52View
0Rating

(10 Apr 2016) LEAD IN: The developer of the world's tallest building in Dubai says it plans to build an even taller tower in the commercial hub. STORY-LINE: Dubai is reaching for the sky once again, with the developer of its world's tallest building vowing on Sunday to build a tower reaching even higher. Emaar Properties says the new tower will be bedecked with rotating balconies and elevated landscaping inspired by the mythical hanging gardens of Babylon. Emaar Chairman, Mohammed Alabbar, says such plans are a celebration of the human spirit. Alabbar says the new observation tower would be "a notch" higher than the 2,717-foot (828-metre) world's tallest Burj Khalifa. Just how much higher he wouldn't say just yet. The Dubai-based company hopes the new tower will entice fresh wave of landmark view-seeking homeowners, even as it raises numerous other promised skyscrapers and repairs a prominent one gutted by fire on New Year's Eve. Unlike the Burj Khalifa, the new tower will not be a traditional skyscraper but more of a cable-supported spire containing "garden" observation decks graced with trees and other greenery. Emaar says it will also contain a boutique hotel, restaurants and glass balconies that rotate outside the wall of the tower. Emaar followed a similar strategy when it built the Burj Khalifa, which opened in 2010. The silvery skyscraper is flanked by opulent low and high-rise apartment complexes, some of which are still being built, as well as hotels, restaurants and one of the world's biggest shopping malls. The area is also home to The Address Downtown, a 63-story luxury hotel built by Emaar that went up in flames on New Year's Eve. Alabbar says such events need to be learned from, rather than stop further construction. The new tower will be the roughly one billion dollar US centrepiece of a new six square-kilometre (2.3 square mile) development on the edge of the Dubai Creek, near a protected wildlife sanctuary that regularly attracts flamingos and other water birds. The tower's designer, Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava Valls, says he was inspired by the nature in the region. It is due to open by the time Dubai hosts the World Expo in 2020. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e12ee17d42c4cff41552877ce35fdc79 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork