https://barelyablog.com/dubai-builds-solid-skyscrapers-on-reclaimed-land/ by ilana mercer Wed, 02 Apr 2025 19:29:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://barelyablog.com/dubai-builds-solid-skyscrapers-on-reclaimed-land/comment-page-1/#comment-26771 Sat, 26 Jun 2021 23:23:22 +0000 https://barelyablog.com/?p=153529#comment-26771 Fascinating insights. Thanks.

]]> https://barelyablog.com/dubai-builds-solid-skyscrapers-on-reclaimed-land/comment-page-1/#comment-26769 Sat, 26 Jun 2021 13:59:42 +0000 https://barelyablog.com/?p=153529#comment-26769 I’ve just been reading Erik Larson’s book The Devil in White City, about the famous Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. He describes the problem of building higher in the Windy City at that time, a necessity given the city’s growth and the rising land prices. Set adjacent to Lake Michigan, the problem was no less daunting than in Dubai. The soil was invariably described as gumbo. And yet the need was there, and the talent rose to the occasion to meet the need. The young men who overcame the challenge were driven by the possibility of great reward to pull off what was impossible at the time. Their firm could afford no dead weight, and they couldn’t afford an office of Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity. They enabled the creation of one of the most exciting and prosperous cities on earth. Flash Forward to the Chicago of today, and I’m sure that Burnham & Root wouldn’t even be allowed to get a business license.

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