The Palm Jumeirah

Ekta Chaudhary

Dubai has some of the richest collections of modern buildings and

structures of various architectural styles. Often dubbed one of the most
perfect places on the planet, Dubai is popular because of its numerous
beaches and many resorts with sunny days throughout the year.
The idea for the construction of Palm Islands struck when it was
estimated that about five million tourists visited Dubai which the Sheikh
wanted to triple to fifteen million. But the problem lay in the coastline of
Dubai at just 72 km, not enough for 15 million tourists that Dubai was
supposed to be attracting.
Dubai found a very lucrative solution to its problem. It was decided to
build a massive Palm Tree shaped island by the year 2006. The island
was supposed to be 5.5 km in diameter, thus increasing the coastline by
56 km. The extraordinary plan was to build a city in that island which
would have shopping malls, restaurants, hotels, apartments and homes.
Now, worlds best engineers were needed for the project. Search for
experienced professionals was started to prove first of all that it was
possible to build a mega structure island, out at the sea. Many obstacles
were overcome day by day. They started with the calculation of the
strength of storms in the sea and the rise in water level due to global
warming. Strong tides which destroy nearly everything in their path were
among the greatest threat to this project.
The research team worked out that Arabian Gulf is only 160 km wide and
only 30 meters deep, hence too short and too shallow for catastrophic
waves to build up. The solution to the problem of keeping this fragile
island safe was to construct a breakwater having a height up to 3 meters
and which was 11.5 km long. In August 2001, the construction of the
breakwater started.
By November 2001, nine barges, fifteen dumpers, four dredgers, thirty
heavy land based machines and ten cranes beside other construction
machinery, were put to work.
Unlike other previously man-made islands that are built from metal and
concrete, Dubais Palm Islands are made from all natural materials: rocks
and sand because the Prince wanted give it a natural appearance that
would blend in its surroundings. Now, the biggest problem that needed to

be resolved was how an island made out of sand would remain in

position.
Solutions to this problem were very complex because it is dependent on
many factors such as the strength of Dubais storms, the height of waves
and tidal surges, and global warmings impact in raising sea levels. One
of the biggest fears was how waves could accumulate over long distances
via persistent winds and large currents potentially causing severe
destruction to the islands.
Luckily, scientists say that the Arabian Gulf is the perfect place for such
construction because with a depth of 30 m and a width of 160 m, it is too
short and shallow for the creation of immensely destructive waves.
Scientists designed the crescent breakwater structure to surround the
front of the Palm Islands to protect them from high waves and storms.
The crest of the breakwater is 3-4 m above mean sea level. The seaward
slope is one in two. The composition of the breakwater consists of coarse
sand, quarry run, and 5-6 tonnes of sand.
In early October 2007, the Palm Jumeirah had already become the
worlds largest artificial island.