How Dubai architects are designing world second tallest tower with vertical mall, 7-star hotel
Burj Azizi, which is located on Sheikh Zayed Road, is expected to be the world’s second tallest building after the Burj Khalifa and will push the confines of architecture in Dubai once again, both in the metaphorical and the literal sense.
The 132-storey structure has an anticipated height of 725m and should be finished around 2028. Its execution aims to have the highest hotel lobby, night club, observation deck, restaurant and hotel room in the world.
Irrespective of which aspect one considers, Burj Azizi is truly a mixed-use building. It will include a vertical shopping mall; a seven star hotel consisting of seven distinctive cultural themes; residential quarters, including penthouses, apartments and vacation homes; health spas, swimming pools and saunas, cinemas, sports complexes, mini grocery shops, lounges for residents, and a play area for the young and not so young; and an active zone for people seeking excitement and getting movement feels like living “in the clouds”.
Three distinguished professionals have been behind the design of Burj Azizi and they constitute Erik Hokanson, principal and design director; Matthew Fineout, architectural director and Moosa Swaidan, vice-president and director of strategy and development. Together, they were able to bring their vision to life for what will be the second tallest building in the world, surpassing the 679m Merdeka 118 located in Kuala Lumpur.
“According to Hokanson, the Burj Azizi was envisaged as a ‘one-off’ vertical destination for Dubai and a skyscraper along the Sheikh Zayed Road which is an architectural landmark’.”
The Burj Azizi has many uses which is one of its major challenges. For now, the skinniest tower is 111 West 57th Street or Steinway Tower, a 435 meter and 84 storey super tall skyscraper in New York City. “However, all the floors are used as residential,” Fineout said, claiming that Burj Azizi will hurtle over different trials as it is a multiple-use Building.
“We have requirements for several entrances: one, you have the entrance for the hotel, two, penthouse, which I believe they will want to have their own entrance as well. Three, the vertical mall, and four an adrenaline zone all these things my understanding will also have their entrances. There is the one very pressing question among all these and that is – how do you make all of these happen in a very small piece of land?”
Hokanson further explained: “And optimizing the tower core which contains essential vertical elements which include elevators, egress stairs and mechanical rooms, and which is the structural spine of the rest of the building, is a challenge in the design. If you make the core bigger extras would be wasted and there is precious real estate a building can not afford to lose, so every component has to be made to just fit, so usable area for apartments, hotel rooms, retail, and others is not compromised. That’s what Matt (Fineout) and the team are doing all the time.”
How does it touch the sky?
With the site area and height of the tower being fairly modest, the pressing question that arises is: How does it reach to the heavens? Back in 2004, there was nothing surrounding Burj Khalifa, wide tracts of barren land in all directions.
With a skyline filled with skyscrapers, Burj Azizi is being built at a prominent elevation along Sheikh Zayed Road.
According to Hokanson, Burj Azizi is being constructed on the same site that Azizi Developments bought in 2017. Even before the acquisition, the foundations for a previous scheme - a 528 meter, 111 storey structure- were already laid.
“From the outset, Mirwais Azizi, the founder and chairman of Azizi Developments, had anticipated a design of the tower which had vertical emphasis. This vision was achieved by the stacking of the masses of the tower while the features of the structure were adorned with vertical glass blades and mullions as they headed to the tip of the Structure.”
Translational and overturning moments due to lateral winds and gravity loads were just two of the primary issues. There’s also the configuration of the building – which is solely vertical.
Hokanson elaborated by stating that “The mass of the tower was completely different and that’s been the greatest challenge. There is a foundation system that was built down 70 meters. This is extremely deep; deeper than the Burj Khalifa – but it’s spread out. Burj Azizi on the other side, all rose up. Practically, the tower is built on a base of 57m x 57m, which considering the height of the structure, is one of the narrowest ratios in the world,”.
Constantly challenging boundaries
Fineout observed with Burj Azizi, they are relentlessly advancing the traditional limits of their work with newer technologies and innovative new ideas in how things are designed. They are also working with those that have built supertall structures.
Burj azizi wind tunnel Testings of the Burj Azizi without those loads and structure responses AE7 were cooperating with specialists who worked on the Burj Khalifa.
“With wind tunnel testing, let’s say at a certain area it fails, you can go back a bit and modify it, then move ahead. But for instance if you are dealing with something horizontal, then it is much clearer and simpler to do.
But not if you are dealing with something this tall in the vertical scale,” Fineout said, as he emphasized once again, the verticality of the design’s concept as the most pitched challenge with Burj Azizi.
More than a towering skyscraper
It’s complicated and there is no magic wand that’s going to make it easy, reiterates Hokanson on the issues with the architecture and goes on to add: We’ve kept to our objectives. There are only a handful of firms and specialists in the world equipped to undertake this type of task.
With the first sketch, he observed, the entire structure had only about 20 lifts incorporated yet at the moment, over 44 lifts would be integrated for the extra-vertical tower. There are also design characteristic of Burj Azizi created having regard to the positioning of several road entrances.
As noted by Fineout, It’s sort of a multi-level experience – you don’t have everybody coming in or going out from the same point. She explained that considering the number of expected residents & visitors, around 250 suites, some apartments, several banquet halls, a mall and Food & Beverages outlets, they have optimized the touch points.
AE7 for one agrees with the notion that seeing the Burj Azizi from the distance is another fascinating attribute of the tower, stating that there are these two ways to experience the tower: When you’re far away and when you’re standing right next to it.
“The bending skin as well as the inwards silhouette of Burj Azizi is visible even from a distance when you are coming from Al Ain Road cut,” said Fineout. “Then, you will experience something different when you reach closer to the tower.”
The building will function as a beacon in the city bringing with it an dynamic video throughout the night which compliments its positioning in the skyline of the city.
Swaidan emphasized “Burj Azizi will not simply be an imposing edifice or a memorial but a multi-storeyed structure that imparts a different appeal”.
He remarked: “Mirwais self posed to him the necessity to design a vertical tower which would also pay respect to Dubai and its incredible achievement in architecture”.
“Azizi Developments stretched themselves in trying to be different from the rest of the market and the globe and hence aspired for some high targets. They appreciate the fact that it is a very special tower and are in constant interaction with us how we can accomplish these things. There is a good team on this project and the project is all about the team,” Swaidan stated.
The AE7 architects and the engineers did not miss the opportunity as well to express gratitude to the authorities of Dubai and mention that the structure of Burj Azizi is in the spirit of Dubai and is a structure designed with constant innovation to make it better. “The Burj Azizi will not only be the second-highest building in the world but it will also be a worthy endowment to the people of Dubai and the city.”
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