Interesting facts about Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa known as Burj Dubai before its inauguration, is a megatall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
It is the tallest building in the world standing at 828 meters (2,716.5 feet).
Not just the tallest building, the Burj’s height surpassed anything ever built by man from the ground up.
Burj Khalifa holds the world record for highest number of stories with 163 stories.
Burj Khalifa holds the world record for the highest habitable floor at 160 stories.
Burj Level 153 of Burj Khalifa is the highest occupied floor in the world.
Construction of Burj Khalifa began in 2004, with the exterior completed in 2009. The primary structure is reinforced concrete. The building opened in 2010, as part of the new development called Downtown Dubai.
It was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merill (SOM) an American architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm.
The Burj Khalifa’s design embodies the lyrical and well-proportioned structure of the Hymenocallis or Spider Lily, a regional desert flower that inspired architect Adrian Smith’s vision of the iconic tower.
Burj Khalifa comprises a record-breaking 330,000 cubic meters (11.6 million cubic feet) of concrete; 39,000 m/t of reinforced steel; 103,000 square meters (1.1 million square feet) of glass; and, 15,500 square meters (166,800 square feet) of embossed stainless steel. It took 22 million man hours to build the tower.
More than 12,000 people worked on-site at any given time during the building of Burj Khalifa.
A truly mixed-use tower, Burj Khalifa comprises 171,870 square meters (1.85 million square feet) of residential space, and 27,870 square meters (300,000 square feet) of office space, in addition to the Armani Hotel Dubai and the Armani Residences. The tower also features lounges, health and wellness facilities, four pools and two observation decks.
Burj Khalifa’s three primary entrances – Armani Hotel, Residence and Corporate Suites – were designed to be on different levels to ensure smooth-flowing traffic at all times.
The lobby of The Residence at Burj Khalifa is dominated by artist Jaume Plensa’s eponymous sculpture ‘World Voices‘. The piece incorporates 196 cymbals. Water dropping gently from the ceiling strikes the cymbals and creates a chorus of distinct tones that represent the voices of people worldwide.
The Burj Khalifa contains nearly 1,000 apartments from floors 12 to 108.The building has a total of 2,909 stairs, meaning those on the upper floors would have to climb the bulk of those just to get home if the lifts were out of action.
The interiors of The Residence at Burj Khalifa are inspired by Middle Eastern culture. Curves and arcs that are representative of the strokes in Arabic calligraphy as well as the slopes of sand dunes can be seen in the flooring, carpets and ceilings.
Soaring high at 555 meters (1,821 feet), At the Top, Burj Khalifa SKY is fittingly Dubai’s most iconic destination.It is highest outdoor observatory in the world, spread across levels 148 and 125 of Burj Khalifa.The view is amazing.
Aside from a stunning view of the city of Dubai, the Observation Decks of Burj Khalifa also offers a unique aerial view of The Dubai Fountain.
Burj Khalifa is home to the world’s first Armani Hotel, which opened its doors on April 27, 2010. All aspects of the luxury hotel bear the signature markings of Giorgio Armani, from the room designs to the fabrics and furnishings selected.
Burj Khalifa has a total of 57 elevators and 8 escalators. Among them are the world’s tallest service elevator, which has a capacity of 5.500 kg and the Observatory elevators, which are double deck cabs that travel at 10 m/s.
At.mosphere is the world’s highest restaurant at 441.3 meters (1,447 feet) (122nd floor).The interiors of At.mosphere were designed by New York-based Adam Tihany. The restaurant’s three distinct parts occupy the entire floor, providing panoramic views of Dubai and the desert and sea beyond.
The Burj Khalifa is also intending to host the world’s highest nightclub on the 143rd floor.
A little known fact is that Burj Khalifa features the world’s highest library on Level 123 of The Residences.
The Burj Khalifa has the second highest swimming pool in the world, at the 76th floor.
Burj Khalifa is home to the commissioned works of over 85 artists from around the world. The artworks vary from impressionism to abstract works, but they all reveal an Arabic cultural context.
The common areas of Burj Khalifa all have a bespoke fragrance that was selected from among 18 aromas.The fragrance with the materials in each space for a subtly different experience.
The exterior of the Burj Khalifa has 26,000 glass panels, designed by 300 Chinese cladding experts who had to ensure that the exterior would withstand the high heat of the summer in Dubai.
