed guarantees for total transparency so as to ensure equal opportunities for all and allow for the participation of the private sector within regulations.
Investments in the city were estimated at KD 25 billion, which would reflect positively on national economy and help diversity income, as well as creating 430,000 new jobs for national workers.
The project would also serve to create investment opportunities and attract both local and foreign investors, while creating an effective strategic partnership between the public and private sectors, as well as contributing to the architectural boom with a city designed to house over 700,000 people.
Participants welcomed this distinctive initiative in principle, noting the great efforts that went into preparing it.
They expressed their appreciation to the companies that made the initiative, saying that it was a positive example of partnership between the private sector and the government and a true representation of the aspired role for the private sector in development.
Dubai Plans Self-Powered Skyscraper With Individually Rotating Floors
A $350 million tower to be known as the Dynamic Architecture building is to be constructed in Dubai. The 68-story tower will feature floors that can be individually rotated via voice commands.
Each of the floors will be constructed as a module in a factory and then fitted onto the central core. This will permit far more efficient construction and will allow the building to be erected with far less workers on site.
In between floors the building has 48 horizontal wind turbines. It is estimated that, in addition to powering itself, the tower will be able to provide electricity to five other buildings of equivalent size. Construction will start later this year.
Several features of the hotel required complex engineering feats to achieve. The hotel rests on an artificial island constructed 280 meters offshore. To secure a foundation, the builders drove 230 40-meter long concrete piles into the sand.
Engineers created a surface layer of large rocks, which is circled with a concrete honey-comb pattern, which serves to protect the foundation from erosion. It took three years to reclaim the land from the sea, but less than three years to construct the building itself. The building contains over 70,000 cubic meters of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel.
Inside the building, the atrium is 180 meters (590 ft) tall.
Burj Al Arab characterizes itself as the world's only "7-star" property, a designation considered by travel professionals to be hyperbole. All major travel guides and hotel rating systems have a 5-star maximum, which some hotels attempt to out-do by ascribing themselves "6-star" status. Yet according to the Burj Al Arab's official site, the hotel is a "5-star deluxe hotel". It is the world's tallest structure with a membrane facade and the world's tallest hotel (not including buildings with mixed use) and was the first 5-star hotel to surpass 1,000 ft (305 m) in height.
Langkawi Sky-Bridge One of the world’s highest single-support bridges
Where: The top of the 500-million-year-old Mount Mat Cincang, Langkawi, Malaysia. Stats: 2,000 feet above sea level; 410 feet long; curved; less than six feet wide. Awe Factors: This curved half-moon-shaped pedestrian bridge, set among the clouds, grants non-acrophobic adventurers 360 degree views of the Langkawi islands and the Andaman Sea. Built for tourists and opened in 2005, the bridge is accessed by a 15-minute ride in an electronic cable car, which leaves from the Oriental Village mall complex.
Hangzhou Bay Bridge The longest ocean-crossing bridge in the world
Where: Hangzhou Bay on the East China Sea, traversing the Qiantang River at the Yangtze River Delta. Stats: 22 miles long. Awe Factors: With waves that reach 25 feet high and crash on the shore at 19 miles per hour, the rough waters of Hangzhou Bay had to be studied for nearly a decade before plans were drawn. Construction itself took nearly five years. Now that this S-shaped, stayed-cable bridge is complete (it opened to the public in May 2008), commuters from Shanghai to Ningbo save two hours and will soon have a service area on the bridge to refuel, grab a bite, or even get a night’s sleep if needed.
Leonardo’s Bridge Designed by Leonardo da Vinci in 1502 and constructed by Vebjørn Sand in 2001
Where: This pedestrian and bike arch bridge is in Akershus, Norway, but da Vinci had planned for the bridge (to be named the Golden Horn Bridge) to span the waterway dividing western Constantinople for Sultan Bajazet II. Stats: A scaled-down version of the design da Vinci had proposed, Sand’s bridge is 360 feet long and 19 feet above the ground. (The original was intended to be much bigger: 1,080 feet long and 120 feet above sea level). Awe Factors: The bridge is considered by da Vinci scholars to be the first civil engineering project in history based on a da Vinci design, but if it weren’t for Norwegian artist Vebjørn Sand’s keen eye, the small drawing in the corner of one of da Vinci’s notebooks might have remained just an idea. Instead, Sand proposed to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration that it help “reimagine” this mathematically and structurally gorgeous design. Today, the smaller-scale timber structure (da Vinci had wanted stone) near Oslo is, Sand hopes, the first of many Leonardo bridges around the world. Already the artist has created two versions of the design, crafted out of ice—one in Antarctica and the other at the United Nations in Manhattan. Sand and his team are working on creating similar bridges in Odessa, Texas; Karuizawa, Japan; and Istanbul, Turkey, where it was originally intended to be built.
