Nakheel Harbour & Tower will be home to over 80,000 people and a workplace for 40,000 more. According to Nakheel, the precinct minimises car use and maximises train, bus and water transportation. The development will cover an area over 270 hectares and include another 40 towers ranging in height from 20 floors to 90 floors (over 300 meters). The final height of Nakheel’s proposed tower (former Al Burj, Tall Tower) is a secret, as is the price. The company would only say it will be more than 1 km tall. The tower and harbour project will take more than 10 years to complete. O’Donnell, CEO of Nakheel, has confirmed that the foundation work has already begun.
Nakheel Tower (~1140m) designed by Woods Bagot. (photo by Nakheel)
Massive schemes are announced as Cityscape 2008 – the largest business-to-business real estate investment and development event in the world – is proceeding. Two other projects with centerpiece skyscrapers are worth mentioning due to their proposed heights: 1 Dubai, part of Jumeirah Gardens (by Meraas Development) and Anara Tower (by Tameer):
1 Dubai (850m) is a mega-structure consisting of three linked towers of staggered heights, with mosaic-like glass and aluminium-mesh cladding, designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill. (photo by Meraas)
Anara Tower (700m) designed by Atkins. (photo by docc)
As stock prices collapsed around the world today amid growing fears that the credit crisis would trigger a global recession, it is interesting to see how many projects will be cancelled due to lack of financing.
Back again. Major revamp to this weblog is still to be implemented. One important aspect is to add social media parts and I did minor testing with K2 using three columns, but I was not satisfied with the result. As I’m not willing to put too much effort on the theme itself, I searched for other solutions and found a good candidate. But more of that later.
For the last few days I have been migrating my photos to Flickr. The work is still in progress, but I found a wonderful small program called Blow Up. It uses Flickr public API and some flash to present Flickr photosets in a great-looking, fullscreen display.
View albums by typing a valid flickr username here.
You can try with my flicker feed at photos.kuusanmaki.com. This address works also for me as a quick link if there is a need to present my photos. The gallery might take a while to load, but it is great and intuitive!
Just had an inspiring conversation with one friend of mine. I mentioned a documentary about skyscraper history I saw few weeks ago and want to share it now.
It is about technological innovations, seven major leaps which made Burj Dubai possible. As for now, Burj Dubai is under construction and standing 637 meter high. The structure is generally believed to top out at 818 meters, but Emaar is keeping the final height a secret. An interesting article was released in Wired Magazine, where Bill Baker (the head structural engineer at SOM) tells interesting facts of the engineering process.
Burj Dubai crane shot
But back to the documentary: Channel 5’s Big, Bigger, Biggest – The Building of Burj Dubai (April 2008). Seven key inventions (elevator, materials, etc.) are presented with seven landmark buildings and clarifying animations. Many documentaries are so-so, but htis one is really worth watching. Thanks for UKHolidaydude for sharing this. Here is the first part:
Nokia unveiled Morph, joint nanotechnology concept developed by Nokia Research Center and the University of Cambridge, on Monday 25th. From Nokia’s press release:
“Morph is a concept that demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to transform their mobile device into radically different shapes. It demonstrates the ultimate functionality that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering: flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces.”
I find these kinds of releases stirring; they push us to think a few moments outside the box. It is also amazing to see what is the human capable of creating.
Morph in wrist mode. (image from Nokia)
The same device in open mode. (image from Nokia)
We have some of these technologies already in use like self-cleaning windows (wiper-free windshields are on their way) and researchers are reporting about further advancements like clothes that clean themselves. What is the next big thing?
Possibilities with design and user interfaces with Morph are endless. Devices become context aware and part of us. These are steps to some stage of transhumanism, which is actually one topic I’m going to cover before summer. Let’s finish with a video demonstrating the Morph concept:
The idea for this list came from Transformers Movie which included many close-ups of F-22. The two fighters (F-22 & Su-27) have always been among my favorite aircrafts, but now the list is complemented. There are many reasons why I chose the below mentioned models and I can justify my picks if someone demands. For now: they are beautiful examples of state of the art design.
The Simpons Movie is out (interesting it took 18 years before a movie was made) and I’m planning to visit the local movie theater this week. Related to the subject, in the latest issue of Harper’s Bazaar (August 007) there are fantastic illustrations in an article titled “The Simpsons go to Paris with Linda Evangelista” (more images here).
