A 2,700 feet 160-story skyscraper in Dubai opens on January 4, 2010, the fourth anniversary of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum’s rule in Dubai, a month delayed for its expected opening.  It will be the tallest building in the world which acquires impressive technologies of today like the fastest elevator in the world, traveling at 10 meters per second and double-decker elevators that can accommodate 21 people. To keep out the desert heat, 10,000 tons of coolant with flow through the tower every hour. There are 230,000 cubic meters of concrete form the building’s core, enough to pave 1,180 miles of sidewalk.

The largest shopping center is also located there, with space for 1,200 shops nestled among 30,000 apartments. ith Dubai announcing it financial mess last week, 400 projects are now stalling, including the Burj Dubai — the world’s tallest tower.

As the AP wrote this week:

“Most other of the unfinished super-projects announced in recent years, such as a second palm-shaped island or a tower to surpass the Burj Dubai, are either recession roadkill or being considered on a far smaller scale, if they are still considered at all.”