Get high legally, for $27

[shira]

The 124-story-high observation deck in Dubai's Burj Khalifa tower has now re-opened, and you can get an elevator ride up for $27.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...04/04/AR2010040401292.html?hpid=moreheadlines

What's bizarre is that the observation deck is the ONLY part of the tower that's officially open - the rest of the building is still under construction.

 

[Moonbeam]

I dubaious about going up there.

 

[cubeless]

...and the workers in the bottom of the pic are replacements waiting to get called in after each elevator test...

 

[Slew Foot]

They need your 27 bucks to finish building the rest of it

 

[SneakyStuff]

"The observation deck of the world's tallest skyscraper reopened Sunday in Dubai, two months after an elevator malfunction that left visitors trapped more than 120 stories above the ground forced it to close."

I'll take the stairs

 

[Binarycow]

Can one see Florida from up there?

 

[TruePaige]

I'd feel dubed if I paid to go up there.

 

[Jhhnn]

The workers? They're probably BanglaDeshis, getting farther behind every day to the company store, Dubai Inc., who holds their passports so they can't leave...

 

[StageLeft]

I still think this building is an illusion or going to offer some lesson to mankind. It just isn't natural. Something is going to happen to it. I would enjoy going to its top. I would never, ever live in something so tall, so novel, such a target.

 

[gevorg]

What a way to spend petrodollars!

 

[soccerballtux]

sweet, pay $27 to go to the top of a building with a cracked foundation. No thanks.

 

[abaez]

sweet, pay $27 to go to the top of a building with a cracked foundation. No thanks.

Info on this?

 

[Narmer]

What a way to spend petrodollars!

Arabs are not very good investors. They're more like retail investors who buy for prestige/image. A Saudi Prince spent billions of dollars buying Citibank when it was in the $50 range. Now it is $4. A Dubai sheik bought a hotel in Union Square for $282m and just sold it for $2m. Bad for them and good for others.

 

[kylebisme]

sweet, pay $27 to go to the top of a building with a cracked foundation. No thanks.

Even if you are right in claiming there are cracks in the foundation, it would take a lot more than that to be of any short term safety concern, and wouldn't have any affect on the view.

 

[mrCide]

Arabs are not very good investors. They're more like retail investors who buy for prestige/image. A Saudi Prince spent billions of dollars buying Citibank when it was in the $50 range. Now it is $4. A Dubai sheik bought a hotel in Union Square for $282m and just sold it for $2m. Bad for them and good for others.

What a stupid generalization.

 

[JTsyo]

Just don't kiss on the way up

 

[soccerballtux]

Even if you are right in claiming there are cracks in the foundation, it would take a lot more than that to be of any short term safety concern, and wouldn't have any affect on the view.

well when you build a building like this the point is to have it last for 150 years, and not have residents worrying about selling their condo after 50 years.

 

[kylebisme]

But again that doesn't have any bearing on visiting the observation deck, and I'm still curious as to how you came up with the notion that the foundation is cracked in the first place.

 

[soccerballtux]

But again that doesn't have any bearing on visiting the observation deck, and I'm still curious as to how you came up with the notion that the foundation is cracked in the first place.

CNN ran an article on it a while back, that's what happens when you pressure your employees to perform at all cost, nobody wants to be fired for not signing off on a billion dollar project.

 

[shira]

But again that doesn't have any bearing on visiting the observation deck, and I'm still curious as to how you came up with the notion that the foundation is cracked in the first place.

It may not be cracked in the first place. But it's the cracks in all the other places that are worrisome.

 

[Ken g6]

You left out the disclaimer on $27*:

* Plus your shipping and handling.

 

[Narmer]

What a stupid generalization.

It may be a generalization but it isn't stupid. Look at how their SWFs dove into banks when those stocks were tumbling while other SWFs had stipulations that saved them a lot of money.

 

[StageLeft]

I'm sure the foundation has a crack but then most foundations do. Concrete just likes to crack. The building itself is supposed to (or already has?) settle a few inches, I think. You won't move a building that size without some movement in the concrete.

Still, does anyone have an article on how strongly built the building actually is?

 

[duragezic]

That thing has always fascinated me. I mean look at that fucking thing. It's just... not natural. I don't know anything about structural engineering but it's always amazed me how fucking tall some buildings are. I thought they'd fall over or something in the wind.

That deck is way the hell up there yet it's only 2/3 up the building.

I don't really have a fear of heights but I'd rather not work way up in that building!