Talking about tall buildings, I read that if you stack the Chrysler Building on top of the Empire State Building you still wouldn't get as high as the new Burj Dubai, or whatever it's called now.
Dan would never make up such an easily verifiable statement! However, is it possible that the new building was almost renamed Burj Dan instead of Burj Khalifa?
...The Burj Khalifa, in Dubai—the new holder of the title of World’s Tallest Building—is no less extravagant a media gesture. Unlike Wright’s design, to which it bears a startling resemblance, this building is very real—all one hundred and sixty stories (or two thousand seven hundred and seventeen feet) of it. For decades, skyscrapers have been topping each other in only small increments: Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers (one thousand four hundred and eighty-two feet) are thirty-two feet taller than Chicago’s Sears Tower (or Willis Tower, as it is now called); the Shanghai World Financial Center is about a hundred and thirty feet taller than the Petronas Towers; Taipei 101, in Taiwan, is fifty feet taller than the Shanghai tower; and so on. But the Burj Khalifa represents a quantum leap over these midgets. Even if you put the Chrysler Building on top of the Empire State Building, that still wouldn’t equal its height.
A little more trivia: Abu Dhabi owns 75% of the Chrysler building (by Fiat?) and the Burj Khalifa was named by the ruler of Abu Dhabi even though it's in Dubai -- because Abu Dhabi more recently owns Dubai? Is someone collecting tall buildings? Overcompensating for something, as the joke goes?
Talking about tall buildings, I read that if you stack the Chrysler Building on top of the Empire State Building you still wouldn't get as high as the new Burj Dubai, or whatever it's called now.
ReplyDeleteAre you making that up?
ReplyDeleteGreat picture! That building says New York City to me.
ReplyDeleteDan would never make up such an easily verifiable statement! However, is it possible that the new building was almost renamed Burj Dan instead of Burj Khalifa?
ReplyDelete...The Burj Khalifa, in Dubai—the new holder of the title of World’s Tallest Building—is no less extravagant a media gesture. Unlike Wright’s design, to which it bears a startling resemblance, this building is very real—all one hundred and sixty stories (or two thousand seven hundred and seventeen feet) of it. For decades, skyscrapers have been topping each other in only small increments: Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers (one thousand four hundred and eighty-two feet) are thirty-two feet taller than Chicago’s Sears Tower (or Willis Tower, as it is now called); the Shanghai World Financial Center is about a hundred and thirty feet taller than the Petronas Towers; Taipei 101, in Taiwan, is fifty feet taller than the Shanghai tower; and so on. But the Burj Khalifa represents a quantum leap over these midgets. Even if you put the Chrysler Building on top of the Empire State Building, that still wouldn’t equal its height.
ReplyDeleteRead more: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2010/02/08/100208crsk_skyline_goldberger#ixzz0ecuu6AmH
Okay, I'll never doubt you again.
ReplyDeleteA little more trivia: Abu Dhabi owns 75% of the Chrysler building (by Fiat?) and the Burj Khalifa was named by the ruler of Abu Dhabi even though it's in Dubai -- because Abu Dhabi more recently owns Dubai? Is someone collecting tall buildings? Overcompensating for something, as the joke goes?
ReplyDelete