Are we too sensitive?
POSTED BY: Niki2
UPDATED: Thursday, December 15, 2011 20:28
VIEWED: 9315
PAGE 2 of 3
Quote:Those are drawings and proposed projects, I believe.
Originally posted by Niki2:
Are those actually BUILDINGS in Dubai, or just architectural drawings? Those are WILD!
These are real buildings.
http://dubai-architecture.info/TEN-DUBAI.htm
Here are some more Dubai projects underway.
http://dubai-architecture.info/DUB-GAL1.htm
Palm Islands
World Islands (project under construction, halted)
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"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm
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Wow. Those are quite impressive ENOUGH! I guess that's where all the money's gone...and all the architects, too, obviously!
Those "islands" are freaky--they're not connected, so I'm guessing each island is an individual dwelling or something? Heaven help them when the ocean levels start rising...
ETA: Got it. Went to that link; apparently at least one of the "palm islands" already exist--with a couple more in planning, and they're resorts with villas. The "world islands" will be 300 separate islands costing $25-30 million each; ergo, private dwellings I assume.
Totally freaky...what happens when the world economy collapses, and how can they support themselves even NOW??? I guess we know where the 1%ers have gone...
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Ahhh, most interesting. Following it up, it appears the "world" islands are SINKING already, with only one island inhabited:Quote:
So the financial crisis hit Dubai, too, after all:
But the World, the ambitiously-constructed archipelago of islands shaped like the countries of the globe, is sinking back into the sea, according to evidence cited before a property tribunal.
The islands were intended to be developed with tailor-made hotel complexes and luxury villas, and sold to millionaires. They are off the coast of Dubai and accessible by yacht or motor boat.
Now their sands are eroding and the navigational channels between them are silting up, the British lawyer for a company bringing a case against the state-run developer, Nakheel, has told judges.
"The islands are gradually falling back into the sea," Richard Wilmot-Smith QC, for Penguin Marine, said. The evidence showed "erosion and deterioration of The World islands", he added.
With all but one of the islands still uninhabited – Greenland – and that one a showpiece owned by the ruler of Dubai, most of the development plans have been brought to a crashing halt by the financial crisis. Quote:
All in all, looks like their ambitious plans aren't working out as well as they'd like.
In a 2009 article describing the collapsing Dubai economy, The New York Times reported that the Palm was sinking and this has been confirmed now by geological surveys, at the moment it is 5 millimetres (0.20 in) per year but this could increase rapidly. Furthermore there are many reported cases where people had bought houses before they were built and are furious about the space available now and the way they seem to be living on top of each other.
Most of the projects at that link were slated to be completed by 2009; do you know what happened? I admit I"m pretty ignorant when it comes to Dubai, and from what I found, in 2009 they started crashing:Quote:
So what's the story now, do you know?
Dubai has been slapped down. Half of all construction projects are on hold, the stock market value has tumbled 70%, and banks aren't lending. The government is doing everything it can to make the news seem less dire, but word has been flooding out.
Expats are so terrified of being locked up for owing money on their condos that they're fleeing the crippled city in droves, some taping notes of apology to their Beemers in the airport parking lots as they fly for safety. With the country ending 55,000 residency visas in January alone, nearly twice the rate of a year ago, foreigners are given no choice but to run like hell.
Debtor's prisons? What the Dickens?
Mainstream American observers were outraged and called for a boycott of such a draconian government while a major American tour operator, IsramWorld, which run trips to 56 countries pulled the plug on further tours to Dubai. A new mantra rose among tourism leaders: "Bye-bye, Dubai."
Since then, Dubai's tourism reputation has crumbled.
.....
The famous Queen Elizabeth 2 ocean liner, retired last year by Cunard, was supposed to become a floating luxury hotel, but now it looks like she may end up on the scrap heap instead of with a velvet rope around her. Plans for Dubai versions of four American theme parks, including a Busch Gardens and a SeaWorld to be built on an artificial island shaped like Shamu, are now on ice. The Palm Trump Hotel and Tower is dead, as are plans to construct a building that's one kilometer tall. Dubai already has the world's tallest building, the Burj Dubai, although it's largely empty -- a tombstone to the city's high life.
It appears the Palm Island (at least one of them) still exist as of 2010.
I'm not surprised people who bought in are screaming bloody murder; they're crammed together like sardines!
