Is the Worlds Tallest Building a Monument or a Tombstone for Dubai?
On Monday, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum celebrated his fourth anniversary as leader of Dubai. It should have been a perfect day: With celebrations and fanfare, the emir honored the occasion by dedicating the Burj Dubai, the latest architectural jewel in the city’s crown and the world’s tallest building. Yet, even amidst the massive display of fountains and fireworks, strobe lights and TV screens, Dubai’s recent economic woes took center stage. The building, whose name translates into “Dubai Tower,” had been renamed.
On Monday, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum celebrated his fourth anniversary as leader of Dubai. It should have been a perfect day: With celebrations and fanfare, the emir honored the occasion by dedicating the Burj Dubai, the latest architectural jewel in the city’s crown and the world’s tallest building. Yet, even amidst the massive display of fountains and fireworks, strobe lights and TV screens, Dubai’s recent economic woes took center stage.The building, whose name translates into “Dubai Tower,” had been renamed. Once a hulking testament to the miraculous little city on the Persian Gulf, it is now called “Burj Khalifa,” after Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, %%DynaPub-Enhancement class=”enhancement contentType-HTML Content fragmentId-1 payloadId-61603 alignment-right size-small”%%the emir of neighboring Abu Dhabi and the man who had swooped in to save the project with a $10 billion bailout. Instead of a sign of Dubai’s growing prosperity, the tower was instantaneously tra
