Design

The extravagant architectural designs of Downtown Dubai are a real challenge for the civil engineers planning their execution. Increasing heights call for new feats of technology. Special structural analyses, wind tunnel tests, earthquake simulations, and the use of construction materials with superior loadbearing properties (high-performance concrete, high-strength steels, hurricane-resistant glazing) are needed in order to keep the cross-sections of loadbearing structural components to reasonable dimensions.

Changes in design must be expected at all times – even when construction work is already underway. The recent decision to raise the Burj by an additional 100 metres means above all that higher seismic and wind loads will have to be transferred safely. And it was the wind load that determined the stepped design.

The Burj was originally planned as a purely residential building, but the concept was subsequently modified, involving a change in the use of the bottom 40 floors (from apartments to a hotel) and the top 40 floors (from apartments to office space). Since hotel areas require more utility lines but there were no exact details on the eventual layout of the rooms, the degree of reinforcement for the floors had to be increased. This ensured that there would be sufficient stability where subsequent core drilling was needed for additional utility lines.