Cutting-edge cooling system irrigates Burj gardens

The landscaped gardens at the foot of Burj Dubai.

As the world's tallest building, Burj Dubai has also been the site of many construction 'firsts' as developer Emaar uncovers new ways of dealing with the Burj's particular set of challenges.

However, while much of the attention will be at the other extreme when the Burj Dubai finally opens on January 4, one of the most impressive feats will be found at the foot of the tower in the 11-hactare The Park.

An area of gardens, colourful trees and water features, The Park is actually irrigated using a unique water collection system which recovers the condensation from the building’s cooling equipment to provide around 15 million gallons of water a year – or enough to fill 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools

“The design of The Park is also inspired by the core design concepts of Burj Dubai, based on the symmetries of the desert flower, Hymenocalis, and regional motifs. The Park creates a soothing oasis of green, and is a logical extension to the Emaar Boulevard, envisaged as one of the world’s finest boulevards,” explains Emaar Properties chairman Mohamed Alabbar.

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The Park of Burj Dubai has been a collective effort by Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM), the Chicago-based architects who also designed Burj Dubai, and SWA Group in California. WET, the designers of The Dubai Fountain, the world’s tallest performing fountain, developed the park’s six water features while a whole range of sub-contractors also played important roles, including Fisher Marantz Stone (lighting), Speirs & Major (festival lighting), Sinclair Knight Merz (security systems), Pelton Marsh Kinsella International (acoustics and ELV systems), Square Peg Design (signage), Hyder Consulting (civil and structural design) and Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (the gatehouses and Armani/Pavillion).

So, when looking to the sky when Burj Dubai opens, remember that developing such a project requires innovations from head to toe and that many of these could lead the way and become best practice standards on the sites of tomorrow.