The Construction of Burj Al-Arab

By

Ehsan Pourabedin Student No: 070271

OVERVIEW 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

Location of Burj Al Arab Experience Description and its Dimensions Building Uses The Burj al Arab Island concept architect Designers and Architectural Style Materials used in construction amazing facts about Burj Al Arab Island construction process Construction Process

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Structural Types Structural Engineering and structure analyze Gravity Loads Lateral Loads Construction Management 2 phase of construction MEP Engineering Exterior Technical Details Economical justification of the project A glance at Burj Al Arab References

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United Arab Emirates – Dubai Private Island (280 m Offshore)

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World’s Tallest Hotel (321 m)

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World Class Accommodations

The Helipad

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A Conference Room

The most technologically advanced meeting and conference facilities available

The World's Tallest Usable Full Hotel Building. If You Counted Mixed Use Buildings The Jin Mao Tower In China Would Be The Tallest Which Is Only Half Hotel.

In English "Burj Al Arab" Means The Arabian Tower Burj Al Arab Was One Of The Most Expensive Buildings Ever Built. It Is One Of The World's Only Two "7 Star" Hotels. Burj Al Arab Is Shaped Like A Sail.

Hotel Restaurant

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Status: built Construction Dates:  

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Began: 1994 Finished: 1999

Floor Count: 60 Elevator Count: 18 Units / Rooms: 202

Heights  Height of atrium: 182m  Height of helipad from sea: 212M  Height of top of accommodation from island: 190m  Height of top of mast from island :321m

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Distance of shore to the outer point of island: 450m Size of island: 150m per side Sea depth: 7.5m Length of biggest truss: 85m Weight of biggest truss: 165t Cantilever of sky view restaurant: 27m & 1.7m deep Size of sky view restaurant: 1000 sq m Weight of helicopter that can land on : 7.5 tones

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Maximum sway at top of accommodation: 300mm Total volume of concrete on the island: 33,000 sq m Total volume of concrete in the superstructure: 36,000 sq m Total tonnage of steel: 9200 tones Gross area of building: 120,000 sq m 28 double height floors (7m floor to floor height) Height of atrium: 180.5m with volume of: 285,000m3 Length of mast: 60m Fabric area: 8700 sq m x 2 Thickness: 1mm with 50cm air gap

Tom Wills-Wright Tom Wright is the architect and designer of the Burj al Arab in Dubai, UAE Tom Wright is British, born in Croydon a suburb of London on 18th September 1957. Educated at the Royal Russell School and then Kingston Polytechnic school of Architecture. Wright became a member of the Royal institute of British Architects in 1983 and has been in practice ever since 

Tom Wills-Wright Tom Wright lived in Dubai during the design and construction of the project working as the project Design Director for Atkins one of the world′s leading multi discipline design consultancies. Since 1999 Tom Wright has continued to work for Atkins as Head of Architecture from the Atkins H.Q. in Epsom, London.

W.S. Atkins & Partners Atkins provided project and construction management, concept and multidiscipline design services for the hotel. Originally founded in 1938 by Sir William Atkins, Atkins is now one of the top-ranking consultant firms in the world. It employs 14,000 permanent staff. The firm operates through three main categories: transport, design and engineering solutions, and management and project services.

http://www.atkinsglobal.com

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structural expressionism Structural Expressionism basically means that the structural components of the building are visible on the inside as well as outside. Commonly this includes features such as exposed truss work and complex shapes that require high level and unique engineering Other buildings that have the same style include: The Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, Erie on the Park in Chicago, and Edificio Dr. Alfredo L. Palacios in Buenos Aires among other buildings around the world and in planning. The style seems to be coming more popular and can be expected to appear in more buildings in the future.

KCA International Led by Ms Kuan Chew

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The client asked us to design a building that would become a symbol for Dubai. Sidney has it's Opera House and New York has the Statue of Liberty so Dubai would also have a building that people would associate with the place.

