Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have bought their own Island in “The World,” Dubai’s ultra-exclusive offshore development. Dubai-based celebrity and society web site Ahlanlive reported that the film stars have bought an island with a view to turning it into a showpiece for environmental issues with the hope that it will encourage people to live a “greener life,” – no comment.

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Following on from a look at the development in Dubai over the last few years, (If you build it, they will come) here is a closer look at one of the major new developments currently underway. Construction of the Burj Dubai is now over halfway through construction and according to the official website, is currently over 574 meters tall, with 154 completed stories. Along the way, the builders have surpassed a number of previous records in their creation of the World’s tallest building:

February 2007
Burj Dubai surpasses the Sears Tower as the building with the most floors.
May 13, 2007
Burj Dubai sets record for vertical concrete pumping on any building at 452 m (1,483 ft), surpassing the 449.2 m (1,474 ft) to which concrete was pumped during the construction of Taipei 101.[7]
July 21, 2007
Burj Dubai becomes the tallest building on Earth surpassing Taipei 101 which stands at a height of 509.2 m (1,671 ft).The previous day, the head of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), Antony Wood, had confirmed that it “surpassed the height of Taipei 101 structurally (concrete).” However, he also added “We will not classify it as a building until it is complete, clad and at least partially open for business to avoid things like the Ryungyong [sic] project. Taipei 101 is thus officially the world’s tallest until that happens.”
August 12, 2007
Burj Dubai surpassed the height of the Sears’ Tower antenna which stands at a height of 527.3 m (1,730 ft).
September 03, 2007
Burj Dubai becomes the second-tallest freestanding structure, surpassing the 540 m (1,772 ft) Ostankino Tower in Moscow, Russia.

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It seems to me, the Dubai city planners may have watched the Kevin Costner movie, “Field of Dreams,” one too many times. But they weren’t far wrong. They did build it and they did come. In fact, they are still coming and the planned developments over the next few years should bring even more. I found some interesting photos of Dubai which show the development over the last few years. The first one is taken in 1989 and the second in 2005. Spot the difference? There has been quite a stunning amount of development in Dubai, and these two photograph, seen together, graphically demonstrate that fact. The next few are some projections of future developments. It’s hard to see an end in sight, with the ‘Palm Islands” and “World Archipelago” developments pushing the boundaries even further.

Dubai 1989:

Dubai 2005:

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Football legend, Sir Bobby Charlton, one of the most well-known figures in English and World football was in Dubai today, to officially launch the third season of Manchester United Soccer Schools as part of the Dubai Sports City project.

Details of the new program, which is expected to be the most successful to date, were announced at the launch event, which was attended by not only Sir Bobby, but also representatives of Dubai Sports City and presenting sponsor Milo. This is the third season of MUSS skills development sessions and is set to attract over 750 boys and girls from across the region, with over 60 nationalities creating a truly multi-cultural sporting environment.

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The plans for the Iskandar Development Region (IDR) were unveiled as part of Malaysia’s 2006-2010 development plan. Commentators (and investors) are still trying to gauge how much of the enormous scope of this development will come to fruition. Given its proximity to Singapore, the state of Johor at the southernmost tip of the Malay Peninsula is surprisingly undeveloped. The IDR is designed to address Johor’s under-development relative to Malaysia as a whole and to reverse the recent downward trend in Malaysia’s inward investment.

The development is really only at an early stage at present. However, it is hoped that in the course of the current 5-year plan it will attract RM 50bn of investment (approx. $15bn). The 5-year plan itself allows for an investment in infrastructure of RM 4.3bn with another RM 3.4bn being provided by development funds. Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia’s national development fund is the IDR’s sponsoring body and will be supplying a significant proportion of this element. Finally, it is hoped that the private sector will provide about RM 10bn’s worth of investment in the initial phase of the programme.

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Finally got hold of a quality rotating tower video. This is an interesting piece from CNBC on good old Dubai featuring the rotating tower in Jumeirah Village….it’s a US$350m off plan 68-storey hotel condo & office tower designed by Italian architect David Fisher. Each floor individually rotates 360 degrees, constantly changing the shape of the building.

A Saudi prince has already snapped up the tower’s penthouse.

Whatever next for the Arabian city that has an artificial ski slope covered in snow even when the temperature hits 50C? Not to mention the world’s tallest building, some 700 metres (2,300 ft) high, rising above palm-shaped artificial archipelagos in the warm waters of the Persian Gulf. Oh, and a growth rate of 16% and a population where foreigners in need of “luxury” homes outnumber locals.

Well, what about the world’s first rotating skyscraper?

Commissioned by the Dubai Property Ring, a firm of UK-based developers, the 30-storey apartment block will use solar energy to power 20 electric motors that will rotate the tower through 360 degrees over the course of a week.”This will be a fair building,” says Nick Cooper, the British engineer working with MG Bennet and Associates of Rotherham, which will build the mechanism. “Everybody will have the same views for the same amount of time.”

Mr Cooper is not referring to “fair” as in “funfair” - though the building is, it has to be said, the spectacular proposed centrepiece of the giant City of Arabia amusement park, complete with animatronic dinosaurs, which is due to open in 2009.

Time Residences will comprise 200 apartments. Its 80,000-tonne bulk will rest on a series of more or less friction-free polymer bearings. “It moves very slowly,” says Mr Cooper. “It is not a theme park ride.”

Will it work? Cooper has previously designed the drilling machine that bored for England and France beneath the Channel, allowing Eurostar trains to race between London and Paris. He has also designed a giant rotating rock-crushing machines for use in mines. Getting a 30-storey building to turn slowly should be a doddle. And, Cooper claims, the power required to make it spin should be no more than is needed to boil 21 electric kettles.

Rotating parts of buildings is nothing new: London’s Post Office tower, featuring one of the world’s first rotating restaurants (with a very British catering service ,provided by Butlins), opened in 1966. But, this side of an observatory, getting a whole building to turn around its axis is something else - a case of a “white hot” sixties technological dream realised in a blazing hot emirate half a century on.

The £41m building is designed by British architects at Glenn Howells Associates, the company currently converting the Birmingham Rotunda into a block of 230 flats, and the Dubai city developers Palmer and Turner.

It will be capped with a crescent-shaped Moon Lounge, which will feature a theatre and an observatory. From here, future residents may just be able to catch glimpses of the further 23 rotating towers the Dubai Property Ring plans to build in cities around the world - one for every time zone. The idea is enough to make anyone dizzy.

Source: Guardian Unlimited

Related:

• AME Info Press release
• Rotating towers get Dubai real estate in a spin (Gulf News)
• Rotating tower to be solar-powered
• Scraper City discussion thread