Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Burj Dubai Becomes World's Tallest Free-Standing Structure

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Burj Dubai Becomes World's Tallest Free-Standing Structure

September 17, 2007

    CHICAGO, Sept. 17 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The Burj
Dubai, designed by the
Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM),
is now officially
the world's tallest free-standing structure.

    (Photo: http://www.xprn.com/xprn/sa/200709171357.jpg)

    SOM announced today that the construction of the Burj
Dubai has reached
the 150th floor level at 1,821 feet (555 meters),
surpassing the height of
the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada, which was previously the
world's tallest
free-standing structure at 1,815 feet (553 meters). The CN
Tower is a
communications tower and was completed in 1976.

    George Efstathiou, SOM Managing Partner for the
project, commented,
"Becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure
is a pretty big deal
especially since the CN Tower held this record for more
than three
decades."

    The height of the Burj Dubai, located in Dubai, United
Arab Emirates,
will continue to climb as construction continues to the
floors and beyond
with its architectural spire. The construction is expected
to top out in
2008. The final height is still a secret.

    When asked to describe the eventual height of the Burj
Dubai,
Efstathiou frequently refers to two other SOM-designed
icons when
describing the eventual height of the tower, "Height
numbers in feet and
meters don't mean much to most people, but when I tell them
to imagine the
John Hancock Building stacked on top of the Sears Tower I
usually get a
jaw-dropping response. It's an approximation, but it gives
an idea of the
scale of the project. The Burj Dubai won't be the tallest
building in the
world by a few meters: it's going to be well above all the
previous
records."

    Bill Baker, SOM Structural Engineering Partner added,
"We invented a
new structural system, the "Buttressed Core,"
that enabled us to reach
these heights economically. SOM is known for our experience
with super-tall
buildings such as the Sears Tower in Chicago and Jin Mao in
Shanghai. The
goal of the Burj Dubai, though, is not simply to be the
world's tallest
building; it's to embody the world's highest aspirations.
Working on the
Burj Dubai is a huge accomplishment for everyone involved
with the
project."

    The Burj Dubai is being developed by Emaar Properties,
constructed by
South Korea's Samsung Corporation. Turner Construction
International is the
project and construction manager.

    Upon completion, the Burj Dubai will be the tallest
building in the
world in all four categories recognized by the Council on
Tall Buildings
and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), which compiles and ranks the
world's tallest
buildings. CTBUH ranks buildings on the basis of spire
height, the highest
occupied floor, roof height and pinnacle height.

    The Burj Dubai will be the center of a large scale,
mixed-use
development comprised of residential, commercial, hotel,
entertainment,
shopping and leisure outlets with open green spaces, water
features,
pedestrian boulevards, a shopping mall and a
tourist-oriented old town. The
design of the tower combines historical and cultural
influences with
cutting-edge technology to achieve a high-performance
building. Its massing
is manipulated in the vertical dimension to induce maximum
vortex shedding
and minimize the impact of wind on the tower's movement.

    About SOM Chicago

    Founded in 1936, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP is
one of the world's
leading architecture, urban design, engineering, and
interior architecture
firms. SOM's sophistication in building technology
applications and
commitment to design quality has resulted in a portfolio
that features some
of the most important architectural accomplishments of the
20th century.
Examples include the Sears Tower and John Hancock Center in
Chicago; Jin
Mao Tower in Shanghai; Canary Wharf in London; the
Washington Mall and
Constitution Gardens in Washington D.C.; and the Lever
House in New York
City. Currently, the firm maintains offices in Chicago, New
York, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington DC, London, Hong Kong
and Shanghai.

    Interviews and Additional Images of the Burj Dubai are
available upon
request.