Not a civilization to be thwarted by things like gravity, we have yet to be satisfied with the presentation of our ability to build farther and farther above the ground. Renzo Piano’s recently completed “Shard” now casts its long shadow over London as the tallest building in the European Union. Similarly, China recently announced plans to construct the tallest building in the world that will house an estimated 100,000 people. At one time, the cultural backdrop of new technologies brought a degree of pride for having the zenith of a new tower loom so far above the streetscape, but in a society where skyscrapers have been around for a while building new super skyscrapers begs the question of why we are building things so tall. At a certain point, tall is tall. Some of these new developments are operating at heights that have greatly surpassed the efficiencies of density and require much more energy to construct per square foot than smaller towers. Continue Reading…
Archives For Burj Khalifa
There are a number of encouraging examples of cities trying to slowly evolve themselves into a vision of urban sustainability. Implementing bike infrastructure, upgrading the ecology of alternative transit, increasing recycling and addressing the state of our energy production systems are all noteworthy efforts being tackled by numerous cities around the world. But despite the show of goodwill, there are other examples that force one to wonder if we are simply taking two steps back for each that we take forward. The city of Dubai, rising in defiance to the surrounding environment of coastal deserts in the United Arab Emirates, stands as the hallmark of a digressing trend taking us farther away from the goals of a new cultural reality. As a poster child of modern ingenuity driven by the perpetual desire of humanity for unbounded excess, the city of Dubai casts a long shadow over our path to a greener future.