From the Telegraph, UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.u...tless.html
Burj Khalifa: German architects brand world's tallest building 'pointless'

The huge glass and tower "hardly represents a sustainable contribution to current world building practices," said Christian Baumgart, president of German architects' association DAI.

While architecture in Europe valued refurbishing and upgrading existing buildings rather than building vast new developments, "Nobody knows where the planning hubris of the sheikhs will lead," he said.


Meinhard von Gerkan, who designed Berlin's central train station, said the building, which opened to great fanfare earlier this week, was a "pointless" symbol of power and prestige.

It was no surprise that the tower had been erected in Dubai rather than somewhere like the US, "where rationality (..) plays a greater role than the need to demonstrate power," he told Deutschlandradio Kultur.

The Burj, which reaches more than 2000 feet into the sky, would suffer from astronomical maintenance costs and would never make a profit, he warned.

The building was designed by British architect Adrian Smith. It has 160 floors, using 330,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete and103,000 square meters of glass.

It is some 300 metres taller than the previous record holder, Taipei 101.
[Edited 1/6/10 6:14am]

Riiiight

Lets all pretend that the long history of self-absorption and arrogance of Western civilization never existed

When Americans and Europeans do it, its understandable. When Arabs do it, they're "wasting money" rock steady baby,,,lets call this shit exactly what it is.

It is a huge achievement, considering that Dubai was damn near a rural state 20 years ago. Nothing and nobody can take this from them, they may have lost alot in the process but I don't think it'll be the end of the road for them.

I say good for Dubai.
[Edited 1/8/10 17:34pm]

From the Telegraph, UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.u...tless.html
Burj Khalifa: German architects brand world's tallest building 'pointless'

The huge glass and tower "hardly represents a sustainable contribution to current world building practices," said Christian Baumgart, president of German architects' association DAI.

While architecture in Europe valued refurbishing and upgrading existing buildings rather than building vast new developments, "Nobody knows where the planning hubris of the sheikhs will lead," he said.


Meinhard von Gerkan, who designed Berlin's central train station, said the building, which opened to great fanfare earlier this week, was a "pointless" symbol of power and prestige.

It was no surprise that the tower had been erected in Dubai rather than somewhere like the US, "where rationality (..) plays a greater role than the need to demonstrate power," he told Deutschlandradio Kultur.

The Burj, which reaches more than 2000 feet into the sky, would suffer from astronomical maintenance costs and would never make a profit, he warned.

The building was designed by British architect Adrian Smith. It has 160 floors, using 330,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete and103,000 square meters of glass.

It is some 300 metres taller than the previous record holder, Taipei 101.
[Edited 1/6/10 6:14am]

From the Telegraph, UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.u...tless.html
Burj Khalifa: German architects brand world's tallest building 'pointless'

The huge glass and tower "hardly represents a sustainable contribution to current world building practices," said Christian Baumgart, president of German architects' association DAI.

While architecture in Europe valued refurbishing and upgrading existing buildings rather than building vast new developments, "Nobody knows where the planning hubris of the sheikhs will lead," he said.


Meinhard von Gerkan, who designed Berlin's central train station, said the building, which opened to great fanfare earlier this week, was a "pointless" symbol of power and prestige.

It was no surprise that the tower had been erected in Dubai rather than somewhere like the US, "where rationality (..) plays a greater role than the need to demonstrate power," he told Deutschlandradio Kultur.

The Burj, which reaches more than 2000 feet into the sky, would suffer from astronomical maintenance costs and would never make a profit, he warned.

The building was designed by British architect Adrian Smith. It has 160 floors, using 330,000 cubic metres of reinforced concrete and103,000 square meters of glass.

It is some 300 metres taller than the previous record holder, Taipei 101.
[Edited 1/6/10 6:14am]

Riiiight

Lets all pretend that the long history of self-absorption and arrogance of Western civilization never existed

When Americans and Europeans do it, its understandable. When Arabs do it, they're "wasting money" rock steady baby,,,lets call this shit exactly what it is.

It is a huge achievement, considering that Dubai was damn near a rural state 20 years ago. Nothing and nobody can take this from them, they may have lost alot in the process but I don't think it'll be the end of the road for them.

I say good for Dubai.
[Edited 1/8/10 17:34pm]

I love you girlie but I think it's wasteful no matter who does it.

Yes, it's "wasteful" in a sense, but so were the Pyramids at Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylonia, the palace at Machu-Pichu, the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, etc., etc., etc.

if it involved huge amounts of money while people were starving then I stick by what I say.

Yeah, just think about how many hungry mouths in Italy could've been fed by the cash the wealthy elite paid Michelangelo or DaVinci for their crappy paintings.

True. But the Statue of Liberty is more symbolic, more of an icon than an achievement....and everybody knows it´s a gift and not American made.To brag about having the highest building is a whole different issue though.

Riiiight

Lets all pretend that the long history of self-absorption and arrogance of Western civilization never existed

When Americans and Europeans do it, its understandable. When Arabs do it, they're "wasting money" rock steady baby,,,lets call this shit exactly what it is.

It is a huge achievement, considering that Dubai was damn near a rural state 20 years ago. Nothing and nobody can take this from them, they may have lost alot in the process but I don't think it'll be the end of the road for them.

I say good for Dubai.

It's almost the same as penis size bragging.