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The Burj received some pretty unflattering coverage a year or two ago for their "poop trucks", which were necessary for moving however many tons of feces 30,000
by ics 13y ago
The Burj received some pretty unflattering coverage a year or two ago for their "poop trucks", which were necessary for moving however many tons of feces 30,000+ people produce per day. However in many cases the building "cheats", i.e. the floor area shrinks rapidly the higher you go up and so the strain is better distributed throughout the system. I say cheat only because it's much more challenging to manage a uniform (or close to it) floor area from base to top such as the old WTC. The GE Building at 30 Rock is a good example of a building that used the building code (NYC setbacks, a good topic in itself if you're interested) to its advantage in planning the elevators and ventilation. It was mentioned in another comment above I think but in reality the economics are a much more controlling factor than hard engineering, and most of the engineering problems are about doing X for $YYY rather than XYZ for glory and innovation.
Edit: This link might be of interest... http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-02/double-deck-elevators-rise-as-tallest-towers-test-limits.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-02/double-deck-elevato...
- crazytony 13y agoThe problem has more to do with Dubai than with the building. Many buildings in Dubai employ similar schemes because the sewerage system wasn't scaled as the city grew. This is like a lot of things in Dubai: roads, public transport and the airport which is currently being more than doubled.
- ics 13y agoYou're quite right, but it's still worth noting that most supertalls are emphatically not residential towers. Office towers are much easier to manage when there's a workday pattern. I wonder if the rampant debt and consequent vacancies around Dubai has lightened the loads so to speak on their sewage costs...
- mikhailfranco 13y agoThe Burj is a joke. It also seems to be mostly empty, because it priced itself out of the real estate market after the receession. It is so 'prestigious', no one can afford to use it. There are miles of empty lots starting just a few hundred yards away. If the Burj toppled over to the east, the top of it would land on empty ground. It is a temple to the vanity of the rulers of Dubai and their property developer lackeys. It is also an embarrassment, because Sheikh Khalifa of Abu Dhabi (the one with all the oil) had to bail them out to get it completed after the property bust of 2008 - that's why it's called Burj Khalifa, not Burj Dubai, as originally planned. And not to cap it all, the observation deck is only half way up!
- sopooneo 13y agoI know this happens, with places pricing themselves out of the market, but it surprises me. Wouldn't they want to lower the cost of owning/renting a unit until the can actually get some buyers? It would still be a loss, but wouldn't it be much less loss, and isn't that better?