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We looked at the other buildings in the world that are symbols to see what they had in common. We found that they were all totally unique in shape and they all have a simple easily recognizable form. We decided that the test to determine if a building is symbolic is if you can draw it in 5 seconds and every one recognizes it.

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Dubai is becoming a world resort location so the building had to say holiday, fun and sophistication all things associated with yachting. This mixed with Dubai's nautical heritage it seemed an appropriate shape.

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It helps its uniqueness. It looks like a sail / boat. If it was on shore it would block the sun on the beach in the middle of the day.

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The building is built on sand, which is unusual as most tall building are founded on rock. The building is supported on 250 , 1.5M diameter columns that go 45 meters under the sea. As there is only sand to hold the building up the columns rely on friction.

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The screen that encloses the third side of the atrium is made of 1mm thick glass fiber fabric with a Teflon coat to stop the dirt sticking. The screen is the largest of it's type and covers an area of one and a half football pitch and is hung from the top of the building by over a kilometer of 52mm cable.

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The diagonal trusses on the side of the building are as long as a football pitch and weigh as much as 20 double-decker busses. They were built 15 KM from the site and brought by road to Dubai on huge 80 wheel lorries which had to be specially imported from South Africa. The highest truss took a day to lift into place. If one man was to build the building himself it would take about 8,000 years to finish.

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carbon fiber concrete fabric glass gold steel

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The architectural materials of the hotel consist of only a few mediums. Outside the exterior facade consists of 50,000m2 of glazed curtain wall of 35,000m2 aluminum cladding designed by Al Abbar Group. Glass and steel make up the remaining portions of the exterior. The Steel structure was clad with 6mm composite aluminum panels. The design is able to with stand a wind load of 9kPa and was designed to drain water at each horizontal joint. Inside the hotel the materials get even more expensive than the outside. The interior features marble and 24 carrot gold leaf (Burj Al Arab). Like the exterior, the interior steel structure is also clad with 6 mm composite aluminum.

Island construction process It took 3 years to complete the island from total 5 years construction period

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Number of piles: 230 Length of piles: 45m Diameter of piles 1.5m Depth of lowest basement under sea is 7m below sea level.

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Temporary tube piles driven into sea bed Temporary sheet piles and tie rods driven into sea bed to support boundary rocks (see figure 1)

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Permanent boundary rock bunds deposited either side of sheet piles Hydraulic fill layers deposited between bunds to displace sea water and form island (see figure 2 with fill layers partially complete)

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Permanent concrete armor units placed around island to protect it from the waves 2m diameter 43m deep piles driven through island and sea bed below to stabilize structure (see figure 3)

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Island interior excavated and temporary sheet pile coffer dam inserted 2m thick concrete plug slab laid at base of island Reinforced concrete retaining wall built Basement floors created (see figure 4)

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high-rise atrium cantilever landing pad pole truss stilts

Construction of Burj Al Arab began in 1994, and was completed in 1999 It was built n the shape of the Arab dhow, a type of Arabian vessel. Two ‘wings’ spread in a V shape to form a ‘mast’, with the space in between them making the worlds largest atrium. It needed to be a building that would become synonymous with the name of the country.

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Principal Structural Engineer of Building Martin Halford Eversendai Engineering

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130 foot Deep Piles Outer Steel Frame V Inner Reinforced Concrete V

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Core Connection Central Core Service Transmits Gravity Loads

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Since the Burj Al Arab is built on a man-made island into the sea, certain geotechnical considerations had to be considered. Mainly, the ground beneath the Burj Al Arab is sand and silt. To take this into account, the foundation was made with cement piles that reach a depth of 130 feet. The foundation of this superstructure does not reach bedrock; therefore the stability comes from the shear forces along each deep pile.

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The Burj Al Arab withstands gravity loads through the stability of the two intertwined V’s of steel and concrete. The concrete walls and slabs come out from the point of the V which is a special service core. At the end of each floor level are wings. Gravity loads are transferred down from the core and wings to the foundation. The use of a core and wings was suitable for this structure to allow for the world’s largest atrium to be enclosed between the two sides of hotel suites.

