Manasi Bandyopadhyay (neé Chakrabarti)
Dubai has been doing the most spectacular and offbeat architectural experiment on the planet. Dubai's love with
iconic architecture began with the
opening of the Burj Al-Arab - The Tower of Arabs. Its sail-shaped form has become
Dubai's national symbol.
H.E. Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid al Maktoum - the Vice
President of UAE and Ruler of Dubai - is the commissioner of this hotel . He
wanted a landmark as arresting as the Eiffel Tower or Sydney Opera House to
serve as a symbol of his city. The result, promotional pamphlets insist,
recalls "the type of sail that
would be found on a yacht in Saint Tropez"—just twenty-five times taller.
I first saw this magnificent
seven star hotel from Jumeira beach. It stands elegantly on an artificial
island 920 ft offshore (280 m) from that beach
and is connected to the mainland
by a private curving bridge . It seemed to me that a large Arabian yacht coming
straight from the age of the Arabian Night is floating in the sea and I only see its large sail !
I had already
read that to secure a foundation, the builders drove 130 ft concrete piles into
the sand and 39% of its total height is made up of non-occupiable space.
Engineers created a ground or surface layer of large
rocks that is circled with a concrete
honeycomb pattern, which serves to protect the foundation from erosion. It took
three years to reclaim the land from the sea, and fewer than three years to construct
the building itself. The building contains over 70,000 m3 of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel.
It has a helipad near the roof at a height of 210 m
(689 ft) above ground where many events are being host including tennis
playing by topmost players of the world.
' Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, who surprised many by choosing a relatively inexperienced
British firm Atkins, to supply the
design, was impressed by architect Tom Wright’s sketch of a building inspired
by a yacht,' reports the Gardner .
‘ Wright was aiming for an “iconic” design comparable
to the Eiffel Tower or the Sydney Opera House, which could be drawn in a few
simple lines. “We had many sleepless nights worrying that the building we’d
designed wouldn’t turn out to be iconic,” he says. Wright wanted the 321-metre structure to rise into the
sky on an island, giving it the illusion of being at sea. Two "wings"
spread in a V to form a vast "mast", while the space between them is
enclosed in a massive atrium. His
refusal to compromise led to the construction of a low-rise, artificial island
from concrete cubes. “It’s never been done before, to build something like this
on re-claimed land,” colleague Simon Crispe remarks. Further challenges lay in
store when engineers could find no solid rock beneath the site, so they bored
steel and concrete poles deep into the sand to serve as the foundations. The
poles used friction against the compacted sand to hold the building steady
against the powerful winds of the Arabian Gulf.
‘ The next problem came with the 85-metre-long steel
trusses designed to hold the structure together. “It’s okay for the architect
to draw pretty pictures, but we had to build it!” contractor Malcom Murphy
says. These enormous trusses were winched into place 200m in the air to provide
a strong exoskeleton for the building.
'Then Tom Wright’s extraordinary designs to crown the hotel with an enormous “floating”
restaurant hanging in the air 27m away from the spine of the building.
Structural engineer Anthony McCarter had to find a method to attach the
restaurant far away from the building’s centre of gravity: “When Tom first
showed it to me, I must admit I thought it was crazy!” he says. McCarter’s
solution ensured that the hotel’s exclusive clients would enjoy unparalleled
views as they dined. ' The report of the Gardner further says
‘Our arrival at
Burj Al Arab was of true Seven Star style. Four lovely hostesses and a host
welcomed us in the tradition of Jumeirah - with warm smiles, cold towels,
Arabian coffee, sweet dates and chilled rosewater. Much has been written about
the decorative style of Burj Al Arab .. One thing is for certain; entering Burj
Al Arab for the first time and looking up the tallest atrium lobby in the world
will definitely take your breath away. While the exterior of Burj Al Arab
appears ultra-modern, its interior is an anthology of interesting and
well-appointed copious styles, splendidly dressed in 24-carat gold leaf. On the
way to the elevator that would usher us to our accommodations on the 19th
floor, we passed fascinating water installations . It seems incomprehensible
that fifty years ago Dubai had no running fresh water. Burj Al Arab hotel
features twenty-one residential floors, accommodating two hundred and two
suites, of which the smallest is just over 1,800 square ft. and the largest close
to 8,400 square ft.’’ Says the team of 7 Stars & 7 Stripes.
If you see anything inside the hotel looks like gold, it IS gold. I recalled
Mysore Palace and Falaknama Palace of India when I was passing through the
lobby and I was pleased to see that there
are beautifully decorated flowers too.
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