Al Burj was a supertall skyscraper proposed by the Dubai developer Nakheel Properties. Originally conceived as The Pinnacle and situated on the Palm Jumeirah, the project was renamed Al Burj and moved to the Dubai Waterfront in 2005. The Al Burj was designed to be one of the world’s tallest buildings and be a centerpiece and anchor of the Dubai Waterfront, a new downtown area and part of the central business district of Madinat Al Arab.
Development of the Dubai Waterfront was led by Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum as part of a larger project, the Arabian Canal. The first development phase of the Dubai Waterfront focused on the downtown metropolis of Madinat Al Arab, which included the Al Burj. The beachfront was to be mixed use with both planned residential communities and office space. The Dubai Waterfront, which would form the largest waterfront in the world is located southwest of Dubai and borders on the emirate of Abu Dhabi. As the newest gateway into Dubai, the Dubai Waterfront has been carefully planned and developed by some of the world’s finest planners, urban developers and architects.
The Al Burj, had a similar form to The Pinnacle, designed by the architectural firm of Pei Partnership Architects. The Pinnacle was conceived as 3 towers clustered around a hollow and circular interior and connected together by 6 sky bridges. Each sky bridge contained a garden with an atrium that was open to the sky on three sides. Two of the three towers were 750 meters (2,461 feet) and topped with spires. The third tower was slightly shorter at 700 meters and had a roof terrace with a swimming pool overlooking a glass circular penthouse. The Pinnacle was an all-residential building and included luxury apartments, health club, and an observation deck. When The Pinnacle project was shifted to the Al Burj, the design remained the same but the plans included additional sky bridges, the height of the building was increased to up to 1200 meters (3938 feet) with 228 floors, and the building became mixed use including offices and hotels instead of an all-residential building.
Al Burj was envisioned as one of the world’s tallest buildings and a centerpiece of the Dubai Waterfront project. Land reclamation and ground leveling was initiated on the Dubai Waterfront. However, construction of the Al Burj was never started. One of the stumbling blocks was due to its close location to the Al Maktoum International Airport, which was under construction. The Al Burj was once again renamed and moved to a different location. It was briefly called The Tall Tower and its current name is the Nakheel Tower. The project has been shifted to a parcel of land near the Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Lake Towers near the Ibn Battuta Mall. Pei Partnership Architects have been replaced with the architectural firm of Woods Bagot and the design has been changed to a single tower that is proposed to be over 1 kilometer (1,000 meters or 2,200 feet) tall. Nakheel announced that construction of the Nakheel is on hold due to the economic climate and real estate conditions in Dubai.
no comment untill now