Construction continues on the Burj Dubai skyscraper in Dubai, in 2006
© AFP/File Rabih MoghrabiCANNES, France (AFP) - Dubai has designs on overtaking Taipei as home to the world's tallest building.
When completed in 2008, the Burj Dubai tower is expected to be more than 800 metres (2,620 feet) high -- dwarfing the 509-metre (1,670 feet) Taipei 101 tower. For the moment final height is being kept secret.
"Burj Dubai has scaled over 110 levels and is already in the international spotlight," said Issam Galadari, managing director of developers Emaar International, at the MIPIM real estate conference in Cannes this week.
Burj Dubai is to have some 162 floors with retail space, a 160 room hotel and upmarket residential space, highlighting a new trend for expensive homes with a room with a view.
Dubai already has the world's highest hotel at the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab skyscraper and the Gulf state has also set its sights on becoming home to the world's tallest residential tower.
The Dubai Pentominium tower of luxury units was unveiled in Cannes this week by its developers, Trident International.
Each of the 120 floors of the 516-metre (1,700 metre) building will house a single residential condominium unit with penthouses on the top floors, Trident's Ayush Kukreti told AFP.
A fleet of luxury cars, including a Rolls-Royce Phantom, will be available to residents as well as yachts, a spa, health clubs, a private theatre and business centre.
The apartments will cost from 2.5 million dollars for a lower level unit up to 10 million dollars for an upper penthouse, according to Kukreti, who said there were potential buyers from North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Many of the newer skyscraper projects showcased at MIPIM combine retail and office space with apartments.
"Younger people are happier today about living in taller buildings as today's towers are much better designed and maintained than they were in the past," Sally Warren, at international architecture practice Chapman Taylor LLP, told AFP.
Many of the landmarks to go up over the next few years will become the homes, or second homes, of the rich and successful rather than the average citizen.
In Moscow, the strikingly modern 354 metre (1,168 feet) -- 448 metres (1,478 feet) with spire) -- Federation Tower will house 200 luxury apartments as well as offices, restaurants and a fitness centre. It will be Europe's tallest building when completed.
Many architects are concentrating on being eco-friendly however.
A clutch of new towers are planned for the La Defense business district west of Paris.
"We are pioneers," said Bernard Bled, who heads up the La Defense Public Development Agency (EPAD) that plans to build the new towers.
"We want to show how it's possible to build towers that are highly energy efficient and set new standards in sustainable development," he told AFP.
The 300-metre-high bio-climatic towers, including the Tour Generali and the Tour Phare, are to be built using new materials to reduce energy and water consumption.
The Paris towers will be a far cry from the stark rectangular models of the past. The Tour Phare (meaning lighthouse in English), designed by radical Californian architect Thom Mayne, is shaped like an irregular curved ship's funnel.
A double-skinned facade will provide natural ventilation while windmills atop the tower will provide power to cool the office building.
The higher cost of building eco-friendly towers does not appear to be putting off prospective investors.
Bled said there was interest from investors in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and North America, as well as Europe.
Bahrain's wind-powered World Trade Centre is another example of the move to sustainable building. Moscow's Russia Tower and others aim to conserve energy through triple glazing and recycling rainfall.
And tomorrow's towers will also include tight fire and anti-terrorist security measures.
"We will have very stringent passive and active security measures in place at Russia Tower," STT GroupLlc's Didier Lahoz said at MIPIM. The powerful Norman Foster-designed triangular-shaped Russia Tower would stand even if one of its three interlinked structures were damaged, Lahoz said.
©AFP