burj kh-AH!-lifa

Tomorrow, William F. Baker, the engineer of the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is giving a lecture at Pratt.  While I have great respect for this tremendous feat of architectural design and engineering, this place scares the living daylights out of me. The thought of the restaurant on level 122 or the observation deck on level 124 is terrifying.  My heart goes out for the window-washing crew of Burj Khalifa.

 

Looking down. AH!

 Looking up. Ooooo!

As much as I am petrified of heights, I am incredibly excited to hear the engineer's first hand account of the structural design and construction of this building.

ps, more to come in the Spring 2010 Pratt Lecture Series... Santiago Calatrava, Sir Peter Cook, Daniel Libeskind.  Steven Holl and David Adjaye presented over the past two weeks. preeeeeettty good.