DESIGN AND

CONSTRUCTION
OF
BURJ AL ARAB
‫برج العرب‬
Presented by
Muhamed Munjee
 In General
• The tallest and most luxurious hotel on earth with
321m in height.

• Stands in the sea 280m away from the beach on an

artificial island

• Described as the world's only 7-Star hotel

 In General

• It has access by land sea and air

• Cost $650 million to build

• Taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris

 Idea of design
• It stand unique and became an iconic symbol for
Dubai

• Similar to Sydney with its Opera House, or Paris

with the Eiffel Tower, or New York with Statue of
Liberty

• It resemble the sail of a dhow, a type of Arabian

vessel
 Developers
• The architect and engineering consultant for the
project was Atkins, UK’s largest multidisciplinary
consultancy

• Built by South African construction contractor

Murray & Roberts

• Chief concept Architect and designer of the project:

Tom Wills-Wright (Head of Architecture, Atkins HQ,
Epsom, London)
 Island design
• Took 3Yrs to reclaim the land from the sea, but less
than 3yrs to construct the building.

• Considering the design point of view Island lies

low, close to the sea, rises 7 and a half meter
above the waves

• Created surface layer of large rocks, circled with

concrete honeycomb pattern, which serves to
protect foundation from erosion
 Island Construction Process

• Temporary tube piles driven into sea bed

• Temporary sheet piles and tie rods driven into sea bed to
support boundary rocks
 Island Construction Process

• Permanent boundary rock bunds deposited either side of sheet

piles
• Hydraulic fill layers deposited between bunds to displace sea water
and form island (fill layers partially complete in figure)
 Island Construction Process

• Permanent concrete armor units placed around island to protect it

from the waves
• 1.5 m diameter 45m deep piles driven through island and sea bed
below to stabilize structure
 Island Construction Process

• Island interior excavated and temporary sheet pile coffer dam

inserted
• 2m thick concrete plug slab laid at base of island
• Reinforced concrete retaining wall built
• Basement floors created
 Concrete Armor Units
• Designed to reduce the impact of waves

• No one in the gulf had ever used these blocks

before
 Concrete Armor Units

• As the wave hits the water passes inside the

space and turns around inside. Thus the force
is largely dissipated
 Foundation
• The building is built on sand
• It is supported on 250 numbers of 1.5 meter
diameter columns that drilled deep into the sea
• Each column is a steel reinforced concrete
foundation pile with 45 meter in length
 Foundation
• It works on skin friction.
• Once the friction between the post and the sand around it
equals the load coming on it, the post comes to a stop.
• Longer the pile the greater the effect of skin friction is
• Foundations has the capacity to resists failure due to
Liquefaction which is caused during earthquakes
 Construction of Hotel
 Construction of hotel began in 1996

 The building is a hybrid ‘V’ shape structure constructed in

concrete and blended with structural steel

 The V shape steel frame wraps around the V reinforced

concrete tower containing the hotel rooms and lobbies

 The 2 wings spread in V enclose the space in between them

to form the largest atrium lobby in the world standing at
180M
Various Stages of Construction
 Structural Expressionism
• Structural Expressionism basically means that the
structural components of the building are visible on the
inside as well as outside

• Burj al Arab has the structural expressionism

• This includes features such as exposed truss work and

complex shapes

• Other buildings that have the same style include: The

Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, Erie on the Park in
Chicago, and Edificio Dr. Alfredo L. Palacios in Buenos
Aires
 Concrete Works

• The roofs and walls of the building are

made of prefabricated concrete

• There is a concrete core at the back of the

building which forms the base of the V
shape and the trusses are connected to it
Concrete Core
• Burj al Arab is made up of 28 storey’s of split
levels (56 storey’s) with 10,000 m2 floor
area, 60,000 m2 of concrete and 9,000 ton of
reinforced steel
 90% of the steel structures constructed were
outside the building

 Burj al Arab building is made of 12,000 ton of

structural steelworks

 Total steel works are phased into Exoskeleton rear

leg, Horizontals, Diagonals, Rear brace frame,
Helipad, Sky restaurant, Atrium and Mast
Exoskeleton rear leg erection
 Exoskeleton rear leg erection

