Photo by Jol (Flickr)
Many periods of irrational exuberance are accompanied by great architectural works that appear, in hindsight, to define the unbridled optimism and arrogance of the era in which they were created. The Empire State Building was a product of the years preceeding the Great Depression, while the Petronas Towers opened its doors during the 1997 economic collapse in Malaysia.
The Burj Dubai, which officially opens tomorrow, is the greatest monument from our most recent period of economic madness. At approximately 820 metres, it overshadows its nearest rival, Taipei 101, by over 300 metres. It has 162 floors and is visible from a distance of almost 100 km away. It cost USD 4 billion to construct, took 5 years to build and had over 7,500 people working on it at one stage.
And now, it’s finished. How long will it take to become economically viable? The Empire State Building took 20 years to do so.
Passive Impressions 
…and obviously there is another, even higher building, on its way in Dubai.
It reminds me of a game called SimCity 2000 my sons played a lot about ten years ago. The purpose was to build a city and develop it over the years. Usually the city went bankrupt when the high sky scrapers started to tower up, and about at the same time the nuclear power plants exploded.
Maybe the myth about the tower of Babel is about to come true.
Did you see the article about Dubai by Johann Hari in the Independent? – http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html
And you are right, the building is a monument to hubris and folly.
Ben
During the Holidays there was a documentary broadcasted in Swedish PBS TV. A film team had followed a previous PR person from the Swedish Royal Court who had worked for the Emir of Dubai for a year.
I was sort of horrifying hearing the inborn Emiratis talking about non-citizens as lower cast as the most natural thing in the world. I’ve heard the same from colleagues working in Jemen and in Subsidiary. You are a slave, even though often reasonably paid as a doctor.
Spell checkers… that should be Saudi Arabia
That is an incredible article. The comments are worth reading too. One of the commenters felt that the interview with the Indian worker could not have happened. Slave labour, major water problems, total lack of democracy, the entire city built on the never-never – it doesn’t say a lot for the place.
And, there is something cringeworthy about a place that has attracted, in one place, some of the most incompetent managers in the world. A sort of Davidbrentopolis..