The beachfront area where Jumeirah Burj Al Arab andJumeirah Beach Hotel are located was previously calledChicago Beach.[13] The hotel is located on an island ofreclaimed land, 280 m (920 ft) offshore of the beach of the formerChicago Beach Hotel. The former hotel was demolished during the construction of the Burj Al Arab.[14] The locale's name had its origins in theChicago Bridge & Iron Company, which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tanks, known locally asKazzans, on the site.[13]
The Burj Al Arab was designed by the British multidisciplinary consultancyAtkins, led by architectTom Wright ofWKA. He came up with the iconic design and signature translucent fiberglass facade that serves as a shield from the desert sun during the day and as a screen for illumination at night.[15] The design and construction were managed by Canadian engineer Rick Gregory, and construction managed by David Kirby also of WS Atkins. The Burj Al Arab's interior is by British-Chinese designer Khuan Chew. Construction of the island began in 1994 and involved up to 2,000 construction workers during peak construction. Two "wings" spread in a V to form a vast "mast", while the space between them is enclosed in a massive atrium. The setting of a high rise building on saturated soil and the novelty of the project required groundbreaking dynamic analysis and design to take into consideration soil-structure interaction, effect of water, high winds, and helipad among other loads, to help finalize the design and take the project into construction.[16][failed verification]
The hotel was built bySouth African construction contractorMurray & Roberts, now renamedConcor and Al Habtoor Engineering. The interior designs were led and created by Khuan Chew and John Carolan of KCA international and delivered by UAE basedDepa Group.[17]
The hotel'shelipad was designed by Irish architect Rebecca Gernon.[18] The helipad is at the building's 28th floor, and the helipad been used as a car race track, a boxing ring, has hosted a tennis match, and the jumping off point for the highestkite surfing jump in history.[19]
Several features of the hotel required complex engineering feats to achieve. The hotel rests on an artificial island constructed 280 m (920 ft) offshore. To secure a foundation, the builders drove 230 40-metre-long (130 ft) concretepiles into the sand by drilling method.[21]
Engineers created a ground surface layer of large rocks, which is circled with a concretehoneycomb pattern, which serves to protect the foundation from erosion. It took three years toreclaim the land from the sea, while it took less than three years to construct the building itself. The building contains over 70,000 m3 (92,000 cu yd) of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel.[21]
Inside the building, theatrium is 180 m (590 ft) tall.[22]
Given the height of the building, the Burj Al Arab is the world's fifth tallest hotel afterGevora Hotel,JW Marriott Marquis Dubai,Four Seasons Place Kuala Lumpur andRose and Rayhaan by Rotana. But if buildings with mixed use were stripped offthe list, the Burj Al Arab would be the world's third tallest hotel. The structure of theRose Rayhaan, also in Dubai, is 333 metres (1,093 ft) tall,[23] 12 m (39 ft) taller than the Burj Al Arab, which is 321 metres (1,053 ft) tall.[23]The Burj Al Arab's helipad, located 210 meters above ground, has been the site of several high-profile events, including a tennis match between Roger Federer and Andre Agassi, and stunts by Red Bull athletes.[citation needed]
The hotel is managed by theJumeirah Group. The hotel has 199 exclusive suites each allocated eight dedicated staff members and a 24-hour butler service.[24] The smallest suite occupies an area of 169 m2 (1,820 sq ft), the largest covers 780 m2 (8,400 sq ft).[25]
The Royal Suite, billed atUS$24,000 per night, is listed at number 12 onWorld's 15 most expensive hotel suites compiled by CNN Go in 2012.[26]
The Burj Al Arab is very popular with theChinese market, which made up 25 percent of all bookings at the hotel in 2011 and 2012.[27]
There are six restaurants in the hotel, including:
Al Muntaha ("The Ultimate"), is located 200 m (660 ft) above thePersian Gulf, offering a view of Dubai. It is supported by a fullcantilever that extends 27 m (89 ft) from either side of the mast, and is accessed by apanoramic elevator.[citation needed]
Al Mahara ("Oyster"), which is accessed via a simulated submarine voyage, features a large seawateraquarium, holding roughly 990,000 L (260,000 US gal) of water. The wall of the tank, made ofacrylic glass in order to withstand the water pressure, is about 18 cm (7.1 in) thick.[citation needed]
While the hotel has sometimes been described as "the world's only 'seven-star'hotel", the hotel management claims never to have done so themselves. The term appeared due to a British journalist who had visited the hotel on a tour before it was officially opened. The journalist described Burj al Arab as "more than anything she has ever seen" and therefore referred to it as a seven-star hotel.[28] A Jumeirah Group spokesperson said "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."[29]
Burj Al Arab has attracted criticism as "a contradiction of sorts, considering how well-designed and impressive the construction ultimately proves to be."[25] The contradiction here seems to be related to the hotel's decor. "This extraordinary investment in state-of-the-art construction technology stretches the limits of the ambitious urban imagination in an exercise that is largely due to the power of excessive wealth." Another critic includes negative critiques for the city of Dubai as well: "both the hotel and the city, after all, are monuments to the triumph of money over practicality. Both elevate style over substance."[25] Yet another: "Emulating the quality of palatial interiors, in an expression of wealth for the mainstream, a theater of opulence is created in Burj Al Arab ... The result is a baroque effect".[25]
The last chapter of the espionage novelPerformance Anomalies[30][31] takes place at the top of the Burj Al Arab,[32] where the spy protagonist Cono 7Q discovers that through deadly betrayal his spy nemesis Katerina has maneuvered herself into the top echelon of the government ofKazakhstan. The hotel can also be seen inSyriana and also someBollywood movies.[which?]
The building is featured inMatthew Reilly's novelThe Six Sacred Stones, where a kamikaze pilot crashes a plane into the hotel, destroying it in an attempt to kill the protagonist, Jack West Jr.
The building was the location of the main challenge of the ninth episode of the Canadian-American animated television seriesTotal Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race,[35] where contestants were tasked to either return a serve from a tennis robot on the hotel's helipad, or squeegee an entire column of the hotel's windows.
^"卓美亚集团与「极速前进」首次合作" [Jumeirah Group collaborates with The Amazing Race for the first time].Neeu (in Chinese). Archived fromthe original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved7 January 2020.
