Burj Khalifa Branded "Pointless" By Germans

Well is it?

In the Middle East, There is generally no business plan involved in building the tallest/longest/deepest structure, it just has to prove you've got money.  This is the reason it was built.  So there is substance to the pointless argument.  American Architect, Samsung C&T of South Korea as the main contractor and "expat" (read Indian, Philipino, Indonesian, etc.) labour.  Let's face it the only local input was money.  It therefore wasn't built to demonstrate the construction prowess of the local community.

All of which means I can't get into the celebration of the building itself, it isn't even particularly pleasant to look at, although tall structures like the Burj Al Arab hotel are, to me, pleasing to the eye.  But from an engineering viewpoint I look forward to the reviews in a couple of years after the initial start up and "running-in" period, if you will.  Then we'll know if there are limits to what we can build in terms of height.

So, not entirely pointless then.