CONSTRUCTION & TECHNOLOGY

The hands that designed the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, will now be sketching homes for the Indian customer. None other than Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM), one of the world’s largest architectural and engineering firms, has been roped in by Godrej Properties for the Rs 5,000-crore project in Gujarat.

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.

Two construction workers died this week after falling from the 27th floor of a building next to the Burj Khalifa. The Indian men, ages 24 and 27, were installing glass at about 4.30pm on Tuesday when their cradle encountered a "mechanical error", said an official from the project site who declined to be named. Another anonymous source said the side winch of the cradle had failed, and a statement issued by Dubai Police said the men's cradle had "lost balance".

Spread across two iconic towers, the 1,614-room JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai is set to become one of the region's most desirable destinations, Marriott's President and Managing Director for International Lodging Ed Fuller told a news conference in Dubai on Monday.

Just over halfway to its planned height, the Tokyo Sky Tree became the tallest structure in Japan on Monday when construction reached 338 meters (1,108 feet). When completed, it will stand 634 meters (2,080 feet). The Sky Tree on Monday surpassed the city’s 333-meter (1,092-foot) Tokyo Tower, a landmark and top tourist attraction since it opened in 1958.

The tower, which if built would eclipse Dubai’s 818-metre Burj Khalifa, is being planned by Kingdom Holding, the business conglomerate owned by the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Kingdom Tower would be twice the height of Burj Khalifa. The 1,600m-tall Kingdom Tower would dwarf the current tallest building in the world, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which is half its height. Lifts would take a reported 12 minutes to reach the top floor.

Big innovation happens a lot in the Middle East, in fact probably more than anywhere else in the world. Who else would have built Burj Khalifa? I think the reason it's happened a lot is because there is a lot of support from the Government and there's not necessarily the question of a business case behind it. The challenge is on small innovation, the day-to-day stuff.

A traditional ceremony to mark the completion of the world's tallest freestanding broadcasting tower has been held in Tokyo. A Shinto priest offered prayers of safety and prosperity for the new landmark in Tokyo - the 634-metre-high tower named the Tokyo Sky Tree. Construction, which began in July 2008, was completed earlier this week.

Opened with great fanfare on Jan. 4 as the tallest building in the world, the 2,717-foot-high Burj Khalifa, designed by Chicago architect Adrian Smith, acted instantly as a kind of 160-story Rorschach Test.