Burj Dubai: World's Tallest Building

With the scenes of destruction around the Islamic world these days--in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza, Islamabad--it's been exhilarating to drive around Dubai today and behold all the construction going on. It's a cliche to say it, but I can't help it--Dubai's not a city, its a construction site. Cranes clutter the skyline as far as the eye can see. There are yellow "Men at Work" signs up and down the coastal construction corridors that parallel Sheikh Zayed Road. Massive luxury apartment complexes, man-made island resorts, huge shopping malls and of course iconic skyscrapers.

I had coffee with two local contacts of mine at the cigar bar on the 10th floor of the sleek 40-story Emirates Towers hotel in the afternoon, then took a ride over to Burj Dubai, which may have just become the world's tallest building. The work-in-progress is up to 138 stories, approximately 1,675 feet (510.39 meters). That would mean that it has surpassed Tapei 101 in Tapei City, which had been the planet's highest, at 1,670 feet (509.1 meters), since its completion four years ago.

Burj Dubai, July 12, 2007

Earlier this year, Burj Dubai grew taller than the Sears Tower in Chicago and the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The Sears Tower is still the highest, though, if you include the pinnacle at its top, which makes it 1,729 feet high. I could be wrong, but I think Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed will make sure his pinnacle shoots up higher than that. When Burj Dubai is completed in 2009, it will be Dubai's most prestigious address; it will feature office space, the Armani Hotel Dubai created by the Italian designer, residential accommodations and, of course, a shopping mall.

Dubai has a long tradition in trade, but the building boom of the last 15 years has transformed the emirate in every way. Real estate prices have doubled and tripled in the past few years, leading to speculation that Dubai is experiencing a bubble that is bound to burst. Last year when I put the question to Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, Burj Dubai's developer, he argued that this was not the case. The reason he gave is that Dubai has become the oil-rich Arab region's first and only real business hub--its New York, or Hong Kong--and as such will continue attracting businesses and people to work in them for some time to come.

--By Scott MacLeod/Dubai