Dubai is a city well known for many things, but mostly, it is known across the globe for its iconic tall and super-tall buildings. In line with its increasing economic might over the past two decades, India has recently begun foraying into the tall buildings market, with Mumbai leading the way and other metropolitan cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi following suit.
So the question remains as to why India has not built a super-tall iconic building like those of Dubai to put itself on the world architectural map. The answer lies in a number of different and varied areas.
There are socioeconomic reasons for it, as city residents seek to maintain the shape and form of the city they have known and grown up in for decades.
There are also design and technical reasons why we don't see a Burj Mumbai or Burj Delhi, as most know all too well the challenges of building a house, let alone a 50 storey building in a heavily developed city like Mumbai. The structural design of tall buildings is incredibly complex and the need for more local engineers with the technical knowledge is palpable, as international engineering firms move into the Indian construction market to take advantage of the booming construction sector.
Finally, what might work in Dubai, New York or London may not necessarily translate into success in India. Mumbai, for one, has been designed as a reconstruction city. To design a super-tall building in a city already so heavily developed requires local knowledge and a deep understanding of processes and optimisation of building design.
World renowned speakers such as Marshall Strabala (2DEFINE Architecture) and Stephen Oehme (Hyder Consulting), who have both worked on the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, will be chairing the conversations over the course of the 2nd Annual Tall Buildings India summit (30 - 31 January 2012). They will be joined by Dr. Joseph Colaco, President of CBM Engineers, Vinayak Bharne from USC in the United States, developers Orbit Corporation and Reliance Retail, a scion of structural engineering and a number of leading local architects from India.
For more information email enquiry@iqpc.ae or call +971-4-364-2975 or visit http://www.tallbuildingsindia.com. Organised by IQPC.