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3 Tube Steel Trusses Cross-bracing and Curved Truss Arch Teflon Coated Fiberglass Fabric

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As a tall building, the lateral loads of the Burj Al Arab are of most importance. Due to the geographic location in the Persian Gulf, winds and seismic activity had to be considered. The building was built to withstand a fifty year wind of 100 miles per hour and a seismic ground acceleration of 0.2 times gravity (Reina).

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The structure transfers lateral loads in a number of ways. First, the Burj Al Arab has three tubular steel trusses on the outside of the two sides of the V. These trusses act as cross bracing to wind and earthquake forces. The translucent fabric wall of the atrium is not only a stunning architectural feature but also helps transfer lateral load. The fabric covers a series of steel cross bracing and is comprised of two layers of fiberglass material which is Tefloncoated. The fabric goes over the trussed arches mentioned before. Due to the rigidity, lateral loads are transferred to the fabric wall which acts similar to a diaphragm. The shape of Burj Al Arab lowers wind forces more effectively then a square building because of the streamlined V and curved fabric atrium wall.

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Joint Venture between 

Al Habtoor Engineering

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Murray and Roberts

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Fletcher Construction

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The companies all joined to gather because by utilizing the separate talents of each partner; the bulk of the risk could be redistributed to the firms that were best equipped to handle each particular issue. The risks that needed to be considered were

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labor supply concrete work structural steel supply Erection high rise management experience Purchasing cost control management staffing

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1- Al Habtoor Engineering had the responsibility to provide the project with the labor required the quality of the concrete and block work. The procurement system put in place by the joint venture was based on Al Habtoor Engineering's proven system. 2- Murray and Roberts brought the expertise for detailing, fabrication, shipment and erection of the complex structural steel. This was subcontracted to Genrec Steel Fabricators of Johannesburg, South Africa, a company owned by Murray and Roberts. This subcontract would reduce financial risk. 3- Fletcher had the high-rise management and planning expertise. The project director and project manager came from Fletcher and were based in Dubai.

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Construction in two phase  Phase

1 Value Engineering and Constructability  Phase

2 Actual Construction

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The first phase would address the complexity of the building construction and take advantage of a three-month lead. This allowed time for construction scheduling, purchasing of forming systems, planning for crane and hoisting, and initial programming. The project used this time for value engineering and development of innovative methods for accomplishing the unique tasks. Some of the major challenges in this phase were related to the exoskeleton embodiments, which were redesigned in order to ease the installation and speed up the cycle times to adhere to the tight schedule. In addition to the exoskeleton, Genrec was faced with redesigned some of the structure just to facilitate constructability. The rear-braced frame was completely redesigned from lattice girder construction to box girders. This was not only a saving in money but also made the building much easier to build (Al Habtoor).

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For phase 2 the client had the option to award it to another contractor should the results of the first phase prove to be unsatisfactory. The client decided to stick with the same firms since there methods were already proving to speed up and cheapen construction. Phase 2 was all of the actual construction of the structure. The partners used many new technologies to speed up construction and lower the construction cost so the companies could earn more profit by saving money in such places as labor and equipment (Al Habtoor).

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One new technology that was used was Cantilever’s Top Climbing Jump Form system for the main core area. Cantilever Pty Ltd, Queensland, Australia designed and furnished the 300 ton forming system. A top climbing jump form system requires the form to hang off a structural steel grid and to be jumped utilizing a dozen synchronous electric - operated screw jacks that lift the entire system by pushing off the top of the walls previously poured. The form system chosen for the wing walls and the stair cores was Doka's SKE automatic-climbing form system. The wing areas of the building house the two-storey suites. Each of the six walls per wing are 13 meters long and were poured in 3.57 meter lifts. Doka designed the forms such that only two climbing brackets per form were necessary. The fewer suspension points meant fewer man hours were required for each operation therefore saving time and money.