Burj Khalifa’s lighting perfectly complements the character of the building as a simple and elegant structure.The facade is lit by a series of stroboscopes, that can be individually programmed to chase up the tower or sparkle in a pattern or at random.
The tower’s landscaped areas are divided into 3 distinct sections, for the residences, the offices and the hotel. The landscape design comprises a palm court, six water features, a lake-side promenade, forest groves, a play area and terrace gardens.
On a foggy morning, when a thick layer of fog settles over the city of Dubai, the view from Burj Khalifa’s Observation Decks is something to behold. It appears as though you are standing above the clouds.
Burj Khalifa has been called a ‘vertical city‘ and the name couldn’t be more apt. Given its magnitude and mixed-use facilities, it holds in the region of 10,000 people at any given point in time and maximum occupancy is 35,000 people.
Every year Burj Khalifa hosts a New Year’s Eve Gala in Downtown Dubai. The event is one of Dubai’s most anticipated with light and fireworks shows. The night sees more than 1 million people in attendance and is telecast live to over 2 billion people around the world.
One of the greatest images of modern time is a 360-degree gigapan picture of Dubai taken from the tip of Burj Khalifa’s spire. It was taken to mark the second edition of the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Photography Award (HIPA).
Burj Khalifa entered record books when Alain Robert, aka ‘French Spiderman‘, scaled the tower in just over 6 hours in March 2011.
Skydive Dubai-sponsored Soul Flyers World Champions Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet took the first leap off Burj Khalifa in April 2014, claiming the new Guinness World Record title of the ‘Highest BASE Jump from the Tallest Building’.
If you were to take all the concrete used in Burj Khalifa and lay a sidewalk, it would be 2,065 kilometers (1,283 miles) long.
The concrete used for Burj Khalifa is equivalent to the weight of 100,000 elephants.
Burj Khalifa’s curtain wall is the equivalent of 17 soccer fields or 25 American football fields.
There are more than 17,000 doors in Burj Khalifa.
The ambient temperature at the tip of Burj Khalifa is 6 degrees cooler than the temperature at ground level.
Burj Khalifa featured in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, the fourth installment of the Mission Impossible series, with a hair-raising stunt sequence by Tom Cruise. The stunt scene was later parodied in the popular animated TV series The Simpsons.
Burj Khalifa Facts and Information
Burj Khalifa is a megatall skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the building is best known for being the current world’s tallest skyscraper, it’s the most popular tourist attraction in Dubai (Details: Tourist information of Burj Khalifa).
Burj Khalifa looked up
This page introduces some facts about the building and the related information.
Name :
Burj Khalifa, literally means Khalifa Tower. Formerly known as Burj Dubai or Dubai Tower, which was changed to Burj Khalifa when the tower officially opened on January 4th 2010. Khalifa is derived from the name of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Maktoum, who is the president of Adu Dhabi as well as United Arab Emirates, Burj Khalifa and other construction projects in Dubai were once on the verge of halting due to the attack of Financial Crisis, it was neighbor Adu Dhabi provided funds to Dubai in the hard time, this is the main reason for Dubai to rename the tower Burj Khalifa, additionally the word Khalifa has a important significance in Islam, it means Islamic world’s supreme leader.
Location:
The address of Burj Khalifa is 1 Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the tower is located in Downtown Dubai, an area along Sheikh Zayed Road, it’s one of several districts in the city that filled with lots of high-rises buildings, another district with significant amount of skyscrapers is Dubai Marina, the two districts is approximately 11 miles apart.
Burj Khalifa seen along with other towers in Downtown Dubai.
In comparison with Dubai Marina which located right by the sea, Burj Khalifa is 2.1 miles away from the sea, so the natural view surrounding the tower is not as tempting as Dubai Marina, but there are many man-made lakes and rivers around the tower, these lakes and rivers have made up for the deficiency to a certain extent.
Height :
The architectural height of Burj Khalifa is 828 meters or 2717 feet, this is measured to the top of the spire, as its spire is considered an architectural element of the tower.
Before 2010, Burj Khalifa’s height has long been kept as a secret in order to prevent it from being surpassed by potential competitors. Finally the owner Emaar claimed the standard height of Burj Khalifa to be 828 meters, with a total height of 829.8 meters to its tip (there’s a 1.7 meter small needle atop the top of spire at 828 meters), making it the tallest building in the world in any categories. As of 2019, Burj Khalifa has been holding the crown of World’s Tallest Building for 10 years, it will keep the crown for another 3 to 5 years, until in 2022 or later when either the Dubai Creek Tower or Jeddah Tower surpasses it.
looking down at Burj Khalifa
Uses :
Mixed-use, the tower is used in a variety of purposes, respectively are Office, Residential, Hotels, Restaurant, Observation, Communication.
