From Babel to Dubai

Abstract

Alejandro Grimson argues that -according to the biblical narrative- God punishes both the excessive arrogance and the latent threat of those who attempt to reach sky by means of a tower since this jointly endeavor could make them as powerful as gods. This hypothesis assumes that God gave rise to a division among human beings in order to prevent them from achieving their goal: to get to heaven. Confused and unable to understand each other, they delayed the development of building technology. Nonetheless, Roman civilization attained the technical capacity to generate large unitary spaces. This evolution along with the development of modern engineering introduced increasingly amazing hallmarks as regards not only lighting but also, and mainly, height. While the ever more significant role of lighting implies an essentially pragmatic goal, that of height involves targets dealing with territory demarcation, urban densification, defense, communication and representation. Throughout history, men have attempted to build ever higher towers resembling that of Babel. This may be due to either their inferiority feelings when facing God’s power or their desire to emulate him as the world architect.