Majestic and minimalist, the world’s longest bridge is also one of the most beautiful From a distance, the seven steel masts of the record-breaking Millau Viaduct in southern France look like billowing sails of a cosmic spacecraft. Up close, the tallest bridge in the world is no less stunning, a minimalist masterpiece that resembles an Apple iPad in bridge form.
The Statistics
Millau Viaduct Opened: 14 December 2004
Designed by: Michel Virlogeux and Norman Foster
Length: 2,460 metres (1.52 miles)
Width: 32 metres (105 feet)
Mast height: 343 metres (1,125 feet)
Palm islands
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has only one requirement for construction projects in his desert nation of Dubai: if it doesn’t break a world record for tallest, biggest or most expensive, he’s not interested. It shouldn’t surprise, therefore, that the original design of the Palm islands – three man-made islands of colossal proportions off the coast of Dubai – came from the Sheikh’s own pen. But how do you build the world’s largest man-made islands? Luckily, Dubai has almost as much sand as it does oil money. The state-run developer Nakheel hired the Dutch dredging fi rm Van Oord, specialists in land reclamation, to suction up millions of cubic metres of sand from the sea fl oor and precision spray it into the shape of a huge date tree with 16 slender fronds extending into the sea. Van Oord’s dredging equipment is guided by DGPS (differential global positioning system), NASA’s new real-time positioning technology that’s accurate down to ten centimetres.
The Statistics
Palm Jumeirah
Nickname: The Eighth Wonder of the World
Opened/opening: Palm Jumeirah, the smallest island, was completed in 2006 Built by: Nakheel Length: 5km (3.1mi) Width: 5km (3.1mi)
Composition: 94 million m3 of reclaimed sand; 7 million tons of quarried rock
Cost: £8.14 billion ($12.3 billion)
Laerdal Tunnel
An ambitious dig gives drivers an unprecedented journey through the centre of the Earth
A decade ago, the drive from Oslo to Bergen, Norway required travellers to ferry multiple fjords and summit 1,600-metre peaks subject to rockslides and piles of snow. In 2000, King Harald V cut the ribbon on the Laerdal Tunnel, a 24.5km (15.2-mile) passage beneath the mountain ranges and waterways that had made travel between the two coastal cities so daunting and slow. Laerdal is
by far the longest road tunnel in the world, beating the previous record-holder by seven kilometres
Taipei 101
The world’s second-tallest skyscraper has a 660-ton pendulum for a heart
Building a skyscraper in Taipei is like playing Jenga on a trampoline. The Taiwanese capital,
located along the famed Ring of Fire, sits atop an active seismological zone with a very long
history of deadly earthquakes. As recently as 1999, a 7.3 trembler killed over 2,400 people.
As if the earthquakes aren’t enough, Taipei is also directly in the path of 26 annual tropical
storms and typhoons,the Pacific equivalent of hurricanes.
The Statistics
Taipei 101
Opened: 2004
Architect: CY Lee & Partners
Height: 508 metres (1,666 feet); 101 storeys above ground
Weight: 700,000 tons Total fl oor area: 374,336m2
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