The 39th floor or level 39 and floors below are used as hotels or residences by Armani, the floors from level 39 to level 108 are mainly used for residences. Above level 108 to level 154 are office spaces, with the exception of level 124,125 and level 148, which are the 3 separated observation decks for public sightseeing. And there’s also a restaurant set at level 122, named At.mosphere.
The floors above level 154 to 163 are all mechanical floors. The number of floors is so huge as there are a total of 2909 stairs from the ground floor to 160th floor.
Burj Khalifa at sunset
163 is commonly known as the number of Burj Khalifa’s floors, but a 2717-foot building couldn’t have only 163 floors even when the spire is removed right? That is because the floors above level 163 and below the spire are served as the base structure of spire, which is not habitable and also not for mechanical use, but it occupies 46 floors, hence technically the building has 209 floors.
Every year, fireworks show or laser show will take place on Burj Khalifa on New Year’s Eve, attracting thousands of people to watch on the scene, and millions watch online in the same time. The last firework show was occurred on January 1, 2017, a laser show was shown on New Year’s Eve of 2018, laser shows is also occurred in some other events or festivals.
Burj Khalifa fireworks show
Design and Development:
It was the government of Dubai made the decision to build a world’s tallest building, the intentions of building Burj Khalifa are various and listed below:
1. Dubai wants to make the tourism the emirate’s second industry to lighten the reliance on Oil trade.
2. Building a tower that size can greatly improve the identity of city and its reputation in the world, and to capture the attention of the world.
3. Bring the title of World’s Tallest Building back to Middle East as Khufu Pyramid had ever been the tallest building of the world for more than 4000 years.
4. The ruler of Dubai once said in twitter that the idea of building the Burj Khalifa was inspired by a visit to Empire State Building in New York City many decades ago in 1960s, Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world by that time, the ruler got deeply inspired by it and generated the idea of a tallest building in his homeland.
Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa was designed by Adrian Smith from Chicago-based architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, he has also designed some other notable projects like Jin Mao Tower, Wuhan Greenland Center in China, and Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, which is set to become the next tallest building in the world.
Adrian Smith, the Architect designed Burj Khalifa
The tower is built on a shamrock-shaped footprint, making the tower seen like a letter ‘Y’ from above in the air, this shape derived from Hymenocallis, also known as desert lily, a local plant live in desert, the tower’s cross section area reduces gradually as it rises.
Hymenocallis, a plant in Dubai which inspired the shape of footprint of Burj Khalifa 
Burj Khalifa seen from satellite, showing the Y-shape base and how it tapers gradually to the tip.
This shape in the one hand is for the stability of the building, the Jeddah Tower which currently under construction is also based on this shape and the shape can also be found on other structures such as CN Tower, Wuhan Greenland Center and Russia Tower(cancelled). On the other hand, this sort of shape is more suitable for the hotels and residences, in which the scenery from the outdoor should be highly concerned, the Y-shape design can provide the people living in it with views to the greatest extent, that is why the lower portion that below the level 108 where the Y-shape is more apparent is used for hotels and residences and the upper portion where the Y-shape has almost transformed to circular is occupied by offices, where people working there are supposed to concentrate their focus on their work not the scenery.
Burj Khalifa was developed by Emaar Properties, a renowned local real estate firm that has also developed many other skyscrapers in Dubai and now they are working on next tallest structure of the world which temporarily named ‘Dubai Creek Tower’.
Burj Khalifa
The construction of Burj Khalifa was contracted by Samsung Construction, a subsidiary of Samsung Group, the group is best known for its electronic products and in respect of construction it had also constructed many famous buildings around the world including Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur and Taipei 101 Tower in Taipei.
The construction began in 2004, the building started rising in March 2005.
Burj Khalifa under construction seen in April 2005
After that Burj Khalifa grew very fast, below is how it looked in February 2006. The building had become a 30-floor highrise building from a Y-shape base structure in less than one year.
Burj Khalifa under construction in February 2006
As the building tapers into the sky, the construction became faster when the building built to higher floors.
Burj Khalifa under construction in October 2006
As of January 2007, the tower had become an imposing supertall skyscraper that has more than one hundred floors built. And one month later it became the building with most floors on the earth.
