The Billiken's Bluff

I've always been fascinated by skyscrapers, so much so, that when I studied in Prague I wrote my term paper for a Culture of the City course on why Europe had so few of them and what this meant.

An excerpt from my misplaced paper went something like:

"Can London truly be considered a global city, alongside the likes of New York and Tokyo, when it has no more than 2 buildings taller than 40 stories? I think not!!!"

Anyway that was a few years back now. I've mellowed on my militant stance in regards to skyscrapers, but the global village still seems intent on moving on up to that deluxe apartment in the sky.

Right here in NY we have the 1776-feet Freedom Tower, which may or may not be currently under construction.



The Sears Tower is still technically the tallest structure with its radio antennae. But apparently antennae don't really count for much.



The current record holder is Taipei 101 in Taiwan. The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were the former world-record holders when they were completed in 1998. They are 88 stories tall, with spires spiraling up to 1483 feet.



But all of these are paltry uninspired Lilliputians when compared to the Burj Dubai currently under construction in that burgeoning global metropolis Dubai, U.A.E. It is expected to have 160 floors, with structures reaching as high as 900 meters, which when converted into feet is a helluva lot.

The Burj Dubai (Arabic for "Tower of Dubai") is set to be completed in 2008. EMAAR properties, who are developing the project, say that the Burj Dubai will become the tallest manmade structure of any kind in history. And I don’t know why, but I believe them.



The Burj will have residential apartments, offices, shopping, pools, spas, and a rocket ship landing port on the 125th floor. If you are interested in getting in on the ground floor (haha) of this Burj phenomenon, you can inquire about rental opportunities at there website.

The Burj Dubai looks pretty spectacular, but the best part of this story is not in the building, but in who almost became the builder. The Bin Laden Group was one of seven companies to bid for the construction of the skyscraper, but a consortium formed by Samsung, Besix and Arabtec won. The Saudi Bin Laden Group is the biggest developer in the kingdom, and was actually considered the favorite to win the bid back in May 2004. The Saudi Bin Laden Group was founded by Osama Bin Laden's father.