The city of Dubai is slowly becoming a bigger household name than Barack Obama, (or, gasp!, Paris Hilton). Much of this is due to the city’s rapid climb in both finance and architecture. Its architectural prowess lies in its creativity (the World Islands) and the enormous scales of its projects and edifices. Haute Living covered the tallest private residence months back that rang in at 173.7 meters high, owned by Indian billionaire, Mukesh Ambani. Though impressive in its own right, it now looks downright meek when compared to the largest man-made structure in the world, the Burj Dubai skyscraper, which is 650 meters high. The next tallest in line is Poland’s Warsawa radio mast, at just 4 meters shorter at the moment, however the Burj tower still has 169 more vertical meters to go. The fascinating thing about the feeling of size competition-in any walk of life-is the presumption that size matters, that size is some effective gauge of power or success. If it is, then how does the U.S. measure in? To be frank, we fall quite short, with our tallest structure being the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota. This is a mere 628.8 meters tall, and a great deal of its height is antenna mast. The FCC regulates very strictly all planned structures over 61 meters. Many cities are judged by their money and their overall beauty and scale in architecture, and Dubai is quickly turning into one of the world’s top business and vacation destinations.
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May 20, 2008Celebrity Living: David Stockman
