Burj Dubai

Skyscrapers Burj Dubai Tapiei 101 Shanghai World Financial Center,... 

Many of the megaengineering projects constructed throughout human history have left us with immense and spectacular features on the Earth s landscape. The Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall of China, the Panama Canal and BurJ Dubai all offer visually unforgettable reminders of the feats that can be accomplished by the... 

Furthermore, the Burj Dubai lacks the unexpected brashness of other Dubai-based ventures such as a 26-story tall ski-slope in the desert, a water park ran on desalinized water, an artificial Palm Tree-shaped island wrapped with a line of poetry that translates in part from Arabic as not everyone who rides a horse is... 

Again, what I want to argue is that while there are easy ways to theorize the Burj Dubai (or any skyscraper for that matter) as a display of wealth and power or as a statement of modernity, there are often other trajectories at work, less icono-graphic and more processed based. It is my hope that such a stance would enrich future studies of tall buildings, most especially those emerging in China, especially as cities within that country increasingly compete not just internationally, but also domestically, by wielding the built environment. 

---