The Mastaba will be a work of art made of approximately 410,000 horizontally stacked oil barrels.
The grandeur and vastness of the land will be reflected in the dimensions of the Mastaba, which will be:
* 150 meters (492 feet) high
* 225 meters (738 feet) deep
* 300 meters (984 feet) wide
Conceived in 1977, the Mastaba will have an overall surfacing of 55-gallon stainless steel oil barrels of various bright colors.
Hundreds of bright colors, as enchanting as Islamic mosaics, will give a constantly changing visual experience according to the time of the day and the quality of the light.
* All Barrels, on the four sides of the Mastaba and on the top, will be installed so that they are lying on their sides.
* The two 300 meter (984 feet) wide sides will be vertical showing the circular heads of the colored barrels.
* The two 225 meter (738 feet) sides will be sloping at the 60 degree natural angle of stacked barrels, showing the curved sides of the barrels.
* The top of the Mastaba will be a horizontal surface 126.8 meters (416 feet) wide, 225 meters (738 feet) deep showing the rounded length of the barrels.
* There will be no ingress except for maintenance corridors and passageways to the service elevators.
In a distant area, there could be a complex with parking facilities, a worship room, rest areas for the public and lodging for the curator, the maintenance personnel and the guardians.
Palm trees, eucalyptus trees, thorn trees and other shrubbery will be planted around the Mastaba, at a distance, as a windbreak, to minimize the force of the sand and windstorms.
The area adjacent to the walkways approaching the Mastaba will be like an oasis with flowers and grass.
The Mastaba, a work of art whose only purpose is to be itself, will be situated on a slightly rising plain to allow visitors the full impact of the uniqueness of this monument, as they approach by foot, automobile, or by air.
ADDENDUM iBB: THE MASTABA
Mastaba (from the Arabic word meaning bench) is a forerunner of the pyramids, that form belongs to the trapezoid geometric shape and is oblong.
The Mastaba for the United Arab Emirates has 2 slanted sides and 2 vertical sides, with a flat top, while a pyramid has all 4 triangular slanted sides and a pointed top.
The Mastaba, project for the United Arab Emirates which was started in 1977, thirty years ago, differs from the artist previous projects.
iBB has already spent over a million dollars, through the years between 1979 and 1982 working extensively with the UAE authorities in the United Arab Emirates and for planning, feasibility studies and preliminary designs with engineers from USA, United Kingdom, Switzerland, France and Japan.
It is indeed logical to expect that the construction of the iBB’s Mastaba of The UAE can only be financed by the ruler if he wishes to have an option to build and take care of the maintenance of a structure which is larger and taller than the largest pyramid in Giza, Egypt.
