World’s New Highest Building

On April 8, Burj Dubai, a skyscraper being built by Samsung Corp. in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, becomes the highest artificial structure in the world. It becomes the tallest not just among buildings but among all structures.

Samsung announced on Monday that the iron tower piece of Burj Dubai, which is still under construction, will break through 630 meters on Tuesday. When this happens, it will beat the existing highest artificial structure, the KVLY-TV mast in Blanchard, North Dakota, which is 628.8 meters at its highest point. The mast has not been acknowledged as the tallest building in the world because it needs to be supported by iron strings.

Burj Dubai, the construction of which began in January 2005, surpassed 512 meters in July last year, going higher than Taipei 101 (509 meters), which had been the world’s tallest building until then, to become the tallest tower in the world.

The form of Burj Dubai is the simplified version of a desert flower, hymenocallis, and will be completed in early next year with 160 floors topping 800 meters. The total construction costs more than $950 million (about 921.5 billion won).

jefflee@donga.com