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Another place where technology was used was in the form system for the main floors. This form system was also designed, manufactured and furnished by Cantilever Pty Ltd. This form was designed as a flying cable and was supported by brackets attached to the walls. The form itself weighed 18 tons. The frame for each form was constructed with large castellated steel beams and measured 18.3 meters long by 8.1 meters wide. Once the slab was cast and reached sufficient strength, the forms were jacked down off the wall brackets and flown into the next position with tower cranes. The table forms saved time by eliminating the need for shoring labor to hold them up. In addition, Meinhardt International helped the joint venture re-engineer the slabs to a post-tensioned design, reducing the labor on reinforcing steel and time required to get sufficient strength to strip the form (Doka).

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The forming a joint venture the companies undoubtedly contributed the most to the success of the project. The companies’ use of value engineering, constructability, and preplanning and planning that included all members of the group helped to keep cost down as well as keep up with the schedule that was set by the owner.

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Majority of Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Designs by DSE Engineering Group All designs are very involved given the nature the project Exterior Electrical Designs Subcontracted out to Speirs and Major Associates

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As you might expect the mechanical, electrical and plumbing designs for this building are quite involved given the building’s size and architecture. Each facet of the MEP has its own individual design challenges. One can imagine the difficulty associated with cooling a building in a city with an average temperature of 80˚ Fahrenheit in the winter, especially when the greater part of the building’s outside is covered in glass. The complexity is only multiplied when you consider that the building is a hotel and that each of the 202 suites are outfitted with their own electricity and plumbing feeds.

The structure is made of a steel exoskeleton wrapped around an reinforced concrete tower. The space between the wings is enclosed by a Teflon-coated fiberglass sail, curving across the front of the building and creating an atrium inside. The sail is made of a material called Dyneon, spanning over 161,000 square feet, consists of two layers, and is divided into twelve panels and installed vertically. The fabric is coated with DuPont Teflon to protect it from harsh desert heat, wind, and dirt. The fabricators estimate that it will hold up for up to 50 years.

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At 14,000 channels it is the largest architectural lighting control system ever made (Futronix). Each suite has one or more PFX-32 dimming control systems, which operate the lighting in every room. The largest suites have five systems giving a total of 160 channels of lighting. As if the interior lighting schemes were not enough, each suite is also equipped with digital surround sound, multimedia enhanced 42” plasma television, internet access, touch-screen video and teleconferencing, fax machine, photocopier, data port and to top it all off, automated curtains (Burj Al Arab).

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The Changing Colors of the Building’s Exterior

The Burj Al Arab is lit by 150 color changing. highlighted by 90 Data Flash strobes

• The tower changes from white to multicolor as the evening progresses

In fabric atrium wall The membrane is constructed from 2 skins of PTFE coated fiberglass separated by an air gap of approximately 500mm and pre-tensioned over a series of trussed arches. These arches span up to 50 meters between the outer bedroom wings of the hotel which frame the atrium, and are aligned with the vertical geometry of the building. The doublecurved membrane panels so formed are able to take positive wind pressures by spanning from truss to truss and negative wind pressures by spanning sideways. Additional cables have been provided running on the surface of the fabric to reduce the deflection of the membrane

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The trussed arches which can extend out from the supports by up to 13 meters are supported vertically at the 18th and 26th floors by a series of 52mm diameter cross-braced macaloy bars. Girders at these floors transfer the load to the core structure. These bars are then pre-tensioned to ensure that the whole structure remains in tension.

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An expansion joint is provided for the full height of the building on the right hand side of the wall. This enables the building to 'breath' under wind loads and avoids the exertion of large horizontal loads on the relatively weak bedroom structures.

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The resulting form is entirely appropriate for the building and its function with the fabric reducing solar gain into the atrium and providing an effective diffused light quality. It is also appropriate for the Middle-East region where its predicted lifespan and self-cleansing qualities should resist the aggressive environment.

