The Burj Dubai is a supertall skyscraper currently under construction in the "New Downtown" of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. When it is completed in late 2008, it will be the tallest man-made structure in the world. Scheduled for occupancy in 2009, the building is part of a 2 km˛ (1.54 mi˛) development called the 'Burj Downtown' and is located at the "First Interchange" (aka "Defence roundabout") along Sheikh Zayed Road at Doha Street. The building was designed by Adrian Smith before he left Skidmore, Owings and Merrill LLP (SOM) of Chicago to start his own independent practice, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture in October 2006.[3] SOM continues to lead the architectural, structural engineering and mechanical engineering of the Burj Dubai. The total budget for this project is about $4 billion US dollars.
As of 2 August 2007, the tower's developers reported the Burj Dubai's height as 521.7 metres (1,711.6 feet), with 143 completed floors,[4] surpassing the Taipei 101 (509.2 m (1,671 ft)) as the tallest high-rise building in the world. [5]
In February 2007, the Burj Dubai surpassed the Sears Tower as the building with the most floors. On 20 July 2007, the head of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), Antony Wood, confirmed that it "surpassed the height of Taipei 101 structurally (concrete)." [6] However, he also added "We will not classify it as a building until it is complete, clad and at least partially open for business to avoid things like the Ryungyong [sic] project. Taipei 101 is thus officially the world's tallest until that happens."
This write up was last modified 19:10, 5 August 2007. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
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