Burj Khalifa under construction in January 2007
The tower surpassed Taipei 101 to become world’s tallest building in architectural height by July 2007.
Burj Khalifa under construction by the end of June 2007
In less than a month the tower surpassed Sears Tower’s antenna at 527 m becoming the world’s tallest building in any category, unofficially though. In September 2007 the CN Tower was surpassed by Burj Khalifa and lost its title of tallest free standing structure in the world, not officially again, as Burj Khalifa was still under construction and growing.
Burj Khalifa seen in October 2007, when it had become the tallest self standing man-made structure in the world
Although the tower had already become the tallest building and tallest structure in the world, the height of Burj Khalifa was still substantially growing.
Burj Khalifa seen under construction 
Construction picture of Burj Khalifa 
Burj Khalifa under construction 
Burj Khalifa seen close to completion in 2009
The tower topped out in January 2009 at its full height of 829.8 meters, this is much higher than the former tallest building Taipei 101.
The whole project cost 1.5 billion dollars, the tower itself cost 1 billion dollars, it’s not very high for a building with that height, even many buildings around 300 meters in American cities cost this much, this is more obvious when compared with One World Trade Center in New York City, which cost 3.9 billions dollars. But for buildings in Dubai, this number is far ahead of other supertalls while the majority of Dubai’s supertall skyscrapers cost only around 300 million dollars.
Tourism and Sightseeing:
Burj Khalifa with the Persian Gulf in the background
Burj Khalifa has the world’s highest building-based observation deck. When the tower first opened in 2010, they opened the observation deck on level 124 named At The Top at the same time, it’s a observatory that contains outdoor terrace, at 452 meters high, almost only a half height of the tower, even Shanghai World Financial Center which is only 492 meters tall has a observation deck at 474 m high. But At The Top had been the highest observation deck that contains outdoor terrace until the Canton Tower’s 488 m high outdoor observatory surpassed it.
In 2014 Burj Khalifa opened its second observation deck named At The Top SKY at level 148 at height of 555 m, surpassed the observation deck of Canton Tower, which was the highest observation deck back then. And there’s also an outdoor part, thus became the highest observation deck of the world in both the indoor and outdoor category.
The price of the admission ticket is much higher than other skyscrapers around the world. As of 2018, the standard ticket for accessing the observation decks on 124th and 125th floors cost 135 UAE dirhams, approximately 37 dollars. The exception is dusk time, which starts at 17:30 and ends at 19:00, it is the ideal time for sightseeing as the scenery is usually most beautiful by this time, and by the way visitors can view both the day views and night views in a single visit, a same visit by that time cost 210 dirhams. The admission tickets can be booked from here.
The standard ticket for a visit to all three observation decks costs 370 dirhams, approximately 100 US dollars. For dusk times, it needs 525 dirhams for a same visit.
Note: There are more other options available, and the prices may subject to change, check the building’s official website for more details and booking in advance on some third party sites will generally cost less.
Outdoor terrace on Level 124
Popular Culture :
In the film, for tracing the exchange of the code between the lady killer Moreau and two other men, Ethan Hunt(Tom Cruise) jumps out from a upper floor around 500 m high to scale on the glass cladding using a pair of special gloves, the destination is a computer service room, in the meanwhile, one of gloves got out of order, which makes him dropped about 30 foot before he steady himself to continues climb up using one arm with the left glove, and after climbed to a level at height of 523 m, he breaks the glass and enters the computer room.
Besides the film, in the reality, the French climber Alain Robert who dubbed ‘spider-man’ as he had scaled numerous skyscrapers before, scaled Burj Khalifa on March 28th 2011, it took him 6 hours to reach the top tip while a large crowd watching from below.
Tom Cruise scaling the glass facade of Burj Khalifa
Chinese film Switch (Chinese: 天机·富春山居图) :
Several notable tourist spots in Dubai are featured in the film, like Al Arab, Palm Jumeirah, and Burj Khalifa, there’s a scene in which Andy Lau (a famous Hong Kong actor) jumps out from an upper floor of Burj Khalifa with Lin Chi-ling (a Taiwanese actress).
Video game Sim City series : like other skyscrapers around the world, Burj Khalifa is featured in Sim City.
American film Independence Day 2 : Burj Khalifa is used as a spear by alien to destroy London, it is seen in the film that Burj Khalifa soars out of the clouds in Dubai and ploughs to London, finally it crashes into the River Thames.
Burj Khalifa seen falling into River Thames
