Burj Dubai, the Super Luxurious Complex on the Arabian Peninsula Dubai would Opens World's Highest Building

Spectacular Sound, Light, Water And Fireworks To Mark Burj Dubai Inauguration

The Dubai City Tower, also known as the Dubai Vertical City, is a proposed supertall skyscraper design announced on 25 August 2008. The supertall, created by an architect to display possibly future technologies, is the second tallest building ever fully envisioned after the X-Seed 4000.
If ever constructed, the Dubai City Tower will be much taller than any other current man-made structure. The Dubai City Tower will be almost seven times taller than the Empire State Building.
The design has 400 floors with a 200 km/h (125 mph) vertical bullet train acting as the main elevator. The design is inspired by the Eiffel Tower to better deal with the massive wind forces pushing on it.
It has a central core with 6 outer buildings that are connected to the central core every 100 floors. This design both stabilizes the structure and spreads out its mass.

The Dubai City Tower is estimated to consume 37,000 MWh of electricity per year, with a 15 MW peak usage. The power will be mostly supplied by solar, thermal, and wind power.

The inauguration of Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building, developed by Emaar Properties, will feature a spectacular display of sound, light, water and fireworks on the evening of January 4, 2010.

A combination of dazzling fireworks, light beams, choreographed water displays, and sound & music effects will describe the evolution of the world’s most iconic new building in a breathtaking sensory journey.

In all, 868 high-powered ‘stroboscope’ lights will be integrated into the facade of Burj Dubai and the tower’s spire – and each stroboscope will be fired individually to create a series of hypnotic lighting sequences.

The entire display is controlled by a sophisticated arrangement of ultra high-tech IT systems, which choreograph at least 50 different sequences of lighting, fireworks, water and sound effects.

Event experts from France, Britain and the United States collaborated on the project, demonstrating the global spirit of teamwork which defines Burj Dubai itself.

Powerful strobe lights will be fixed near the pinnacle of the tower, and six ‘narrow beam’ search lights will be positioned 700 metres up the tower.

The entire inauguration show consists of a pre-show and three themed acts – From the Desert Flower to Burj Dubai, Heart Beat, and From Dubai & the UAE to the World - and a firework finale.

A giant screen on Burj Park Island, as well as several television screens placed across Downtown Burj Dubai including the Waterfront Promenade, will broadcast the inauguration in real-time. Hundreds of international media, including Dubai TV, will report live from the scene.

The public can watch at the inauguration ceremony from the Waterfront Promenade adjacent to The Dubai Mall.

The inauguration performance begins with a short film which depicts the story of Dubai and the evolution of Burj Dubai as the world’s tallest building. A precisely choreographed sound, light, water and fireworks display then follows.

The first act in the light & sound show, themed ‘From the Desert Flower to Burj Dubai,’ is a co-ordinated water, light and firework display. Guests can watch the unfolding of the desert lily, Hymenocallis, the design inspiration of Burj Dubai. The segment ends with a rhythmic water and fireworks show.

The second act, ‘Heart Beat,’ captures the construction of the tower in a dynamic light show. An astonishing example of technological innovation, the display recreates the effect of a beating heart and uses no fewer than 300 ‘space canon projectors’ to generate a shadow-like image of the tower.

In the third act, ‘From Dubai and the UAE to the World,’ sky tracers and space canons envelop the tower in a strong halo of white light before reproducing the sun beams of the Emaar corporate logo. These then expand in all directions as the lighting rig on the tower’s spire activates.

In its spectacular finale, the show will feature an impressive show of 10,000 firework effects on and from the tower, envisaged as the highest in the world. The sparkling display will illuminate the entire Downtown Burj Dubai area.

Mr. Ahmad Al Matrooshi, Managing Director, UAE, Emaar Properties, said that the performance would be unprecedented and symbolic of Burj Dubai’s pioneering status.

“Just as Burj Dubai leaves an indelible impression on the mind’s eye, so the performance dedicated to the tower’s inauguration on January 4 will be a memory to cherish.”

Standing at more than 800 metres (2,625 ft) high and with over 160 storeys, Burj Dubai is the world’s tallest building developed by Emaar Properties. The tower anchors the 500-acre Downtown Burj Dubai community, described as the new heart of the city. For more information, please visit: www.burjdubai.com.

photogallery [http://www.ktla.com ]

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NOAH - New Orleans Arcology Habitat or NOAH

Heavenly Abode

Rebuilding New Orleans is an ongoing effort and pitching into the concept-zone is the New Orleans Arcology Habitat or NOAH. Since the details on this structure are in-depth and plenty, lets plunge into them right away. NOAH proposes to be a habitat for 40,000 residents who can benefit from the planned residential units, school system, commercial, retail, hotels, casinos, parking, and public works facilities.

NOAH is based upon the following preliminary program outline.

