Today was the inauguration of Burj Dubai, the tallest tower in the world with a half mile height. 160 floors, 20 minutes elevator from ground floor to top, $1.5 bn cost and 4 years to completion, the skyscraper gathers superlatives. Located at the heart of downtown Dubai,it is so massive that it can be seen from 50 miles away (85 km). The construction began in 2004, when Dubai economy was florishing with a 9.7% growth. The forecast are 2.4% for 2010 and is expected to be 0.2% in 2009.

Along with business offices and the biggest shopping mall ever, an Armani Hotel set up in the tower. It marks up the entering of Georgio Armani in resort and the first of a chain of hotels exclusively designed by Armani aimed to extend to Milan, London and NYC.

The Armani Hotel includes 160 guest rooms (at 5th to 8th floor) and suites (located at 38th and 39th flors), restaurants, spa, an upscale lounge, chocolate and sweet store, and a floral shop.

Alongside the hotel, the Burj Dubai offers 160 one to two-bedroom luxury apartments between the levels 9 to 16. They’ve all been designed by Georgio Armani himself and are fully furnished with a specially designed line of products from the Armani Casa home furnishing collection.

Wow. It’s massive. I would love to sleep at the highest floor. I found out on the internet an offer including the round trip flight alongside 7 nights including breakfast at roughly ¬£2000. It’s affordable (provided the room is large enough)!

Besides the height of world tallest buildings, the chart shows how the economy went 5 years after completion in the countries home to the buildings. It’s not the first time that one building is finished after the economy has slumped.

pics from Elegant Resort. Chart from The Economist

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Author: Gaelle