Burj Al Arab is one of the most magnificent buildings and the tallest hotel on the planet Earth standing 312m high on the coast of Dubai. The crown prince of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum decided to turn Dubai into one of the world’s most exclusive tourist holiday destinations. For this he needed some iconic buildings and tourist attractions. Tom Wright was given the task to build an exclusive piece of architecture which could symbolize Dubai. A man made island was built on the Arabian Gulf which could withstand the harsh climatic conditions of Dubai.

Building the island charged a lot of courage and innovation. Like to protect the island from high tides, pioneering concrete blocks hexagonal shaped were laid around the island which could turn the waves around. After the building of the island another challenging task was that the building was to be built on sand. The Burj Al Arab is supported on 250, 1.5M diameter columns that go 45 meters under the sea. As there is only sand to hold the building up the columns rely on sand friction. The orientation of the building minimizes the heat gain during the summer seasons.

The south elevation has the most exposed surface area. As a result, it has the maximum capacity for heat absorption. To protect the building from destruction caused due to wind tunnels also vibrations may be caused due to vortex shedding. To tackle this problem ingenious hanging weights were added to damp down the vibrations. Fabric walls were laid throughout the columns.

Building of the skyview restaurant was another headache for the structural engineers to which they found a solution of casting steel brackets into the core to which 10 grinders radiated out on which the restaurant was supported. The fitting of interiors like gold leafs, silk and carved wood required a temperature much lower than that of Dubai. So the entire building was air conditioned.

Electrical engineers also faced a lot of difficulties caused due to harmonic distortion which could turn the entire building to ashes, to which the engineer found a solution of devising a harmonic filter. Then the last work was left for the interior designer who put her heart and soul to make the building speak what luxury means. Burj Al Arab also paved the way for other architectural beauties in Dubai and itself is the symbol of Dubai .

A dream does not become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination, innovation and hard work.

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