Burj al Arab
| Burj al Arab | |
|---|---|
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| Basic data | |
| Place: |
Dubai , United Arab Emirates
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| Construction time : | 1994-1999 |
| Status : | Built |
| Architectural style : | Postmodern |
| Architect : | WS Atkins & Partners |
| Use / legal | |
| Usage : | hotel |
| Technical specifications | |
| Height : | 321 m |
| Height to the top: | 321 m |
| Height to the roof: | 210 m |
| Rank (height) : | 14th place (Dubai) |
| Floors : | 60 |
| Elevators : | 18th |
| Building material : | Structure: steel , reinforced concrete ; Facade: glass, aluminum |
| Building-costs: | $ 1.5 billion |
The Burj al Arab ( Arabic برج العرب, DMG burǧ al-ʿarab, Burj al-ʿArab , German: "Tower of the Arabs") is one of the most luxurious and expensive hotels in the world. With a height of 321 meters, it is the fourth tallest hotel building in the world and a landmark of the Emirati city of Dubai . This building is unmistakable due to its sail-shaped cubature and its exposed position .
The hotel is operated by the Jumeirah Group , which also maintains the neighboring Jumeirah Beach Hotel , the Emirates Towers and the Bab al Shams in Dubai. The group also has other facilities in London and New York.
Design and construction
The design is by Tom Wright , an employee of Atkins Middle East . The client's express wish was to create an architectural icon that would become an identifying feature for Dubai. The design has the shape of the sail of a modern yacht and is intended to symbolize the past as a sea trade center and Dubai's future orientation.
Murray & Roberts and Al Habtoor Engineering Enterprises founded a joint venture to realize the building . Construction began in 1994; Initially, it took around 2 years to create the artificial island so that it could withstand loads; the actual construction lasted until 1999.
The hotel is slightly lower than the Eiffel Tower (324 meters) to the top with its height of 321.25 meters and only 60 meters lower than the Empire State Building to the roof (381 meters), but 122 meters lower than this overall (443 meters) ,3 meter). Its support piles go up to 45 meters below the sea floor to ensure a secure foundation . The actual building used 70,000 cubic meters of concrete, 43,000 square meters of glass, 9,000 tons of steel , 13,000 cubic meters of Carrara marble , 12,000 cubic meters of Brazilian granite , 32,000 cubic meters of Italian mosaic, and 8,000 square meters of gold leaf .
The original plan was to build the hotel directly on the coast and not on an artificial island in front of it, but this plan was discarded because the building would have cast too large a shadow on the beach.
The island itself is protected on its 1: 1.33 inclined embankments by a hollow revetment against breaking sea waves with heights of up to 8.8 m. In this case, the hollow structure through which a flow can flow consists of regularly laid concrete hollow cubes with an edge length of 1.3 meters and individual weights of around 2 tons.
The design of the tower in the shape of a sail is complemented by the helicopter landing pad (210 meters) on the 28th floor on the land side and the restaurant that protrudes 200 meters on the sea side.
A curved white membrane surface made of glass fiber fabric closes off the air space of the V-shaped floor plan on the land side. This 14,000 square meter, 200 meter high and 50 meter wide area was a particular challenge for the designers. The inner and outer membrane are used for thermal insulation , and at night it is also used as a projection surface for plays of light.
So that the guests of this architecturally unique hotel are not disturbed by wind-induced vibrations, the steel structure was equipped with vibration absorbers . These are oscillating, electronically monitored oscillating masses that are integrated into the building structure and dampen even the smallest vibrations in the building. This eliminates low-frequency vibrations that can make people feel uncomfortable.
The builder Sheikh Muhammad bin Raschid Al Maktum , Emir of Dubai and Defense Minister of the United Arab Emirates since 2006 , is said to have spent an estimated 1.5 billion US dollars on this project. Details were never officially published.
The opening was celebrated on December 1, 1999.
Furnishing
The Burj al Arab is often referred to as a 7-star hotel by the press. Officially it only bears five stars , because that ends the previous categorization. Nevertheless, the furnishings are far more generous than would be necessary for five stars, and until the opening of the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi in 2005, the Burj al Arab was largely regarded as the most luxurious hotel in the world: The 202 rooms are exclusively suites with a size between 169 and 780 square meters. The "small" suites (169 square meters) consist of two floors. In the lower part there is a living room with a dining table for four people and a bar as well as an office corner where check-in with the butler is carried out. A staircase leads to the upper floor with a dressing room and a bedroom with a king-size bed and a luxurious bathroom with a whirlpool.
Rolls-Royce (various models), BMW with chauffeur and helicopter are available for all guests for the transfer .
During the hot summer months there are usually special prices, as most of the usual guests are absent. The eight hotel restaurants and bars are characterized by their individual styles: To enter the Al Mahara on the ground floor, a three-minute submarine ride is simulated for the visitor in the elevator . The interior of the Al Mahara is dominated by a huge sea aquarium around which the tables are arranged. The Al Muntaha protrudes from the building at a height of 200 meters on the lake side and offers a view over the Persian Gulf and The Palm, Jumeirah . Another two floors above there is a platform on the land side that is used as a helipad and served as a tennis court for a promotional tour. 8,000 square meters of gold leaf were used to decorate the interior . There are several fountains and cascades in the lobby alongside softly tufted carpets. Escalators are used to get from reception to the actual lobby. These lead along two aquariums, each three meters high, with coral reefs .
The pool and spa area is on the 18th floor. All facilities such as the pool, spa and large fitness studio are available twice in identical equipment and size, once for men and once for women in accordance with the Arabic code of conduct. However, the area for men can also be used by women. The indoor pool has views of the undulating Jumeirah Beach Hotel , Wild Wadi Water Park and Dubai the World. The use of this public, much-visited water park is free of charge for hotel guests.
The hotel also has an outdoor pool on the lake side on the ground floor. The pool is cooled in summer so that bathing is refreshing despite the high outside temperatures; in winter it is heated. There is also a shuttle service with golf carts from the outdoor pool to the hotel's private beach, which is 200 meters away across from the hotel. This means that guests can go to the beach directly from their room in swimwear without having to go through the lobby .
model
An approximately 13 m high model on a scale of 1:25 is in the Mini Mundus Bodensee .
See also
- List of tallest buildings in Dubai
- List of tallest buildings in the Middle East
- List of tallest hotels in the world
literature
- Andres Lepik: " Skyscraper ". Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-7913-3454-9 .
Web links
- Jumeirah Group
- Burj al Arab
- Press kit (PDF file; 147 kB)
- Burj al Arab pronunciation in Arabic
Individual evidence
- ↑ dubai-informationen.com: Dubai Burj al Arab Hotel ( Memento from May 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ); Retrieved October 10, 2009.
- ↑ "Minimundus - Bodensee" (Germany) papillon971.blogspot.com, picture report June 26, 2011, accessed December 22, 2019.
Coordinates: 25 ° 8 ′ 28 ″ N , 55 ° 11 ′ 8 ″ E