The Tallest Building - Burj Khalifa (Burj Dubai)

Burj Khalifa (Arabic: برج خليفة‎ "Khalifa Tower"), formerly known as Burj Dubai, is a supertall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft).
Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the
structure completed on 1 October 2009 and the building officially opened
on 4 January 2010.



The building is part of the 2 km2 (490-acre) flagship development called
Downtown Burj Khalifa at the "First Interchange" along Sheikh Zayed
Road, near Dubai's main business district. The tower's architect and
engineer is Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLP (Chicago). Bill Baker, the
Chief Structural Engineer for the project, invented the buttressed core
structural system in order to enable the tower to achieve such heights
economically. Adrian Smith, who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
(SOM) until 2006, was the Design Partner on the project.



The primary builder is a joint venture of South Korean Samsung C&T,
who also built the Taipei 101 and Petronas Twin Towers, Belgian group
Besix and Arabtec from UAE. Turner Construction Company was chosen as
the construction project manager. Under UAE law, the Contractor and the
Engineer of Record are jointly and severally liable for the performance
of Burj Dubai. Therefore, by adoption of SOM's
design and by being appointed as Architect and Engineer of Record, Hyder
Consulting is legally the Design Consultant for the tower.





The total budget for the Burj Khalifa project is about US$1.5 billion;
and for the entire new "Downtown Dubai", US$20 billion. Mohamed Ali
Alabbar, the CEO of Emaar Properties, speaking at the Council on Tall
Buildings and Urban Habitat 8th World Congress, said that the price of
office space at Burj Khalifa had reached US$4,000 per sq ft (over
US$43,000 per m2) and that the Armani Residences, also in Burj Khalifa,
were selling for US$3,500 per sq ft (over US$37,500 per m2).

Current records

• Tallest skyscraper to top of spire: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 509.2 m (1,671 ft))


• Tallest structure ever built: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously Warsaw radio mast – 646.38 m (2,121 ft))


• Tallest extant structure: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously KVLY-TV mast – 628.8 m (2,063 ft))


• Tallest freestanding structure: 828 m (2,717 ft) (previously CN Tower – 553.3 m (1,815 ft))


• Building with most floors: 160 (previously both 1 and 2 World Trade Center – 110)


• World's highest elevator installation


• World's fastest elevators at speed of 64 km/h (40 mph) or 18 m/s (59 ft/s) (previously Taipei 101 – 16.83 m/s)


• Highest vertical concrete pumping (for a building): 606 m (1,988 ft) (previously Taipei 101 – 449.2 m (1,474 ft))


• Highest vertical concrete pumping (for any construction): 606 m
  (1,988 ft) (previously Riva del Garda Hydroelectric Power Plant – 532 m
  (1,745 ft))


• The first world's tallest structure in history to include residential space


• Highest outdoor observation deck in the world


• Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world


• Tallest service elevator in the world


• World's highest installation of an aluminium and glass façade, at a height of 512 m (1,680 ft)

Source: wikipedia.org