Worlds Tallest Building Burj Dubai Has Chicago Roots

Dubai of the Persian Gulf, is a tiny mirco state (one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates) fueled originally by crude oil exports is currently undergoing a tremendous construction boom.   The pride of the modern middle east, the Burj Dubai is  to be opened to the public on Monday.  At a staggering 2,684 feet tall, it is more than twice the size of the Trump Tower, both of which have a Chicago real estate connection.  They were both conceived here at a world-renowned Chicago architect’s office.

Penned at Chicago-based architect office Skidmore, Owings and Merrill by Adrian Smith, the Burg Dubai, Trump Tower and Jin Mao Building in Shanghai all were his designs.  Skidmore Owings and Merrill are responsible for the bulk of the super-tall structures built around the world in the last couple decades, even Chicago’s pride and joy the Sears T… ahem, Willis Tower, was design at the firm.

The Burj Dubai building is an architectural wonder that is difficult to imagine on any skyline.  Consider some of the buildings statistics:  154 occupied floors (above which reside another 50 mechanical floors), $1.5 billion in construction costs and virtually every height record measured.  The structure up to the highest occupied floor was constructed entirely of reinforced concrete pumped vertically to a height of just over 1,700 feet!  At the top, due to high winds, the building is expected to sway up to 5 feet and is made of steel.