NEWS

Building towers is risky business. In fact, the very dynamics of the architecture of towers and their historical symbolism suggest acts of defiance. Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, now the world’s tallest building, takes the act of rebellion against physical limitations to new levels — literally. Over 100 storeys, it boasts the world’s highest swimming pool and perhaps as expiation also the world’s highest mosque. Its golf course requires over four million gallons of water a day. Last week, amid much fanfare, the legendary tower finally threw open its majestic doors to the public.

Emaar Properties is still finalising the rebranding process of the Burj Khalifa and will shortly announce whether there will be a new name for the Downtown Burj Dubai area, the developer told Arabian Business on Tuesday. “Sheikh Khalifa is one of the UAE’s symbols,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, chairman of Dubai’s Supreme Fiscal Committee and an uncle of Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The naming of the world's tallest building after President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was a great gesture. This act by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, during the spectacular opening ceremony on January 4 can only be described as blessed.

What a building! What a launch! I was lucky enough to be invited to the opening of the Burj Khalifa last week and it was certainly worth making the six-hour trip from London.

DUBAI - It’s natural to be excited about heading for the tallest observation deck in the world, on the 124th floor of the world’s tallest tower, Burj Khalifa, which is 828 metres tall. But for 14 people on Saturday evening, that excitement turned into fear as the elevator got stuck, five days after the tower’s inauguration.

We covered the grand opening ceremony of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa Tower, formerly called Burj Dubai. But amidst all the fireworks and fanfare, does this 818 meter high monument to human engineering achievement represent any innovations towards combating global warming, climate change, or other environmental breakthough – or is it simplyanother “Tower of Babel,” constructed by misguided human beings still trying to build us a city and a tower with its top in heaven?

Fino International said on Sunday it was nearing the end of its 33 month project to fit out the Burj Khalifa’s corporate offices, public lobby and Armani Hotel & Residences.

Dubai defies logic. Skyscrapers rear up out of the pitiless desert where, a generation ago, there was only wind-blown litter. This city-state confected from subsistence has now witnessed the opening of the world's tallest building – the Burj Khalifa, steel-ribbed, glass-clad and completely unsustainable.

More than 2 billion people are estimated to have seen the glittering, colorful ceremony that marked the opening of the world’s tallest building in Dubai on January 4. The height of the building, which was renamed Burj Khalifa during the inauguration by Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al-Maktoum, was revealed to be 828 meters.

A dedicated city where children work, learn, play and even earn, spend and save, opens on January 10, 2010 at The Dubai Mall.