Burj Khalifa, as the tallest manufactured building on the ground, can be considered a city in the sky. The Khalifa Tower is a house of luxury apartments, offices, and a hotel. Burj Khalifa gets up from the sands of the desert of Dubai to a total height of 829.8 meters. The building of this tower took six years, and 22 million men worked during these years. Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building, where you can see an incredible feat of engineering. You can just buy a ticket to experience traveling at the top spot of the world and more.
During the ride from a moving walkway to the base of the tower, one can see bumps on the walls representing the history of Dubai. The tower is equipped with a high-speed elevator that travels at 10 meters per second, and visitors can meet on the public Deck of the Burj in less than 60 seconds. The view of the Deck presents a wide view of the city, desert, and the Persian Gulf. Although the Deck is not on the top of the tower, you are still on one of the highest decks in the world at a height of 452 meters.
Facts and records about Burj Khalifa
First, it is perfect to know some facts and records about the tallest tower in the world, and then go for more information about the Burj Khalifa. This tower, with a height of 828 meters, contains some wonderful records like being the tallest building in the world, having the highest number of floors in the world, being the tallest free-standing structure in the world, having the highest number of occupied floors in the world, having the highest outdoor sightseeing deck in the world, having the tallest elevator in the world, having an elevator with the longest travel path in the world.
The location of Burj Khalifa
The address of the tallest building in the world is 1 Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The tower is located in downtown Dubai, where there are many high-rise buildings, such as the Dubai Fountain, the Dubai Mall, and Burj Park Island. Burj Khalifa is located 2.1 miles away from the sea, and there are lots of manufactured lakes and rivers near the tower.
The Height of Burj Khalifa
The measured height of Burj Khalifa to the top of the spire is 2717 feet, which means 828 meters since its spire is considered an architectural element of the Burj. With a small needle that is 1.7 meters at the top of the spire, the height of the tower becomes 829.8 meters, making the Burj Khalifa the tallest building in the World.
The height of the Burj Khalifa was secret for a long time to prevent it from being surpassed by competitors. Finally, the height was published by Emaar’s owner in 2010. Until now, as of 2022, Burj Khalifa has been keeping the title of the Tallest Building in the World for 12 years. And it is predicted it will keep the title for another 3 to 5 years.
There are three sightseeing places for public spectacle on floors 124,125 and 148. The 148th floor is the World’s highest sightseeing deck, and it is now 555 meters high.
The usage of Burj Khalifa
The Khalifa Tower is used for a wide variety of purposes, such as office, residential, hotel, restaurant, observation, and communication.
From floor 1 to floor 39, they are used as hotels for Armani, and from the 39th floor to floor 108, they are largely used for residences. From floor 108 to floor 154 are used for office spaces, plus the exception of floors 124,125, and 148. On floor 122, there is a restaurant named At.mosphere. The floors from 154 to 163 are used all as mechanical floors.
The Burj Khalifa is commonly known to provide 163 floors. It has 2909 stairs from the ground floor to the 160th floor. However, the noticeable thing is that a 2717-foot building, even considering the spire has been removed, couldn’t have only 163 floors. In fact, all the floors above the 163rd floor are the base structure of the spire and are not usable. This base structure occupies 46 floors, and technically, the building can be considered 209 floors.
Fireworks or laser shows occur at important events or festivals on Burj Khalifa every year, attracting the attention of thousands of people to watch either on the scene or online.
The intention of building Burj Khalifa
When the government of Dubai decided to build the tallest building in the world, it adopted various goals, which are described below:
It started with Dubai’s decision to make tourism the second industry to reduce the reliance on the oil trade. To capture the world’s attention, the ruler of Dubai decided to build a tower of huge size that could significantly lessen the identity and reputation of the city in the world. The idea of building the Burj Khalifa was inspired by the Empire State Building in New York City when the ruler was visiting it. By building the Burj Khalifa, the title of the World’s Tallest Building back in the Middle East, previously Khufu Pyramid was the tallest for more than 4000 years.
Adrian Smith from Chicago designed Burj Khalifa; he is a member of the architecture corporation Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. He has also designed some other notable projects, such as the Jin Mao Tower and the Wuhan Greenland Center in China. The shape of the building is like the letter ‘Y’ from above in the air; it’s actually like a local plant living in the desert, which is called a desert lily. The Y-shape is not only used for the constancy of the building, but this sort of shape is also more suitable for outdoor scenery.
In hotels and residences in which the outdoor scenery is highly important, the Y-shape design can offer them views of the greatest expanse. So, the reason for using lower floors (below the 108th floor) as hotels and residents is because the Y-shape design is more apparent. Offices occupy the upper floors because the building has almost transformed into a circle shape, and people focus on their work, not the scenery.
