Engineering

The project known as The World is an artificial archipelago consisting of more than 300 islands arranged in the shape of the world map. It is located 4 km off the coast of Dubai. The island group measures 7 km by 9 km and is surrounded by a 27 km long breakwater – the largest ever built at sea. These are enormous figures. So how did we tackle the job?

This project closely resembled Palm Jumeirah in terms of circumstances, but everything is on a much bigger scale with The World. The biggest difference: we had to construct the reef ourselves. Since our schedule would not permit us to wait until the breakwater was finished, we started by creating the continents, especially on the outer edge. We reclaimed almost all of the land required and then fine-tuned with our cutters.

Photo 1 shows the 'strings' above the water. The reefs are already partly submerged, but because some of the strings are 300 m wide, the sand eroding off the side slopes is not as dangerous. We used the same calculations as we did for Palm Jumeirah, but then for an entire winter season. The figure that emerged was 60-100 m of sand, providing enough cover, and the eroded sand would remain within the work.

 

Photo 2 shows the project in 2005. By then we had moved 4,000,000 m³ of sand and 200,000 tonnes of rock a week.

Photo 3 shows the reef cross-section. The aim was to limit the number and size of the rocks and use as much sand as possible, with as little as possible sticking out of the water.

Photo 4 shows the first islands rising from the water. The photograph clearly shows how little there was above the surface at that point.

Photo 5 shows the Volvox Delta on its way to work on the next island.