Monday 21 March 2016

Facts about the world's tallest building - Burj Khalifa

Dubai creates an everlasting impression on visitors with its surprising numbers of huge skyscrapers.   One can easily lose the counting if he or she starts enumerating those numbers. The only thing that will stay on his or her mind like a symbol engraved on an object is the awesome Burj Khalifa. This building is the best gift the 21st century has given to the world. It is a fine epitome of arts, engineering, and craftsmanship. 



The majestic building is a  brilliant lesson to learn on the intricate combination of vision and science. One cannot help but be struck by the global standards created in the world of construction. Its height and design have gone down in the record books with several world-firsts to its name. Here are some amazing facts about the world's tallest building – Burj Khalifa.

The credit to build Burj Khalifa goes to the global property developer of Dubai known as “Emaar Properties PJSC.” It was the vision of this company to create the world's tallest building to celebrate  Dubai and call it Burj Dubai. They also wanted the record of the tower's height to remain unbroken for a longer time.  

The construction work started in January 2004 and got over in  2009. The building was declared open on 4 January 2010 and named 'Burj Khalifa' as a reciprocation for generous funding by the Emir of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan.

Burj Khalifa stands 828 meters (2,716 ft) tall in height. It is three times more in height compared to the Eiffel Tower, 15 times of the highest point of Niagara Falls and twice as tall as the Empire State Building. Its design is inspired from a tropical and subtropical flower with long petals extending from its center, and developed by a Chicago-based architecture firm called Skidmore Owings & Merill (SOM). The “buttressed core” structural system is developed and implemented by SOM to support the height of the structure.

The construction work of the building was carried out by Samsung Engineering and Construction, a South Korean company. 55,000 tons of steel rod with ridges, 110,000 tones of concrete, and 22 million man-hours were used for the reinforced concrete work. The total construction cost of this beautiful and delicate building was $1.5 billion. 

Besides holding a record for its height, Burj Khalifa has other world records to its repertoire as well. It is the only tallest free-standing building with the highest number of stories in the world (200 stories out of which 160 stories are livable), has the highest occupied floor, highest observational desk  (124th floor), tallest service elevator, and elevator with the longest travel distance.

The exterior of the building is created using 26,000 glass panels that were cut individually by 300 Chinese cladding experts to enable the building to resist summer heat.

The daily water consumption of the building is 250,000 gallons, whereas  electricity use is equivalent to 360,000 bulbs of 100-watt all burning together.

To tackle emergency situation and save time from running down from the tallest storey, the building is equipped with a novel elevator system to aid in controlled evacuations.

One can see the tip of the building from a distance of 95 kilometers. From the observational deck, which is on 124th floor, the city can be seen as far as 80 km on a clear day.

To award the cleaning contract for the reflective windows, a competition was held that was participated by reputed cleaning companies in the world, but won by an Australian company, Cox Gomyl. To clean the reflective windows, 12 machines weighing 13 tons each was used on the tracks outside the building that were  operated by 36 cleaners.

This amazing tower has 304 hotels and 1,100 one to three-bedroom apartments with 2957 parking spaces. It houses the second highest swimming pool on the 76th floor. The gross floor area, minus the connecting buildings and adjacent buildings, is 309,473m2. 

Recently, Burj Khalifa has added one more attraction to its feather in the form of a spiral flight that connects 124th and 125th floors.  Visitors can now see the entire city from the 125th floor walking on the spiral staircase from 124th floor. The 36-step spiral staircase is 100 meters in length and is adorned with a beautiful crystal LED chandelier. The huge staircase can accommodate over 150 people at a time. 

Along with these facts about Burj Khalifa, you must also know when to visit the impressive buildings. The visitors' timing is from morning 10 to evening 10 from Sunday to Wednesday. The timing extends to midnight from Thursday to Saturday. 

So don't miss visiting this amazing tower if you are in Dubai. It has become a global address that no one can fail to reach. 

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