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The main down side about the Mercator projection is that it distorts latitude and longitude, but a butterfly projection that avoids that is more difficult to grid or use for navigation.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
Don't fall over, Raptor, but I agree with you 100%Quote:
Upon closer inspection, it's a pretty cool design. with jutting units and trees / gardens on the various roof tops.
It's a shame people see what they do, but I guess it's inevitable. Betcha it's mostly Americans who see the resemblance, which is why I wondered if we're not too sensitive.
Don't fall over, but I agree with both of you. BUT, I don't think it's just Americans who see the resemblance. 9/11 was a pretty iconic day and a pretty iconic bunch of images, and the whole world saw.
ETA: Just tossing this out as a hypothetical, but would anyone's opinion of this structure change if it were being proposed as, say, a mosque or community center somewhere, like maybe a few blocks from Ground Zero?
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Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
Wow. Those are quite impressive ENOUGH! I guess that's where all the money's gone...and all the architects, too, obviously!
Those "islands" are freaky--they're not connected, so I'm guessing each island is an individual dwelling or something? Heaven help them when the ocean levels start rising...
ETA: Got it. Went to that link; apparently at least one of the "palm islands" already exist--with a couple more in planning, and they're resorts with villas. The "world islands" will be 300 separate islands costing $25-30 million each; ergo, private dwellings I assume.
Totally freaky...what happens when the world economy collapses, and how can they support themselves even NOW??? I guess we know where the 1%ers have gone...
Thing is, Niki, Dubai *KNOWS* for a fact that their oil is running out. That's why they're building things like this. They know the only hope they have for a sustainable future is to become a tourism destination and/or a financial/commercial hub, which is why they're putting such a huge amount of their oil money into these projects.
There are also indoor ski slopes (IN THE ARABIAN DESERT!), indoor golf, an entire Ferrari-themed shopping mall, a fantastic Formula One race track right on the marina ( http://www.homedit.com/yas-marina-hotel-in-abu-dhabi/ ) - the race track actually goes UNDER the hotel, and can be watched by yachts in the harbor, and more. Dubai is keen to become something like another Monaco, a place where the rich go to play and be seen.
Oh, and it apparently has quite a starring role in the new "Mission: Impossible" movie, along with the Burj Dubai (or Burj Khalifa, I forget what it's called now, but the name changed between building and completion somehow), which is the world's tallest building by a big amount. It's more than a full half-mile tall, more than double the height of the WTC towers.
Here you can get a sense of scale between the Burj Khalifa and the rest of the downtown area:
Quite incredible, no doubt.
What will they do when the sea levels begin rising? I'm sure they'll figure it out. Probably hire the Dutch. ;)
"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill
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Quote:They may be short on money right now, but they weren't short on creativity. Gotta appreciate it when people dream up stuff like this.
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Quite incredible, no doubt.
-----
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want - and their kids pay for it." - Richard Lamm
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Yeah, the crash hit them, too. I saw some news stories where Ferraris were being abandoned on the sides of the road, just left there, because they'd been bought and then couldn't be paid for, so they sat there collecting dust.
Here's one:
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2011/09/ferrari-enzo-abandoned-rott
ing-away-in-dubai-impound.html
Bear in mind that car cost $600,000 when new. 400 were made (399 for sale, #400 a gift to the Pope from Ferrari). Used, they sell for around $1.3 million.
Anyone want a nice used car?
"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill
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I have ill opinions of Dubai, we all know its where guys who keep their wives shut up inside go to let it all hang out and go wild, apparently indescretion is okay if its on vacation in Dubai, kind of like Raisa on TNG. But the locked up stuck-inside proper wives? They're still stuck at home.
Note that this is an opinion piece and I know that not everyone who goes to Dubai does this, but I bet the percentage is higher than you'd like to admit.
But yeah their buildings are cool and who doesn't like fararis?
"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya
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The abandonment of Feraris is just one example of what happens; because they have debtor prisons, anyone who can't make payments on the fancy crap they bought tries to get out of the country. It's the only way to survive. I got caught up in that Palm thing; apparently it does exist and is lived in, tho' the others are just in the planning/creation stages. Have a feeling this will all come crashing down on their heads (it did, for a while, but from what I've read they are rich again), given the global economic crisis. There's just too much built on "riches", and when the riches go down...
From all I read and the videos I watched, it's like another plane of existence, one where the poor are REALLY poor and are nearly slaves, and everything fancy is built on fantasy and dependent on REALLY rich people.
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