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A stay in this luxurious hotel will range in price from two to seven or more thousand U.S. dollars a night. Just getting inside the doors for a tour of the Burj Al Arab costs approximately one hundred and fifty U.S. dollars. Despite these prices, it has been said that the Burj Al Arab will actually never be able to make a profit. However, the building more than pays for itself by creating a potent marketing symbol for surrounding Dubai (Economist.com). BUT As we know: A great deal of the United Arab Emirates current economy is dependent upon international tourism. The Burj Al Arab quickly became the city’s definitive icon; it is now to Dubai what the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. Tourism worldwide has seen a gradual decrease over the last few years. However, more recently it has been increasing in Dubai, thanks in large part to Burj Al Arab. (Time Out Dubai).

Resource: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3IloFyM61Q

This is the Burj Al Arab, the only 7 stars hotel in the world, it was built in only 18 months... And opened its doors in 2003.....

This hotel is in Dubai, in the Arab Emirates. Yes, a lot of oil and a lot of money....

Just to go in and “see it” costs 60 € . Can you imagine what it would cost to spend the night?…..

In a little room like this one....

Or this one....

Let me tell you: you can enjoy one night in a luxury suite from $7,500 to $15,000 the most expensive...

This is the panoramic suite for $ 8.250 the night...

You need to add what it will cost you to dine in this restaurant

Once you are there you can swim in one of the numerous pools....

Or perhaps take a bath in something more “simple” and intimate...

You can have a drink in one the numerous bars...

.... and be always in a “meeting”...

... or play a tennis match with Nadal...

Crazy isn’t it? And who will worry if you lost a ball?…. For the price of one hour of court you can buy hundreds of balls...

This is an aerial view from the plane Look at the Hotel Burj Al Arab

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Guinness World Records Book 2006 Skyscraper Source Media Inc. www.tomwrightdesign.com www.atkinsglobal.com www.youtube.com Al Abbar Group (2004). “Custom Projects: Burj Al Arab (Chicago Beach Hotel)”. Retrieved November 20, 2004 from www.alabbargroup.com Al Habtoor Engineering, Retrieved November 15, 2004 from www.habtoorengg.co.ae Atkins (2004). “Design and Engineering Solutions”. Retrieved November 4, 2004, from www.wsatkins.com Burj Al Arab. (2004). Jumeirah International. Retrieved November 28, 2004 from www.burj-al-arab.com

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Burj Al Arab. (2004). Retrieved November 28, 2004 from www.timeoutdubai.com. Burj Al Arab (2004). Economist. Retrieved November 28, 2004 from economist.com/ Doka Framework experts (2004) Retrieved November 15, 2004 from www.doka.com Emporis (2004). “Burj Al Arab”. Retrieved November 15, 2004, from www.emporis.com Flame Seal (2004). “Steel Fire Retardant Coating”. Retrieved November 25, 2004 from www.flameseal.com Futronix (2004), Retrieved December 1, 2004 from www.futronix-info.com Go Dubai (2000). “The two most exciting hotels in Dubai”. Retrieved November 28, 2004 from www.godubai.com McBride, Edward (2004) “Burj Al Arab”, Architecture, Washington, Aug 2000, Iss. 8, pg. 116, 12 pgs.

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Jumeirah International (2004). Jumeirah International. Retrieved November 28, 2004 from www.jumeirahinternational.com Reina, Peter (2004), “Lodging on High,” Retrieved November 30, 2004 from http://www.uk-ci.net/ Richardson, Gary. Beautiful Hotel. (2004). Retrieved November 28, 2004 from www.ssqq.com Scott Bader (2004). “Crystic® Fire Retardant Resins”. Retrieved November 20, 2004 from www.scottbader.com Speirs and Major Associates (2004). “Burj Al Arab”. Retrieved November 21, 2004 from www.lightarch.com Tenos (2004). “Burj Al Arab (Arabian Tower Hotel) – Dubai”. Retrieved November 20, 2004 from www.tenos.co.uk Wikepedia (2004). “Burj Al Arab”. Retrieved November 21, 2004, from www.wikepedia.org

Thanks for your attention