The Bosphorus Bridge A suspension bridge linking two continents
Where: Istanbul, Turkey, spanning the Bosphorus Strait. Stats: 4,954 feet long; 210 feet above sea level. Awe Factors: Completed in 1973, this suspension bridge, the only bridge in the world linking two continents (Europe and Asia), has been in the works since 490 B.C., when the bridge was made of a fleet of boats. Talks of a suspension bridge began in 1900, and again in 1931 by Nuri Demirag, the architect who manufactured the first plane in Turkey; it was finally commissioned in 1967 and completed six years later. A tennis match played on the bridge in May 2005 between Venus Williams and Turkish grand slammer Ïpek Senoglu was the first-ever competition to take place between two continents.
Gateshead Millennium Bridge The world’s first bridge to use a tilting mechanism to open, forming a gateway for ships to pass
Where: On the South Bank of England’s River Tyne, between Gateshead and Newcastle. Stats: 413 feet wide; 164 tall when open. Awe Factors: Powered by eight electric motors with more horsepower than a Lamborghini Diablo, this curved pedestrian and bike bridge turns on pivots and rises 164 feet above the water when ships need to pass. It’s become such a sensation, though, that the bridge—whose motion is likened to the opening and closing of a gigantic eye—puts on a show at least once a day at noon. Completed in 2001 after a design contest was held to add to the impressive lineup of artistic arches on the Tyne, the finalized bridge was carried down the river by one of the largest floating cranes (a 10,560-ton barge taller than the Big Ben) in Europe. The bridge has its own litter clean-up system: each time the bridge opens, garbage rolls into special traps, so that the garbage does not fall into the river.
Royal Gorge Bridge The world’s highest suspension bridge
Where: Royal Gorge, Colorado, over the Arkansas River. Stats: 1,053 feet over the gorge; 1,260 feet long. Awe Factors: Built in 1929 in six months by mainly inexperienced men, this bridge was an impressive feat of construction for its time. Wires were connected at the bottom of the gorge and pulled up the granite canyon despite gusty winds. In 1982, the bridge underwent a refurbishment, and wind cables were added. If looking straight down 1,000 feet isn’t scary enough, “the bridge rolls like waves,” said Peggy Gair, public relations manager for the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. “It bends and sways a little—and it should. The flexibility is its strength.”
Millau Viaduct The tallest vehicular bridge in the world
Where: Crossing the Tarn Valley in the Massif Central, near Millau in southern France. Stats: 8,100 feet (less than two miles) long; cars travel 885 feet above sea level, but the highest point on the bridge is 1,125 feet. Awe Factors: Opened in 2004, the bridge was designed, according to its architect Norman Foster, to have the “delicacy of a butterfly.” Seven triangular piers support this 79,366-pound steel bridge that rises above the clouds. Reaching a height just above that of the Eiffel Tower, this is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world. The bridge is best viewed from outside the car—at a designated viewing point at exit 45 off highway A75, and a 30-minute walk uphill.
Ponte dei Sospiri (the Bridge of Sighs) The most dramatic bridge in the world
Where: Rio di Palazzo, Venice, steps from Piazza San Marco. Stats: Built in the early 1600s in the Baroque style, the bridge connects the Doge’s Palace to what was once a prison. Awe Factors: According to legend, those who crossed this 17th-century white limestone bridge had a dramatic passage because they would cross it only once. Built between a prison and the room of the inquisitors inside the Doge’s Palace, the bridge’s stone-barred windows were said to provide the last view the criminals would ever see. But in reality, the prison was for petty criminals and no executions awaited them. The name “Bridge of Sighs” came from a Lord Byron poem. Today, the bridge is the setting for another legend inspired by the poet: if a couple kisses underneath the bridge at sunset, they will be granted eternal love.
Khaju Bridge One of the world’s great “multifunctional” bridges
Where: Isfahan, Iran, on the Zayandeh River. Stats: 344 feet long; 45 feet wide; 23 arches. Awe Factors: Besides its stunning stone foundation, brightly colored tile work on its exterior, and original 17th-century paintings on its interior, this bridge is noteworthy because it serves three functions—as a passageway, a weir, and a recreation place. The bilevel structure, originally built as a dam in 1650, houses a covered indoor area upstairs where people gather to drink tea and socialize in the cool shade. And the echoing acoustics inside make it a popular spot for local singers and folk musicians, who gather there to perform on Friday nights.
Alamillo Bridge One of the most elegant bridges in the world
Where: Seville, Spain, crossing the Guadalquivir River. Stats: 820 feet long; 465 feet high. Awe Factors: Built in 1992 by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and said to resemble a harp, the bridge is the first design of its kind: its central mast leans at a 58 degree angle, making it appear as if it’s balancing. Calatrava is fast becoming one of the major innovators in bridge design (other works include the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Tenerife Opera House), renowned for his elegant, clean style and skeletal, almost “unfinished” designs.
