두바이에 높이 '1400m' 넘는 세계 최고건물 등장한다

두바이에 높이 '1400m' 넘는 세계 최고건물 등장한다

[뉴시스] 2008년 10월 06일(월) 오전 10:27

세계 최고 높이의 건물이 약 10년 이후 새로운 신기록을 세우며 등장할 것으로 보인다.

두바이 부동산 개발사인 나크힐사는 5일 세계 최고 높이의 건물을 만들기 위해 현재 공사를 진행하고 있다고 말하면서 "새로운 건물은 미식축구 경기장 10개를 합친 높이와 맞먹을 것"이라고 전했다.

200층 이상의 이 건물은 뉴욕 크라이슬러 빌딩보다 3배 가량 높은 높이를 자랑할 것으로 보인다. 나크힐사의 최고 경영자인 크리스 오도넬은 "뉴 두바이(New Dubai)라는 프로젝트의 일환으로 세계 최고 높이의 건물 건설 중에 있으며 완공까지는 10년 이상이 걸릴 것"이라고 말했다.

나크힐사는 세계 최고 높이의 건물 주변에는 인공 항구와 90층에 이르는 40채의 건물들이 자리잡게 될 것이라고 덧붙였다. 현재 아랍에미리트연합(UAE) 정부 주도로 진행되고 있는 '두바이 월드'(Dubai World) 계획을 성사시키는 데 있어 나크힐사는 주도적 역할을 하고 있다.

스탠다드 차타드은행 두바이 지사의 마리오스 마라테프티스는 "이처럼 높은 건물의 건립은 현재 전 세계가 겪고 있는 금융 및 경제 위기에 새로운 희망을 보여주는 것"이라고 전했다.

현지 관계자들은 나크힐사가 건립 중인 건물의 높이가 1400m 이상이 될 것으로 예측하고 있으며 이는 지난달 높이 688m를 넘어서 내년 11월 완공을 목표로 하고 있는 버즈두바이의 최종 높이보다도 높은 높이를 자랑하게 될 것으로 보인다.

[두바이(아랍에미리트연합)=AP/뉴시스]

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New Dubai tower to be 1km tall

Adam Schreck, Dubai  October 6, 2008 - 7:14AM

 

 Businessmen look at a model of Dubai's proposed 1km-high Nakheel Harbour & Tower project. Photo: AP

With its world's tallest building nearing completion, Dubai said today it is embarking on an even more ambitious skyscraper: one that will soar more than 1 km into the air.

That's the height of more than 10 American football fields, 13 Airbus A380 ``superjumbo'' jets or three of New York's Chrysler Buildings stacked end-to-end.

``This is unbelievably groundbreaking design,'' chief executive Chris O'Donnell said during a briefing at the company's sales centre, not far from the proposed site. ``This still takes my breath away.''

The tower, which will take more than a decade to complete, will be the centrepiece of a sprawling development that state-owned builder Nakheel plans to create in the rapidly growing New Dubai section of the city. Foundation work has already begun, O'Donnell said.

The area is located between two of the city's artificial palm-shaped islands, which Nakheel also built. The project will include a man-made inland harbour and 40 additional towers up to 90 floors high.

About 150 elevators will carry employees and workers to the Nakheel Tower's more than 200 floors, the company said. The building will be composed of four separate towers joined at various levels and centred on an open atrium.

``It does show a lot of confidence in this environment'' of worldwide credit problems and a souring global economy, said Marios Maratheftis, Standard Chartered Bank's Dubai-based regional head of research.

As part of government-run conglomerate Dubai World, Nakheel has played a major role in creating modern-day Dubai, a city that has blossomed from a tiny Persian Gulf fishing and pearling village into a major business and tourism hub in a matter of decades.

Besides the growing archipelago of man-made islands for which it is best known, Nakheel is responsible for a number of the city's malls, hotels and hundreds of apartment buildings.

The company said the new project is inspired by Islamic design and draws inspiration from sites such as the Alhambra in Spain and the harbour of Alexandria in Egypt.

``This is nothing like it in Dubai,'' said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Nakheel's chairman.

Perhaps not quite, but Dubai is already home to the world's tallest building, even if it remains unfinished.

That skyscraper, the Burj Dubai, or Dubai Tower in Arabic, is being built by Nakheel's chief competitor, Emaar Properties.

Emaar has kept the final height of the silvery steel-and-glass tower a closely guarded secret, saying only that it stood at a ``new record height'' of 688 metres at the start of last month. It's due to be finished next September.

The final height of Nakheel's proposed tower is likewise a secret, as is the price tag. The company would only say it will be more than 1 km tall.

O'Donnell said he was confident that Nakheel could pay for the project despite the financial troubles roiling the world's economy.

He also brushed aside concerns by some analysts that Dubai's property market is becoming overheated and due for a potentially sharp correction.

``In Dubai, demand outstrips supply,'' he said. ``There might be a slowdown, but there definitely won't be a crash.''

AP

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