Versace, Chanel, Gaultier, Vuitton – cool illustrations by Julius Preite.
Last Friday (March 19, 2007) there was a news report that Al Burj, a high-rise planned in Dubai by Nakheel, will reach 1,200 meters. According to some rumors the initial height was 1,600 meters, but was scaled back.
Apparently two other similar projects exist in the Gulf region: Mubarak al-Kabeer Tower (Kuwait, 1,001 m) and Murjan Tower (Bahrain, 1,022 m).
This is huge. Even Burj Dubai looks small. Gherkin in London on the right.
Al Burj is enormous and impressive, but not beautiful. Skyscrapers should be like sculptures. Modern art with natural forms. However combining these complex structures with engineering is not an easy task and therefore radical designs can be found from smaller scale projects.
Private Spaceflight is defined as a flight above 100km conducted by an entity other than a government. Government organizations have driven the industry but the major problem with spaceflight is funding. NASA is funded by taxpayers and makes no profit. Imagine the endless possibilities of commercialized spaceflight. Cash flows would enable more R&D, materializing as new innovations and industry growth.
This is one of the key points of Burt Rutan’s presentation (Feb 2006, Monterrey, CA). Rutan is a legendary spacecraft designer who won the $10M Ansari X-Prize for SpaceShipOne and is now collaborating with Virgin Galactic to build the first rocket-ship for space.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic (check out the promo video) is among the leading players. The company’s SpaceShipTwo is expected to start launching in late 2007 and commercial operations should start by 2009 with a price tag of $200,000 per passenger. Time Magazine published an extensive article about Branson and Virgin Galactic last week (really good overview of the renaissance period of space exploration).
Conceptual SpaceShipTwo flight
SpaceShipTwo interior mockup
The field is quite crowded with most of the companies operating in the US. Unlike Virgin Galactic’s two-stage launch system, Benson Space Company’s Dream Chaser is based on simple vertical takeoff and is targeted to launch by the end of 2008. Other major players include Blue Origin (financed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos), Rocketplane Kistler, Armadillo Aerospace & XCOR Aerospace to name a few.
New Shepard’s (Blue Origin) test flight on November 13, 2006
If interested in the latest private spaceflight news Space Liberates Us! forum is a nice one to follow (only a couple updates per week).
A desert city with superb infrastructure only 6 hours from Finland. Dubai is definitely on of the best places to visit during winter for shopping, sunbathing and fine dining.
40 years ago there was nothing else than the Dubai Creek and H H Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. Oil was discovered in 1966 and the change has been rapid since then.
Dubai Aerials 1973-2006
The present ruling emir of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is maintaining the same effort and the current aerial master plan looks like following:
Dubai Master Plan
The Palm islands and Dubai Waterfront can be clearly seen in the picture. The scale is huge: for example the Palm Jebel Ali (the first palm island from the left) measures 7.5km by 7.5km. The projects go on. World’s largest airport, the longest fully automated rail system with a women and children only section (70km in total), tallest building…
So who are the players behind this? Government owned Dubai World is a holding company that manages and supervises the portfolio of businesses and projects for Dubai Government. Nakheel Properties is a real estate developer owned by Dubai World and its main competitor in residential development in Dubai is Emaar Properties which is a Dubai-based Public Joint Stock Company and one of the world’s largest real estate companies.
Nakheel Promotionvideo of Dubai Waterfront
And finally a few words about Burj Dubai, soon to become the tallest building in the world. The final height is kept secret due to competition but initially it was planned to be around 800 meters. However a more recent articles have stated a final height over 940 meters i.e. 195 floors. Up to date information can be found from a site, which is following the construction almost daily.
If you are interested in skyscrapers in general a good place to start is SkyscraperCity, a forum full of photos and discussion what is happening all around the world.
Burj Dubai Concept
I visited Dubai in 2000 and fortunately I had to possibility to refresh the experience this January. Next I’ll write a few lines about places worth visiting but this time only in Finnish.
Nokia World was held in Amsterdam November 2006. Nokia’s Chief Designer Alastair Curtis, who joined the company in 1993, shared some of the concepts behind the Nokia Design philosophy. He also showed some concept videos about where the mobile communication might head in the forthcoming years:
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