Dubai opened the world's tallest structure in a glitzy ceremony meant to put a brave face on crushing debt woes, leading some to wonder whether the tower is the emirate's crowning glory or its last hurrah.
The $1.5-billion tower reaches up 828 metres (2,717 ft), 200 storeys into the sky. It surpasses the next highest inhabited building, Taiwan's Taipei 101, by more than 300 metres (1,000 ft).
Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, renamed the tower Burj Khalifa in honour of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, ruler of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, which has bailed Dubai out to the tune of $25 billion in the past year.
The bailout has fuelled expectations that Dubai will make concessions or cede some commercial power to its wealthier neighbour, whose ruler is also president of the United Arab Emirates.
Concerns about Dubai's $100-billion debt, which has made Dubai's stock exchange one of the world's worst performing, overshadowed both the ceremony and boasts by the builder, Emaar Properties, that the Burj heralds a new dawn.
But investors took little heart, with Emaar shares closing down 3.4 per cent, pulling Dubai's broader index 2.6 percent lower.
The tower's opening has been delayed twice and, unlike other projects, survived cancellations after the crisis hit the one-booming city. Experts say land scarcity or urban density does not justify the height of the building. Rather, its monumental nature is a symbol of Dubai's ambitions.
From the 124th-floor observation deck, viewers can see 50 miles (80 km) on a clear day. The air is noticeably cooler and fresher on the terraces than in the stifling ground-level heat and humidity of Dubai's summer.
Terraces are located at setbacks spiralling up the tapered tower, which is based on the "geometries of the desert flower and the patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture", according to its promotional literature.
The building boasts the most stories and highest occupied floor of any building in the world, and ranks as the world’s tallest structure, beating out a television mast in North Dakota. Its observation deck - on floor 124 - also sets a record.
“We weren’t sure how high we could go,” said Bill Baker, the building’s structural engineer. “It was kind of an exploration. . . . A learning experience.”
Baker, of Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, said early designs for the Burj had it edging out the Taipei 101, by about 10 metres.
The Burj’s developer, Emaar Properties, kept pushing the design higher even after construction began, eventually putting it about 300 metres taller than its nearest competitor, Mr Baker said.
Besides luxury apartments and offices, the Burj will be home to a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani.
It is also the centrepiece of a 500-acre development that officials hope will become a new central residential and commercial district in this sprawling and often disconnected city. It is flanked by dozens of smaller but brand-new skyscrapers and the Middle East’s largest shopping mall.
Agencies