Tall Buildings in Dubai—Converting Architecture into Reality

Abstract

In just over two decades, Dubai has transformed from a desert served by a single port to a flourishing metropolis. Dubai alone is the home to 20% of the world’s tallest 50 buildings. This transformation brings new challenges to the city during construction and post completion. The surrounding areas will be affected by these skyscrapers from transportation, traffic constraints, parking, power and water consumption and other factors.

The cost of building a skyscraper remains the major obstacle with the need to source out new materials other than steel and concrete. Also, moving people around efficiently in super tall buildings is another challenge for engineers keeping in mind the unique designs that architects are looking after. Once all design aspects are concluded and approved by different stakeholders, it will move on to the next phase which is construction, that is called: Reality.

Construction realization is the focus of this paper. It will discuss the actual facts and surprises which will be encountered during the transformation of the design into shop drawings and tangible concrete. A physical case study from a busy district in the city of Dubai is the main focus of this study along with the core challenges and obstacles faced the team during the execution phase. Also, this review will debate couple of design elements that were considered as a design feature then developed to be a real construction challenge.

Originality/value: the paper will focus on a case study of a high-end skyscrapers designed and built in the city of Dubai in a dense area and the challenges faced by the team during construction. These challenges are beneficial to understand since they will help architects and designers to take into consideration during their studies.