Dubai's World-Beating Buildings

Sports City
Dubailand LLC

A standout section of the sprawling, 3-billion-square-foot theme-park-like development known as Dubailand, Sports City will offer visitors a staggering variety of athletic venues, from elegant, gigantic stadia to state-of-the-art participatory parks for skateboarding, indoor rock climbing, and other activities. Not to mention facilities for polo, car racing, golf, and extreme sports. The stadia are designed by German architects von Gerkan, Marg & Partners, the firm behind the graceful 2004 update of Berlin's 1936 Olympic stadium.v


Burj Dubai
Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill

The Burj Dubai will be the world's tallest building when it opens in 2009. Its shape is inspired by the indigenous desert flowers that often appear as decorative patterns in Islamic architecture, but it also has an engineering purpose: The swirl shape ensures that the mass of the structure lessens as it reaches the top, making the structure steadier. A mixed-use building developed by Dubai's Emaar Properties, the Burj Dubai will house shops, offices, residences, and entertainment venues.


Dubai's World-Beating Buildings
A building boom in the emirate has led to a whole host of chart breakers, in categories including highest apartment, biggest mall, and one of the world's most unique resorts