How could any building be higher? How could any development be larger? Have we gone as far as we can go? We seem to have reached a limit this year with the completion of the Burj Khalifa, in Dubai, U.A.E. — featured in this issue — which scrapes the heavens at 828 meters (2,717 feet). While beautifully realized, it calls into question the basic programmatic decisions of the forces that conceived it. The Burj culminates an era of financial expansion worldwide, yet opened, ironically, in the aftermath of an economic free fall.
CityCenter, meanwhile, rises in another desert, a world away. This urban agglomeration of more than 18 million square feet, the largest privately funded development in the United States, combines a cosmic gathering of talent in a multibillion-dollar mashup that warrants our critical attention: Was it worth the effort? Ironically, MGM Resorts International reached out to the investment company Dubai World to help fund these ambitious hanging towers. But to what avail?
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