FAQ questions & answers on the design of Burj Al Arab hotel by Tom Wright, Design Director

What was the brief for the hotel?
The client asked us to design a building that would become a symbol for Dubai. Sidney has it's Opera House and New York has the Statue of Liberty so Dubai would also have a building that people would associate with the place.

What makes a building symbolic?
We looked at the other buildings in the world that are symbols to see what they had in common. We found that they were all totally unique in shape and they all have a simple easily recognisable form. We decided that the test to determine if a building is symbolic is if you can draw it in 5 seconds and every one recognises it.

Why did you make the hotel look like a giant sail?
Dubai is becoming a world resort location so the building had to say holiday, fun and sophistication all things associated with yachting. This mixed with Dubai's nautical heritage it seemed an appropriate shape.

Why is the hotel out to sea?
It helps its uniqueness. It looks like a sail / boat. If it was on shore it would block the sun on the beach in the middle of the day.

Does the hotel stand on rock?
The building is built on sand, which is unusual as most tall building are founded on rock. The building is supported on 250 1.5M diameter columns that go 45 meters under the sea. As there is only sand to hold the building up the columns rely on friction.

Are there any unusual materials used in the building?
The screen that encloses the third side of the atrium is made of 1mm thick glass fibre fabric with a Teflon coat to stop the dirt sticking. The screen is the largest of it's type and covers an area of one and a half football pitch and is hung from the top of the building by over a kilometre of 52mm cable.

Other amazing facts...
The diagonal trusses on the side of the building are as long as a football pitch and weigh as much as 20 double-decker busses. They were built 15 KM from the site and brought by road to Dubai on huge 80 wheel lorries which had to be specially imported from South Africa. The highest truss took a day to lift into place.

If one man was to build the building himself it would take about 8,000 years to finish.