CONSTRUCTION & TECHNOLOGY

Nothing, not even the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building, screams “boom-to-bust” louder. It was designed by world-class architects who command sky-high fees, including Britain’s Norman Foster. The boutiques — Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Cartier — are the stores nobody wants to shop in any more, even if they can afford to.

With Google releasing new 3D imagery almost every week, urban sightseeing in Google Earth is getting better and better. Last month we mentioned the opening of the Burj Khalifa, so we thought it was probably time to look at more of the world's tallest buildings. Burj Khalifa, formerly known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m.

At least one Oregon exporter defied gravity in 2009, getting its products a half mile in the sky above Dubai during a year when the state's foreign sales sank. Workers at Warm Springs Composite Products mixed a patented brew of earth, fiberglass and recycled newspaper to make fire-resistant-rated door parts for the Burj Khalifa, which opened recently as the world's tallest building.

We all know that the biggest, and most expensive of just about everything has been used on the Burj Khalifa, but did you realise that the project also broke new ground in machinery terms? We look at some of the tower's PMV landmarks.

Standing 828 meters (2,717 feet) tall and boasting more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest structure: a single tower that will eventually house 12,000 people. The significance of designing and building the tallest building on Earth, costing over AED5.5 billion (US$1.5 billion), has become a matter of national pride making the protection of this national asset a priority to the government of the UAE, investors, and the tourism industry.

A group of terrified tourists have told how they were trapped in a lift for almost an hour 124 floors above the ground in the world's tallest building. Visitors on the observation deck half-mile-high Burj Khalifa heard a loud boom, then saw dust that looked like smoke seeping through a crack in a lift door.

NASA has released an updated satellite photo showing Dubai's artificial islands and its newly completed Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building which stands more than 800 meters. The projects, which were much hyped during development, are seeming ill-conceived on the heels of Dubai's real estate market crash and two bailouts by Abu Dhabi, Dubai's oil-rich neighbor.

ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, has provided solutions that help the Dubai Fountain reach great heights in the most energy-efficient way. Due to the fast delivery and strong working relationship with Emaar and the consultant on the Burj Khalifa project, ABB was subsequently awarded the Dubai Fountain electrification project, which is part of the Burj Khalifa complex.

Fibre optics specialists help wire Dubai's Burj Khalifa Tower. A small business in Melbourne has touted its role in the rollout of an optical fibre network built for the world's tallest tower, Dubai's Burj Khalifa Tower. Australian-owned Warren and Brown Technologies (WBT) provided equipment and training to Bond Communications - the company in Dubai commissioned to provide the complete audio-visual solutions for the 828 metre-high tower.

Delta Sound has provided sound syncronisation and fireworks for the opening of Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest man-made structure in the world. In a ceremony witnessed by thousands of Dubai residents and millions via television, Delta Sound produced a light and sound display to mark the $1.5bn tower's official opening earlier this month.