July 18, 2007: Dubai construction floods
 

http://cellar.org/2007/infinitytower.jpg

DucksNuts was so happy to get a IotD about construction that she immediately comes back with another one!

You remember that Dubai is currently the construction capital of the world; it's been the feature of several IotDs including the indoor skiing area, the tallest hotel in the world, etc.

This tower being built in Dubai's Marina was supposed to look like this: 80 stories high, with a 90 degree twist. It would sit right on the edge of the Arabian sea. A website was developed for it and construction began. They dug the area for the foundation and built a wall to keep the sea out.

And then one day the workers heard a loud crack and felt movement.

http://cellar.org/2007/dubaiaccident1.jpg

And saw sand coming in, and then water.

http://cellar.org/2007/dubaiaccident2.jpg

The workers were told to evacuate immediately. And it was a good thing they did, because two minutes later, the entire retaining wall then collapsed.

http://cellar.org/2007/dubaiaccident3.jpg

And in four minutes, the entire dig was completely flooded.

http://cellar.org/2007/dubaiaccident4.jpg

Looks peaceful now.

They are going ahead with the project, but it will be delayed a year.

Wow. Dubai doesn't have OSHA does it? ;)

This is an amazing set of pictures. It's good somebody had a camera handy.

Why does this always happen in Dubai? I'm sure the picture below is somewhere else in the Cellar, but I couldn't find it, so I attached it. Here's a Dubai dry dock flooding because of a gate failure.

Apparently in Dubai they do buy real estate and they do buy construction equipment, but they do not buy the services of good geologists and engineers.

Just wow!

It's because of the outrageous ambition of their projects. Aren't these the people who are also building an island, the entire foundation of which is behind retaining walls designed to hold the (completely surrounding) ocean out? Apparently, they really like to challenge nature.

Islands. Plural.
 

Apparently, more than one:

http://guide.theemiratesnetwork.com/...ld_islands.php

I don't know about the rest of you - but I just wouldn't feel safe living or working or whatever in that building should it ever get finished. The 90 degree twist is suspicious enough, nevermind its proximity to the ocean and now tainted history.

No.

Thanks.

Yup

http://www.linternaute.com/savoir/di...alm-island.jpg

Yeah, the folks in Dubai really know about stupid shit to do with money.

Not very exotic. Haven't you ever heard of a cofferdam?

Now they have a really nice ground-floor, salt-water pool!

I concur.

What an epic idea, though.

The image in post #8 is not very exotic?

FOUR MINUTES???????????????????????????????????????????????

I think BigV was referring to the method of building the foundation, in a wet area. It's done all the time. The building design is certainly exotic, as are all the new skyscrapers they are building over there, including the next world's tallest building.

You all know my dirty little secret now :o

an interest in unusual erections?

You know me too well Monster :D

Here's something rally twist for you. The next tallest building in North America. I think it looks like a drill bit.

http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/...ilding/357.php

Or 258 concrete truck drivers.

Be nice Bruce, or I will cross you off my to-do list when I visit!

looks like a beeswax candle

Holy MacGyver, That's redunkulous.

It reminds me of those nifty Crayola crayons that are are twistable.

You're going to do Bruce?

Is that a good thing or a bad thing, Bruce?

It would probably be fatal for me. Either my heart or ego would explode.

The water is a really pretty green though...:headshake

There are a lot more pictures of this here:

http://dubaionline.mconet.biz/index....x1=1&x2=1&x3=1

Hey, I think my wife has that same vibrat... oh, wait. Nevermind. That is a building on the website.

I don't know if you had already done this as an image of the day but Dubai is well known for there "spending of the cash" weirdness. I work at a software development company for ski resorts and we had put a bid in for selling ticket software to this one so I know it is real.

A ski resort in the middle of the desert.

http://www.skidubai.com/aig/g_skidub...?categoryid=47

That was in fact an image of the day.

It looks like they're sending a message to the terrorists: Screw you.

Nah, they did that with the original design of the freedom tower.

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7...ecenteruy0.jpg

I luv it!!! THAT is what they should build there instead of the POS they're gonna build.

The more i thought about it the more I thought it looked like an Easy Out. insted of a drill bit. To use an easy out, drill a hole into the bolt you broke off, and you screw the easy out counteclockwise into the hole, eventually, hopefully the bolt starts comming out. I googled Easy Out, and found this bizzare page on Ebay that wouldn't load for me.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-EASY-OUT-BES...QQcmdZViewItem

"NEW~EASY-OUT~BEST REBORN EYE REMOVAL TOOL & LASH STYLUS" okaaay

Not that kind of easy out... this kind of easy out.

And building all this stuff on land would save how much money and make things how much easier?

This project is on land but digging at hole, especially on waterfront property, they have to keep the water table from flooding the hole while they build the base. It happens far from the waterfront, on occasion, also.
In this case, they should have hired a Dutch builder

When you have desert and water, waterfront becomes more desirable and infinitely more valuable.

They have buildings (and a race for tallest) in the next world too?:p

And just how many stories will it be? I was never goood at converting cubits to feet.

Thanks for the picture of the easy outs I was talking about. Curiosity got the best of me, and I had to Google eye removal tools. Here's a link of another Ebay page. It shows the tool in action.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-EASY-OUT-BES...QQcmdZViewItem

I wouldn't worry about the 90 degreeness of it all

It works in Malmo, Sweden at the Turning Torso...

http://www.suodenjoki.dk/images/news/turning_torso.jpg

When it's finished it'll be a pretty big story.

Makes me further question the rebuilding of New Orleans.