• Made of two build up H sections 1.8 m by 4.5 m

deep plate girders & connected by lattice braced
members

• Creates a gentle curve concurrence with the

building edge developing the shape of a sail

• Lifted and erected in position using tower cranes

• ‘X’ Shape rear bracings
are cross bracings of
Rear Brace Frame
fabricated box sections

• They tie two cores of

the building to give
stability to the
structure

• Assembled and welded

at ground and then
lifted to position
 Diagonals
• Huge tubular triangular truss

• Connect core wall and rear leg structure

• Length varies from 76 m to 90 m

• Weigh 160 to 180 ton

• Six diagonals erected at different levels on both

sides of building
Diagonals
Diagonal Transportation Lifting

Fixing to rear leg After connected in position

Horizontals
 Horizontals
• Connect the core
wall to the
exoskeleton rear leg.

• Weigh about 200

tons

• Erected by strand
jacking method
similar to diagonals
Helipad Structure
 Helipad Structure
• Structure is at 212m level at the rear side of the
building

• Weigh about 330 tons

• 2 props of 1m diameter circular steel pipes forming

an inverted V shape, tapered at 30o to the vertical
and tied back to the central core by a long spine
truss support the total helipad structure
Sky Restaurant structure
 Sky Restaurant structure

• Most complex and potentially dangerous structure

• 30m long 8 box girder cantilevers from the main
core wall radiates as support and are not visible
• Floor size of 70 x 25m
• 200 m above the ground level
• Weigh 350ton
• Restaurant over looks the sea
• Entire structure is enclosed in aluminuim and glass
• An engineering triumph
Mast • 140meters long
• 54m braced in between exoskeleton
support legs
• Oval shape of 2.5m x 5m
• All segments are bolted inside by ring
plate flange connections
• Segments has inside arrangements of
permanent ladders and interval
platforms to facilitate access
• Manholes at periodic intervals
through which workers have access
The Mast
 Vibration may cause due to vortex shedding

 Installed 11 invisible hanging weight called the

tune mass stamper at vulnerable points inside
the exoskeleton

 When wind blows and the vortex shedding starts

to create dangerous vibrations the 5tone weight
will swing inside of the structure and bring
down the vibrations well within safety limits.
 Dubai is not in earthquake intensive zone

 However Burj al Arab is designed to resist

earthquake of MM VII intensity

 Tune mass stamper also helps to resist the effect

of earthquake

 Seismic zone factor of 0.20g is considered for the

detailed design phase
 Stability comes from the shear forces along
concrete piles erected deep into the sea

 Burj Al Arab withstands gravity loads through the

stability of the two intertwined V’s of steel and
concrete

 Gravity loads are transferred down from the core

and wings to the foundation
 Building is built to withstand a fifty year wind of 100
miles per hour and a seismic ground acceleration of
0.2 times gravity

 The translucent fabric wall of the atrium helps to

transfer lateral load. Due to the rigidity, lateral loads
are transferred to the fabric wall which acts similar to
a diaphragm

 The shape of Burj Al Arab lowers wind forces more

effectively then a square building because of the
streamlined V and curved fabric atrium wall.
Fiber Glass Teflon
 Fiber Glass Teflon
• The largest Teflon coated fiber
fabric wall available is used to
cover the atrium
• It resembles a huge sail
• During the day it acts by
filtering sunlight and diffusing it
into atrium to allow natural
lighting
• During night it functions as a
projection screen for different
patterns of high intensity lights
which cab impress guests
 Interior Design
• Decorated by world class designer Khuan Chew, of KCA
International
• Robust and vibrant color palette was derived from the
elements; earth, air, fire, water and approximately 1,590m
of 24-carat gold leaf were used to embellish the interior
• The world’s tallest atrium , flanked by golden columns, with
a central fountain where arches of water dance can burst
over 42m into the air
• Custom made carpets and rugs from South Africa and India,
marble from Brazil and Italy; wooden doors from Dubai and
chandeliers from the UK were amongst the fine items
brought in to create the magical interiors
Engineers Behind
 Conclusion
• Burj al Arab opened its doors for the guests in
December 1999, Just before the new millennium
• Burj Al Arab is currently recognized as one of
spectacular structure in the history of structural
engineering
• Situated in the Arabian Gulf, it is exposed to one of
the most hostile environments across the globe
• Every part of this iconic structure is extra ordinary
Thank you