Burj Khalifa – the megatall skyscraper in Dubai is currently the world‘s tallest building. Known for its cloud-piercing height, magnificent architect and splendor, Burj Khalifa was inaugurated in 2010. This skyscraper was initially named as “Burj Dubai” prior to its inauguration. However, its name was changed to "Burj Khalifa" in the honor of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Khalifa. Not only this is the world’s tallest building, but also it has several records. Here are some of incredible and interesting facts about Burj Khalifa.
Its construction work started in 2004 and it took about six year to complete the project. This is equivalent to 22 million man-hours. Burj Khalifa was officially inaugurated on 4 January, 2010.
17 Mind-Blowing And Interesting Facts About Burj Khalifa!
1. Burj Khalifa is world’s tallest building and three times tall than the Eiffel tower!
This skyscraper is staggering 828 meters (2716.5 feet) tall. This is three times high than the Eiffel Tower as well two time high than the Empire State Building. You can see the top of Burj from 95 km away.2. The idea behind the construction of Burj Khalifa!
The Burj Khalifa houses a variety of commercial, residential, and hospitality ventures. This skyscraper houses several offices, luxury hotels observation decks, restaurants and much more.
Its construction work started in 2004 and it took about six year to complete the project. This is equivalent to 22 million man-hours. Burj Khalifa was officially inaugurated on 4 January, 2010.
3. Who designed Burj Khalifa?
Burj Khalifa, World’s tallest skyscraper, was designed by an American architectural and engineering firm, “Skidmore, Owings & Merill (SOM)”.4. The tower's architecture is inspired by the Hymenocallis flower!
Adrian Smith was the architect for this skyscraper. The designers of Burj Khalifa took the inspiration from the Hymenocallis flower. This is a regional desert flower. It is common name is “spider lily”. It has six petals elegantly tapering outwards from the central core. The top view of Burj Khalifa shows exact tri-lobe shape of this flower. In addition, the central core provides the torsional resistance of the structure, just like an axle.
5. Amazing facts about the construction of Burj Khalifa!
For the construction of Burj Khalifa, more than 330,000 cubic meters of concrete was used. This concrete weighs equal to 100,000 elephants. Massive quantity, about 55,000 tons of rubber was used to reinforce steel bars. Moreover, these, vibration absorbing rubber bearings were installed so as to withstand the earthquake of magnitudes up to 7 on the Richter scale. Dubai temperatures can easily rise up to 40 degrees in daytime, with average humidity of just below 60%. Therefore, air condition system is not sufficient and especially for a glass skyscraper. Thus, designers have used especially hand-cut glass panels with two faces. Its external metal coating reflects ultraviolet rays. Furthermore, the inner silver coating reflects infrared rays, thus preventing the skyscraper from overheating.- Another of interesting facts about Burj Khalifa! There are about 26,000 hand-cut glass panels in the exterior of Burj Khalifa. Interestingly, it takes three months to clean the windows from top to bottom.
- The gigantic project also used Aluminum that weighs as much as 5 Airbus A380 airliners.
- It has specially designed elevator system for emergency evacuation in case of natural disaster, fire and terrorist attack. There are 57 elevators and eight escalators in the building.
- During peak construction time, more than 12,000 construction workers worked on the site.
- Despite the horrendous working conditions for laborers, fortunately, there were just a few deaths. As per some reports, just 4-5 deaths were reported. However, it is possible that the number is high.
6. Aside from world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa holds six more world records!
Burj Khalifa holds six more world records for:- World’s tallest freestanding structure
- Building for highest number of stories
- Building with the highest occupied floor in the world
- Highest outdoor observation deck in the world
- World’s tallest service elevator in the world
- Having the elevator with longest travel distance
7. Fun fact –annually 15 million gallons of water are collected sustainably!
The designers of Burj Khalifa were careful about its sustainability and reuse of resources. You will be amazed to know that about 15 million gallons of water are collected sustainably per year. The water supplies Dubai Fountain as well as used for irrigation and cooling purpose.
8. It has the tallest and longest single running elevator!
The tower has longest single running elevator and it’s among the fastest elevators in the world. having a speed of 10 meters per second, the elevator takes only one minute to reach the observation deck on the 124th floor.9. The spectacular view of Dubai fountain – world’s largest dancing fountain system!
The Burj Khalifa is surrounded by the huge Dubai Fountain. The fountain is as big as two football pitches. Moreover, the same company designed its popular sound and light show who created the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel Lake in Las Vegas. Dubai fountain is the world’s largest dancing fountain system!10. World’s highest observation deck is literally “at top of sky”!
Burj Khalifa has the world’s highest observation deck at 555m height above ground. And it’s on 148th floor of Burj. From here, tourists have an incredible and epic skyline view.11. A treat for art lovers!
Burj Khalifa has amazing art collection. There are more than 1000 unique and priceless art pieces from world’s most renowned artists, particularly the Middle Eastern artists. Two most renowned art pieces are the sculpture by Egyptian born artist Karim Rashid and the ‘World Voices’ installation by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa.12. It has world’s highest restaurant!
you can enjoy luxurious food at world’s heights restaurant, at the height of 441 meters, at 122 floor of Burj Khalifa. Delicious food with and amazing skyline view is definitely a great combo.13. Tom Cruise performed daredevil action stunts in his movie “mission impossible – Ghost protocol”!
Tom Cruise climbed Burj Khalifa for a height of 1,700 feet in the air. He performed the role of Ethan Hunt in action packed movie, “mission impossible – Ghost protocol”.
14. Alain Robert – the French Spiderman who climbed burj Khalifa!
French born Alain Robert is known for scaling skyscrapers and popular as “French Spiderman”. On march 28, 2011, he climbed the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa. Pf course, he used the harness and followed all safety protocols. He completed the climb in six long hours. Also Read: Interesting facts about Eiffel Tower15. You can advertise / announce big news on burj Khalifa!
The lights and firework show are a spectacular view. burj Khalifa lights up at different occasions, such as new years eve and other specula occasions. In addition to this, you can advertise or share some big news on burj Khalifa. The marketing agency that manages the lighting displays at the Burj Khalifa offers a three minutes display, for which it charges AED 250,000.16. A YouTube influencer family used burj Khalifa for the world’s biggest gender reveal!
On 8th September 2020, a YouTube influencer family “Anasala family” revealed their baby’s gender on Burj Khalifa. In the video, Burj Khalifa lights up with animated pink and blue designs before counting down from ten. In the end, the tower lights up bright blue, displaying the words, “It's a boy!” and “Congratulations Anasala family”. This unique and extravagant gender reveal went viral and gained more than 16 million views.