‘Burj’ means
‘Tower’ and let me tell you there are some towers in Dubai. In 50 years this sleepy little trading town
on a creek in the gulf has been transformed into a shopping, tourist and
financial mecca.
Consider the
audacity of putting a ski slope in the middle of the desert or building islands
in the shape of a huge palm tree seen from space.
The Burj Al Arab
is built on its own Island and shaped as a sail. It is as enchanting close-up
as it is on the post cards. But the
granddaddy of them all is the Burj Khalifa, this monument to ‘over the top’ is
over 200 stories high and has a whole lot of ‘in the world’ features. Like, the tallest in the world and the
fastest elevator in the world (10m/sec) etc.
Looking out
from the top of the tower you can see the forest of buildings springing up from
the sand along the automated train line and the spaghetti of roads already
constructed.
Altering the
course of the natural creek is just what you do when you are engineering the
new future of Dubai. In between the already constructed towers there are still
empty blocks wind swept by the sands of the desert and a forest of cranes
standing in a surreal setting of construction and an ever-changing landscape.
I doubt that if
we were to visit again in 10 years that I would recognize the place.
No comments:
Post a Comment