In Dubai, a 200-story skyscraper known as the Dubai Creek Tower is being built to a height of at least 3,045 feet (928 meters). The original deadline for completion was 2020, when the World Expo in Dubai would start. The Dubai Creek Tower aims to surpass the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, currently the highest structure in the world, by 328 feet (100 m), if not more. As of the year 2023, construction has only reached the basement level. The operator of the Dubai Creek Tower and its environs, Emaar Properties, briefly halted construction in 2020 due to COVID-19. The Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava conceived the plan for the Dubai Creek Tower. And the tower is expected to cost around $1 billion to build. But will it ever be completed?
Dubai Creek Tower’s Design
The city of Dubai’s aesthetics and architectural enhancement have been the primary focus of the Dubai Creek Tower. The tower’s designers looked to Islamic architecture’s classic feature, the minaret, as well as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Western landmarks like the Eiffel Tower for inspiration.
In the end, they appear to be inspired most by the Eiffel and some by the Gardens of Babylon.
Steel wires connected to a concrete shaft create a sleek and elegant framework for this ultra-tall skyscraper. These exterior tension wires and the structural base of the Dubai Creek Tower are planned to be illuminated in a dynamic fashion. A lighthouse will be placed on top.
When designing the Dubai Creek Tower, architect Santiago Calatrava also took inspiration from the lily, a flower that thrives in dry areas. And it happens that the Burj Khalifa designers were also influenced by the same flower.
The encircling viewing spaces and gardens planned for the building’s higher levels are meant to evoke the grandeur of another old marvel, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which was also built in an arid setting.
Location of the Tower
About 5 miles (8 km) to the east of the Burj Khalifa is where you’ll find the location of the Dubai Creek Tower. The Dubai Creek Tower will serve as the centerpiece of Dubai’s new metropolitan area, Dubai Creek Harbor. This neighborhood is located close to Ras Al Khor National Wildlife Sanctuary.
It’s expected that the harbor project’s 2.3 mi2 (6 km2) of land will make it the city’s cultural and historical epicenter while being three times bigger than Downtown Dubai, the city’s tourism hub. Nearly 15,000 workers were employed on it at one time.
How Tall Will the Dubai Creek Tower Be?
The construction of the tower is anticipated to span many years. According to the initial rumors, the Dubai Creek Tower will be a 3,045-foot-tall spire with around 200 floors. However, the official final height has not been announced.
Since it is more of a spire than a building, some estimates put its final height at 4,413 feet (1,345 meters). Either way, it will be the world’s tallest man-made structure, if ever completed.
Like the Burj Khalifa, the precise height of Dubai Creek Tower will only be revealed during the opening. The Chairman of Emaar Properties, however, previously verified that the skyscraper would be 328 ft (100 m) taller than the Burj Khalifa.
But an August 2017 film shown in Dubai Mall indicated that the skyscraper would be between 4,265 and 4,410 ft (1,300 and 1,345 m) in height.
Considering that we have already seen much taller projects such as the X-Seed 4000 and the Tokyo Tower of Babel, it is possible to construct a structure that reaches a similar height using multiple wires and distributed supports on two sides.
Dubai Creek Tower May Not Be Recognized as the Tallest Building
Founded in 1969 in Chicago, Illinois, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is a non-profit authority on tall buildings. According to their criteria, the Dubai Creek Tower may never be recognized as the tallest building in the world.
Because telecommunications or observation towers that do not satisfy the 50% occupiable height requirement are not qualified for placement on the “Tallest” titles. In Dubai Creek Tower, more than %70 of the structure will not be occupiable. This will not change the fact that it will be the tallest structure ever.
Purpose of Building the Dubai Creek Tower
In charge at Emaar Properties, Mohamed Alabbar considers the construction of such a magnificent structure a good way to increase the value of the nearby real estate, noting a comparison with the major attraction in Paris: “Apartments with a view of the Eiffel Tower are up to 30 percent more expensive. Over time, we realized that many of our clients would like to have that view.“
Dubai Creek Tower’s Features
The British firm RMJM is responsible for the internal architecture of the tower. There will be 20 floors of hotels, restaurants, shops, and residences inside the structure.
The tower’s upper reaches are designated for the viewing platforms and sky gardens as part of the expansion plan. These viewing platforms will provide an all-around vista of Dubai city. Apart from that, there will be rotating viewing platforms and 50% of them will be located on the tower’s exterior.
The Dubai Creek Tower is a mixed-use building. A variety of facilities will be found in the 2.3 mi2 (6 km2) neighboring area, including a 1.7 mi2 (4.5 km2) embankment, a sailing club with a dock, 0.33 mi2 (0.85 km2) of business real estate, 2.62 mi2 (6.79 km2) of domestic flats, 4.25 mi2 (11 km2) of store space, and 22 motels with 4,400 guest rooms. A massive retail and leisure complex will also be constructed next to the Dubai Creek Tower which will dwarf the current world leader, the Dubai Mall.
Construction
The construction process of the Dubai Creek Tower can be broken down into three distinct phases: concrete foundation and core construction; shell construction; and external cladding and finishing. The longest steel wires ever used in a building will be part of this ultra-high-rise skyscraper.
An army of 450 workers spent less than nine months filling 1.8 million cubic feet (50,000 cubic meters) of concrete for this pile cap. About 18,000 tons of steel support were also set in position by the crew. Covering and transferring the tower’s weight to the base barrettes is the nearly 66 ft (20 m) thick multi-layered, tiered reinforced concrete.
The 145 barrette foundations were tested to a world-record 36,000t and installed at a depth of 236 ft (72 m). There was a total of 211,200 tons of concrete and 15,000 tons of steel used to enclose the barettes.
History of the Dubai Creek Tower
In October 2013, a blueprint for the new Dubai Creek Harbor urban area was made public. Initially, Dubai’s new governmental entity was going to be dominated by the world’s tallest twin towers, which would have towered over even Malaysia’s Petronas Towers.
After a worldwide challenge, Dubai’s governor, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, decided in February 2016 on a single skyscraper to replace them all. On April 11th, at a news briefing, the full scope of the Dubai Creek Tower undertaking was unveiled. According to the announcement, the tower’s opening would take place in 2025.
Project planning indicated that pile-driving activities would start in late June or early July of 2016. In July, the wind tunnel bench experiments were conducted to fine-tune the design based on preliminary results.
There were twelve various ways the weather was tested. Seismic analysis was also performed. The Dubai Creek Tower’s structure incorporates numerous padding devices at various levels in the plan.
A film documenting the progress to that point was made public in August 2017. The tower’s foundation was finally finished in May 2018. On April 4, 2020, owing to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Dubai Creek Tower’s operator, Emaar Properties, briefly halted the construction.
The government ordered a complete halt to construction on December 7, 2020, until the epidemic has been contained and it is deemed safe to keep building.
Initially, the Dubai Creek Tower’s construction was not expected to be complete until 2022. However, the halt in construction has set back these schemes by at least 2 to 3 years. As of 2023, the construction of the Dubai Creek Tower has not progressed past the foundation.
References
- Emaar Properties – The Dubai Creek Tower’s developer.
- Dubai Creek Harbour – Emaar Properties
- [Video] Dubai Creek Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour – EmaarDubai, YouTube.
