Essay Sample about Dubai’s Architecture

Dubai is home to grand Architectual development and astonishing skylines. A rich history has paved the way for the great successes this city holds today. This paper will indulge in the fascinating creations and successes of Dubai, as well as how its culture and history affected the city today. Located within the United Arab Emirates is an economic super center that contributes greatly to the world.  

To begin with, Dubai’s architecture is deeply rooted within its culture and success. The city is covered with skyscrapers and astonishing development never seen anywhere else in the world. First off, the tallest building in the world, the “Burj Khalifa” is located in Dubai measuring in at a staggering “828 meters” or “2716.5 feet” tall. The building plans were officially inaugurated “in January of 2010” and construction began on “January 6, 2004.” The building began open to the public on “January 4, 2010” however, the interior was not quite ready to host business. Its purpose was to house “commercial, residential, and hospitality ventures” (Britannica 1). At its completion, the Burj Khalifa reached “5.67 million square feet” making up “162 floors” total (Fleming 1). This building is truly a masterpiece of human construction and design, and is a crucial piece to the success of Dubai. The city is also home to three human-made islands that required years of design and eventually development. Firstly, the man-made island known as Deira island is a commercial center of Dubai. It covers “15.3 square kilometers” of land designated for “retail outlets” which contributed to the city greatly. Diera island is expected to create around 80,000 jobs which will significantly influence the economy. The island was “launched in June 2014” and is still in works today as it requires a significant amount of maintenance and still has great potential to expand in the near future (Propsearch 1-14). Another synthetic island is the Palm Jumeirah which is an architectural wonder of the world. With a construction cost of “12 billion dollars,” the Palm Jumeirah required collaboration to create such a fascinating build. The project was “kickstarted in 2001” and required “expert divers to explore underwater rock formations” and “seabed” to plan out the infrastructure of the project which was finished in 2004. Construction on the island began in 2006 and “5.72 square kilometers” were now available for business (Mybayut 2-21). Lastly, the World Islands of Dubai include individually built islands that represent the shape of every country in the world and non-territorial land.  The project consists of “300 private islands” with an area of around “250,000 to 900,000 square feet.” These islands are “located 4 kilometers off the shore of Jumeirah, close to the Palm Jumeirah” and will be sold to “private developers” at an “expected price of US $7 M. - US $1.8 B.” (Private Islands Inc. 1-5). The World Islands are something never seen before on Earth and are truly a stunning advancement in architecture. These are some of the key icons to the city of Dubai, but there is still more architecture to be mentioned. For example, the city consists of skyscrapers and other tall, advanced buildings. Dubai has funded an astronomical amount of money to the city, making it an architectural wonder of the world. 

Not only are these constructions fascinating in the eyes of architects and developers, but they also have an extreme attraction to tourists. In fact, Dubai is known for its large tourism industry as a result of its incredible architecture. Firstly, tourism supplies “20% of the GDP” of Dubai; a staggering percentage in comparison to many other major cities around the world. In 2018 alone, Dubai “welcomed 15.93 million visitors” which ranks the city as “the fourth most popular destination globally.” This is no surprise to developers and investors in Dubai as locations such as Deira island were meant to host tourists and were built for commercial and retail purposes. Deira island is home to Deira mall which is one of the biggest malls within the area. It covers “4.5 million square feet” and contains “1000 shops, cafes, restaurants and entertainment outlets across three floors.” In addition to this is Deira central; “a destination for living, leisure and tourism” which offers retail outlets for tourists to visit. Lastly is the night market; it has “nearly 5,300 shops and 100 quayside cafés and restaurants” and gives visitors an experience of an original “Arabian souk” (Nakheel 3-6). Culture in Dubai clearly affects development and tourism here. In 2019, the Dubai airport “reached its full capacity of 52 flights per hour, or about 700–800 flights per day” (Isgindia 1). The maximum capacity of an airport is tough to reach, but the incredible number of tourists managed to overflow the airport. Also, the Burj Khalifa was not built just for the sake of being the tallest building in the world, but to attract people to the city and let people know about the wonders of Dubai. In 2013, the Burj Khalifa was visited by a total of “1.87 million” visitors. The majority of tourists that visit this building will typically go to the “observatory deck” which despite sounding like it would be the top floor, is only “450 meters above the ground” in contrast to the total height of the building being 830 meters (Arabianpost 1-3). People around the world travel to Dubai to experience its culture and architecture which has contributed greatly to its success. As a result, Dubai is a hot spot for millions of tourists every year. 

In addition to Dubai’s architectural and tourism success, its economic power is not one to look over. As a result of culture and design bringing in millions of visitors, it has become a hub for many businesses to congregate.