Higher and higher

May 30, 2007 15:13 GMT  ·  By

Building the world's tallest buildings seems to have become a fierce competition in the last decades. Owning it is a matter of great pride, not only for the builders - which gain a lot of fame and also a lot of money - but also for the hosting country, which will benefit from having one of the most important tourist attractions in the world.

Currently, the tallest building in the world is Taipei 101, named after the city it was built in, Taipei City, the capital of Taiwan, Republic of China, and after the number of stories. With its structural top located at 1,671 ft (449 m) from the ground, it holds the world record for the tallest building in the world, but this is not the only record. It also has the fastest ascending elevator speed, of 37.5 mph (60.4 km/h).

The king is about to be dethroned as a new building is preparing to become the next giant. In 1930s New York the Chrysler Building battled with the Empire State Building for the world title. In the early '70s, the World Trade Center and Sears Tower duked it out. Malaysia took the fight overseas in 1998, when its 1483-ft. Petronas Towers overtook the Sears Tower as the world's tallest building, only to be bested six years later by Taiwan's 1671-ft. Taipei 101.

The king will come from the United Arab Emirates, another oil producing giant, much like Malaysia and the US. I guess this doesn't really come as a surprise, since Dubai is already the host of The World Islands, a man-made archipelago of 300 islands in the shape of a world map.

When there's nothing your money can't buy, what do you do with it all? You build something that no one else has built before. This should be the motto of Dubai's richest people, because that's exactly what they do.

The building will be called Burj Dubai, and is still under construction. The name might sound familiar, since the tallest and most luxurious hotel in the world is called Burj al-Arab.

The supertall skyscraper currently under construction in the "New Downtown" of Dubai will be completed in 2008, but even unfinished, in February 2007, it surpassed the Sears Tower as the building with the biggest number of floors in the world. As of 20 May 2007, the tower's height was 460.1 meters (1,510 feet), with 129 floors.

If the construction maintains the current rate of 2-3 floors a week, by September 2007, the Burj Dubai will likely surpass Taipei 101 (509 meters, 1,671 ft) to become the tallest building in the world in all four criteria.

Most details are kept secret because of fierce competition, but builders have suggested a final height of around 808 meters (2,651 feet).

Photo Gallery (2 Images)

Computer representation of the Burj Dubai upon completion
Burj Dubai in June 2007
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