Dubai, July 2008 - Kevin Fox

This photo leaves me speechless. - Kevin Fox

fun attractions but a really messed up society. - /Users/mjc

That is *absurd* - Dan Hsiao

Tower of Babel? - Bwana

Optimus Prime - Lizunlong

that's just wrong. - Cee Bee

totally agree w/ michael:) - shandiz

Tower of Babel! wow, there it is! how tall is that thing?! - Susan Beebe

It'll be interesting in 10-15 years if that city dries up and becomes a ghost town - think of how cool it would be to tour that! - Tad, Anti-Immanentizer

This tower is already taller than the tallest skyscraper in the world (Taipei 101) - Jean-François Amadei via twhirl

yikes... scary how monstrous that is... I wonder if someone is compensating for a small......... ego. - Ken Stewart | ChangeForge via twhirl

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Robin Barooah

Orthanc? - Akiva Moskovitz

surreal - since usually you see lots of other partially as high buildings around something like this - here its lots of open space - mike "glemak" dunn

Oil money much? - Shey

I just heard that Dubai has a third of the world's cranes. - Gabe

I wonder if the tower of Babel looked like that? - Robert

I have a feeling the next September 11 won't be in New York. - John Lam

Do I sense jealousy? I think it's incredible. About time someone built something impressive. The US should follow suit with a suitably impressive WTC memorial. As for a messed up society? Pff, when your own house is in order then go after someone elses. - Mo Kargas

Robert, I was thinking exactly the same thing ;) - Graham Garland

any taller and it'll scratch our precious ozone - Pete D

Compare to Frank Lloyd Wright's mile high building: http://tinyurl.com/milehigh - Ryan Junee

Wow, that is awe-inspiring. I would be scared out of my mind to be on that thing when it is finished, let alone being the crane operator. Gives me the heeby geebies just thinking about it! - Tony

Jenga? - Franklin Naval

messed up society? ... compensating? ...lol i hope you two are not from that country i think you come from. - Chris Hofmann

It really makes you wonder how much of the space in that building is just elevators... - Gabe

Do they have to compensate for the rotation of the Earth? Do they have to reinforce the west side? - tim

@Robert that's exactly what it reminded me of - Shey

Dubai must be an interesting place visually. All sorts of weird buildings there. - Yolanda

2,684 ft (818m) in height! wow, that's over 1/2 a mile high! - Susan Beebe

The same architect was going to build a 2400-foot casino resort here in Vegas before the FAA intervened and got it canceled. Something about it being in the way of planes. - Chris Reed

that's crazy - andy brudtkuhl

no way in hell am I going to the top of that thing. imagine being an iron worker on the very top? well I guess it's like China, labor is replaceable - clarke thomas

There are many over-the-top examples of Dubai architecture, but the one that really knocks my socks off is the project to build an entirely new city with extreme "green" ambition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... I'm frequently amazed by the sheer quantity of projects like this happening in UAE. - Jason Wehmhoener

What's Barad-dûr doing in the middle of Dubai?? - Will DeLuca

Wow, that's crazy! - Sarah Perez

reminds me of LOTR - anna

it'll be great when it's finished. Dubai, that is... Dubai will be great when it's finished... - Andrew Terry

Reminded me of Gustav Doré's Tower Of Babel illustration: http://is.gd/UjL Amazing, truly. - Madsimian

Ha! Commented before expanding comments to see all the "Tower of Babel" exclamations. It sure is a natural point of reference... - Madsimian

Dubai: where Erector sets join together for REALLY big projects. - Kevin C. Tofel

Very impressive piece of engineering and architecture! - Jeff P. Henderson

Why? I don't understand why. It's like they are trying to prove something. But how many workers died building this vanity project? - Liz

Liz it's not the Middle Ages. I am sure the building is not resting on the bones of the poor exploited workers. - John Samuelson

this place looks like after a war! They might have the money, but haven't they heard about green? Let's see what happens when they will run out of oil. Anyway, that's a great building, but it doesn't fit the landscape. - Dan V

World's largest building = tourist attraction. - Tanath