Shape shifting building in Dubai: A shift in the balance of power?

There’s this amazing new building coming up in Dubai. You can write an article a week that starts with that sentence, but be talking about a different structure piercing the heavens above the United Arab Emirates. The amount of architectural innovation stemming from the increasingly audacious projects being pursued in Dubai is staggering. The Burj al Arab, still an amazing structure, has long yielded its crown to Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world. The malls in Dubai have evolved into veritable museums of science and history, as the Ibne Batuta mall clearly shows. There is a long list of things that were unimaginable until they were done in Dubai, including the world’s largest indoor ski slope with its own ski lift!, the largest man made islands in the world and because one was not enough, there’s two. The upcoming underwater hotel marks yet another exciting marvel for tourists and visitors.

And now a new star is rising. Dubai’s Dynamic Tower, the first skyscraper in the world that actually changes shape. Each floor moves independently of others causing the building to look dramatically different, and that too in a very organic way. The technology behind this kind of construction will be key for green buildings lined with solar panels that twist and turn towards the sun. In order to keep things cooler, perhaps floors will keep rotating at a certain speed so no one side spends too much time in direct sunlight. The possibilities are numerous before we even get to the pure architectural interest that the Dynamic Tower presents.

I can hear many ask, where does this madness end? The question is sometimes motivated by the assumption that anything this grandiose must obviously be unsustainable. Sometimes, unfortunately, it is motivated simply by jealousy as “foreign” part of the world starts to rise. And at other times, it is motivated by a lack of information about what makes this all possible. Many assume that Dubai’s economy is supported purely by oil and that if it weren’t for oil, everything in the state would be unsustainable. Well, consider that over 70% of the UAE’s GDP comes from non-oil sources such as Tourism and Finance. Here is what the National US-Arab Chamber of Commerce says in its 2007 report:

“According to the U.S. Government, the UAE economy grew by an estimated 10.2 percent in 2006 and continued to diversify into non-oil sectors. As recently as 1980, only 25 percent of the UAE’s GDP derived from non-oil sectors. Today, over 70 percent of the country’s GDP is generated by such non-oil sectors such as finance, manufacturing, tourism and transportation.”

So once again, where does this “madness” end? Perhaps it doesn’t for a long, long time. Perhaps this is the beginning of a significant shift of power, wealth and innovation. The UAE is not alone in exhibiting these marvels. Many other countries in Asia are in the same boat, albeit in different ways.

So, when you talk about the Dynamic Tower coming up in the UAE, perhaps the noteworthy part of the story is not merely the tower’s ability to shift its shape, but instead the shift of influence and innovation this structure represents. A shift in the balance of power.