Burj Khalifa

I could hardly do a blog that uses the Earth as one of it's motivations without letting the official opening of the worlds' tallest structure go without comment.

This thing justifies the superlatives. It's, quite simply, one of the greatest architectural feats in human history. While previous record holders out-topped each other by a few metres, this thing kicks them all into touch. If we were talking 100 metre sprints, it would be like someone doing it in about 7 seconds. It's more than twice as tall as the Empire State Building, and serves as a statement just as much as that famous pile ever did.

The whole thing is as much a testement to an accumulation of wealth as it is to engineering ingenuity, but decadent or not, it's still pretty breathtaking.

Google Earth's pictures of it are pretty recent. Only 3 or 4 months old. Here's how it looks. I had to turn it sideways for best effect.



Actually, been thinking about this a bit more. Aren't all the great structures a symbol of power and affluence? The Pyramids? Stonehenge? "We build this huge artefact because we fucking well can!"

Already a day out of date...

I love to see cooling towers get demolished. They go this funny wobbly shape that to me is the epitome of the word "woebegone". I feel quite sorry for the poor things really.

The familiar curved cooling towers we see are hyperboloid in shape. This gives a lot of structural strength using the minimum of material. The demolition of these particular towers, the 250 foot tall Blackburn Meadows cooling towers, near Sheffield, England caused quite a lot of argument.
53°25'5.62"N, 1°24'22.04"W

Some people thought they were an eyesore. To others, they were a local landmark. They stood for many years after the rest of the power station that they served had been demolished. This was due to their proximity to the Tinsley viaduct, which carries the M1 motorway past the area. The viaduct has been strengthened over the last few years, and this allowed E-on, who owned the towers, to proceed with the demolition.

The demolition was not a total success. Once the dust had settled, it became apparent that part of the north tower remained standing. It collapsed in on itself a few hours later.

The towers live on though, in Google Earth, and are likely to do so for quite some time.