1. Residential Units / Rental and Condominium; 20,000 units @ average 1100 Sq ft
2. Three Hotels; Average 200 rooms plus associated services
3. Time Share Units; 1500 units @ average 1100 sq ft
4. Three Casino Facilities
5. Commercial Space / Rental and Condominiums; 500,000 sq ft
6. Commercial Space / Retail; 500,000 sq ft
7. Parking Garage / within foundation; 8,000 cars
8. Cultural Facilities; 100,000 sq ft
9. Public Works; 50,000 sq ft / includes storage
10. District School System; 100,000 sq ft
11. District Administrative Office; 50,000 sq ft
12. District Health Care Facility; 20,000 sq ft

Estimated Total Square Footage : 30 million

Location/ Site Specific:
In reviewing all the options and possible sites for NOAH, the most logical location is on the Mississippi riverfront and adjacent to the Central Business District.

Design Challenge:

1. The first challenge is to overcome both the physical and psychological damages of recurring severe weather patterns. Though re-population has begun, the need to provide a stabilized and safe environment is paramount to a long term recovery and economic well being of New Orleans.
2. The second challenge is that New Orleans has too much water. The city has been built at and below sea levels which creates consistently high water table and makes it prone to flooding and storm surges.
3. The third challenge is that New Orleans is built on soil condition which consists of thousands of feet of soft soil, silt and clay. These conditions make building large scale concentrated structures difficult.
Believing that NOAH is a viable plan, our solution to overcome these challenges is to take advantage of these seemingly conflicting issues with the introduction of a floating urban platform.

Foundation Design / Basin

The NOAH foundation system is twofold. The first part of the system is to create a water filled “basin” within which the urban platform (NOAH) will float.

The second part of the system is to create a multi-cavity “hull” which will be the actual foundation for the superstructure.

Basin/Foundation:

The water basin will be a combination of carving into the existing land and extending out into the Mississippi River.
This man made basin is estimated to be 1,200 feet in diameter with a depth of 250 feet.
The walls and floor of the basin would be constructed of high strength concrete with applied lateral bracing and exterior attached tension rings.
Backup intact valves will allow basin and river water levels to remain constant.

The Foundation:

Noah, at its current height of 1,200 feet will rest up its triangulated foundation constituted
to be a buoyant multi-cavity “hull.” This “hull” will consist of high strength concrete cells, forming approximately a 40×40 matrix. This matrix not only gives buoyancy to the structure, it also becomes the framing matrix for the steel framed superstructure. It is estimated that the combined weight of NOAH will draft 180 feet within the water-filled basin, allowing a minimum 50 foot space between the floor of the basin and the floor of the buoyant foundation.

The hull will accept all land connectors as flexible conveyors to take into account any movement.
A triangulate shape has been chosen as the basis for NOAH. For two reasons:

First, the triangle is inherently the most rigid of all structural framing systems. The system is designed to dissipate gravity and severe wind loads through an all-steel applied (eko skeleton) exterior frame and conventional internal framing methodology.

Second, the triangle is an “open” frame configuration, dividing NOAH into three separate “towers” converging at the top. The intent of this open system is to allow all severe weather /winds to in effect “blow through” the structure in any direction with the minimum of massing interference.

Some Other Features:

1. Sky Gardens will be inserted into the three main towers every 30 floors. These sky gardens provide landscaped glass enclosed atria.
2. Vertical commuting within NOAH will be supported by a series of local and express custom canted elevators.
3. NOAH is geared to an all pedestrian environment. Accordingly, only select horizontally based areas will be fitted with moving walkways and/or electric train carriers.
NOAH is a three phase master plan with a proposed 10 year build out. This time frame can be reduced to an estimated 6 years should demand accelerate.

Eco-Highlights:
The structure is designed to expand the horizon of sustainability and will seek LEED certification.
It will eliminate the need for cars within the urban structure, and thus becomes a carbon neutral entity. Internal electric transport links, vertical and horizontal, create a pedestrian-friendly community,
Some of these elements are secured wind turbines, fresh water recovery and storage systems, passive glazing system, sky garden heating/cooling vents, grey water treatment, solar array banding panels, and river based water turbines.

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The floating city of the future in the form of lilies

Belgian architect Vincent Kallebaut developed projects floating cities, which should help humanity to protect themselves from floods caused by climate change and global warming. The project is called the Lilypad, and his second name literally sounds like a "floating Ecopolis for climate refugees".

Such a city-island will only use the natural energy sources-solar, wind, energy ebbs and flows, and so forth, so that should not cause any harm to the environment.

In Vincent's idea, Lilypad may be tied to land, or float freely in the open ocean ...

Island with greenery both outside and inside ...

Inside will be a real oasis of different exotic vegetation ...

The very construction is made in the form of a flower water lily ...

Calculate such a floating city of 50 thousand people ...

Of course, now it's only his thoughts and dreams of the architect, having nothing to do with reality, but with the projections IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), pursuant to which the sea level during this century would rise to 20-90 cm, it seems, step in the right direction.

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