Dubai Mall Fountain
The Dubai Fountain is a large display of water jets gushing out of a puddle at the foot of the Burj Dubai (a tall building in Dubai) next to the Dubai Mall. Emaar, the developer of the Burj Dubai and the Downtown Burj Dubai area, announced the fountain in June 2008, with the astonishing development cost of AED 800 million, about the same as what it costs to build a moderate sized apartment tower, the new Oasis Center, or half the Yas Island Circuit.
The Dubai Fountain is a record-setting choreographed fountain system set on the 30-acre manmade Burj Khalifa Lake, at the center of the Downtown Dubai development in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was designed by WET Design, the California-based company responsible for the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel Lake in Las Vegas. Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 25 colored projectors, it is 275 m (902 ft) long and shoots water 150 m (490 ft) into the air (equivalent to a 50-story building), accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and world music. It was built at a cost of AED 800 million (USD 218 million).
The fountain is animated with performances set to light and music. It is visible from every point on the lake promenade and from many neighboring structures. Performances take place every 20 minutes from 6 pm to 10 pm on weekdays, and from 6 pm to 11 pm on weekends.
Performance repertoire includes:
“Sama Dubai”, a tribute to Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed, which is usually the first show of the day,
“Baba Yetu”, an award-winning song in Swahili from the Civilization IV video game soundtrack
“Shik Shak Shok”, the Arab world’s top-selling dance number
“Inshed An Aldar” (“Ask About Home”), an Emirati song written especially for the inauguration of the Burj Khalifa on 4 January 2010
“Con te partirò” (Time to Say Goodbye), the signature piece of world-renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli
“Dhoom Thana”, a Hindi song
“Waves” (“Amvaj”) by Bijan Mortazavi
“Bassbor Al Fourgakom” by Emirati artist Hussain Al Jassmi
and other performances, sometimes without being accompanied by music
Dubai Fountain facts and numbers
The Dubai Fountain length 275 meters (900 ft) – more than 2 football fields, and 25% larger than the Bellagio Fountain in Las Vegas, visible from over 20 miles away up (in space) or horizontally if you have a clear line of sight.
Dubai Fountain height of 150 meters (500 ft) apparently. Emaar press releases in 2008 and 2009 were saying “Powerful water nozzles shoot water sprays to heights of over 500 ft”. Which is the same as the height of a 50-storey building, or high enough to wash the windows a fifth of the way up the Burj Dubai. And in May 2009, that was stretched to “Height – 900 feet” according to the Khaleej Times “Fountain Facts”. It looks more like 100-150 ft to us (30-50 meters).
Dubai Fountain height increased to 275 meters in a press release 02 January 2010 announcing the addition of a new song (Inshed An Aldar): “The Dubai Fountain can reach a height of 275 metres (900 ft) and is equipped with powerful nozzles capable of shooting water higher than a 50-storey building” which sounds like a very tall 50-storey building, and the water jets don’t look anything like as high as 900 ft.
22,000 gallons of water in the air at any given moment.
More than 6,600 lights with 1,000 different water combinations to drift into your dinner if you’re on one of the Souk Al Bahar terrace restaurants when the wind is blowing your way. Music will be played to accompany your soggy steak.
50 colour projectors according to original information, down to 25 according to the Dubai Mall website, but we’ve only ever seen white.
The Burj Dubai Lake fills the gap between the Dubai Mall, The Palace Hotel, Souk Al Bahar and The Address hotel.
The Dubai Fountain consists of many high-pressure water jets and shooters: Oarsmen or water robots, which can make the water seem to dance, Shooters, which shoot water upwards, Super Shooters, which shoot water under more pressure up to 240 feet in the air, and Extreme Shooters, which shoot water under the most pressure to 420 feet in the air. These shooters create a loud “boom” noise after water is ejected. The Super Shooters and Extreme Shooters are used the least during each show because it takes a lot of time to build up enough pressure and energy to shoot water that high in the air.
