Errantes :: Dubai

ISSUE 13
ERRANTES MAGAZINE
Director:
FABIAN PULIDO
Photography:
www.fabianpulido.com

Dubai
Dubái es uno de los siete emiratos que conforman
los Emiratos Árabes Unidos —EAU—. Está situado
en la costa del golfo Pérsico, en el desierto de Arabia,
y limita al sur con el emirato de Abu Dabi, con el de
Sharjah por el noreste y a través del exclave de Hatta,
con el Sultanato de Omán por el sureste y con los
emiratos de Ajmán y Ras al-Jaima. El entrante de
agua salada del golfo pérsico denominado Khawr
Dubayy atraviesa la ciudad capital en dirección
noreste-suroeste. Su superficie es de 4113 km².El
nombre de «Dubái» puede provenir del árabe o del
persa y apareció por primera vez en la literatura en
1095, citada por el geógrafo Abu Abdullah al-Bakri,
y luego por el comerciante italiano Gaspero Balbi en
su visita al territorio en 1587. El origen de la palabra
podría provenir de Daba —un derivativo de Yadub—
que significa «cosa que fluye», en referencia a la masa
de agua del Khawr Dubayy. Su capital es la ciudad
homónima.

The Burj Al Arab is a hotel located in Dubai,
United Arab, While the hotel is sometimes
described as “the world’s only seven-star hotel”,
the hotel management claims to never have
done that themselves. In the words of a Jumeirah
Group spokesperson: “There’s not a lot we can
do to stop it. We’re not encouraging the use of
the term. We’ve never used it in our advertising.”
According to the group, the “Seven-Star” notion
was brought to being by a British journalist
who visited the hotels on a pre-opening press
trip. The journalist “described Burj al Arab in her
article as above and beyond anything she had
ever seen and called it a seven-star hotel.by a
British journalist who visited the hotels on a
pre-opening press trip. The journalist “described
Burj al Arab in her article as above and beyond
anything she had ever seen and called it a sevenstar
hotel.

Construction of Burj Khalifa began in 2004,
with the exterior completed in 2009. The
primary structure is reinforced concrete. The
building was opened in 2010 as part of a
new development called Downtown Dubai.
It is designed to be the centerpiece of largescale,
mixed-use development. The decision
to build the building is reportedly based on
the government’s decision to diversify from
an oil-based economy, and for Dubai to gain
international recognition. The building was
named in honor of the ruler of Abu Dhabi and
president of the United Arab Emirates, Khalifa
bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Abu Dhabi and the UAE
government lent Dubai money to pay its
debts. The building broke numerous height
records.
Burj Khalifa was designed by Adrian Smith,
then of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM),
whose firm designed the Willis Tower and
One World Trade Center. Hyder Consulting
was chosen to be the supervising engineer
with NORR Group Consultants International
Limited chosen to supervise the architecture
of the project. The design of Burj Khalifa is
derived from patterning systems embodied in
Islamic architecture, incorporating cultural and
historical elements particular to the region,
such as the spiral minaret. The Y-shaped plan
is designed for residential and hotel usage. A
buttressed core structural system is used to
support the height of the building, and the
cladding system is designed to withstand
Dubai’s summer temperatures. A total of 57
elevators and 8 escalators are installed with a
capacity of 12 to 14 passengers per cabin.
Critical reception to Burj Khalifa has been
generally positive, and the building has
received many awards. However, the labor
issues during construction were controversial,
since the building was built primarily by
workers from South and East Asia, who earned
low wages and were reportedly housed in
poor conditions.