Burj Khalifa or "Khalifa Tower" (Arabic: برج خليفة) is a very tall (160 stories high) skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Before the building opened it was called Burj Dubai. Construction started in 2004. The building was opened on 4 January 2010 and is the tallest structure made by humans in the world. It is more than 300 meters taller than Taipei 101, the previously tallest building. Adrian Smith designed the tower. He worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) until 2006. It was built by Samsung Engineering & Construction, Besix, and Arabtec. US $1.5 billion was spent on the tower . The building is part of a 2km building project on Sheikh Zayed Road, Downtown Burj Khalifa near Dubai's main business district.
The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea, who also built the Taipei 101 and Petronas Twin Towers. sub-contractors, who helped out with the building and planning, included Belgian group Besix and Arabtec from the UAE.
The Turner Construction Company was chosen as the construction project manager.
The design architect, Adrian Smith, felt that the upper section of the building did not look nice and elegant, so he ordered that another 27 new flooring tiers and a aluminium spire were to be added on top of the planned building work.
Burj Khalifa has pressurized, air-conditioned refuge floors are located approximately every 35 floors in case of an emergency or fire.50 m (164 ft) deep.
A special mix of concrete are made to because of the high pressures of the massive building weight and the hot local climate. Persian Gulf temperatures that can reach 50C. Any significant cracks could have put the entire project at risk.
The unique design and engineering challenges of building Burj Khalifa have been featured in a number of television documentaries, including the Big, Bigger, Biggest series on the National Geographic and Five channels, and the Mega Builders series on the Discovery Channel.
Though unconfirmed, Burj Khalifa has been rumoured to have undergone several other planned height increases since its inception. The TV/radio communications mast was later added to the tower's plans in 2007, after building work had begun in 2006.
The design of Burj Khalifa is taken from those used in Islamic architecture.
The most important building materiel of Burj Khalifa is reinforced concrete. 192 pile 1.5 metre diameter by 43 metre long coulombs were driven in to the ground as part of the 50ft deep foundations. Burj Khalifa also used 55,000 tonnes of steel rebar in it‘s construction and it took 22 million man-hours to biuld. A high density, low permeability concrete was used in the foundations of Burj Khalifa. A cathodic protection system under the mat is used to minimize any detrimental effects from corrosive chemicals in local ground water.
Outside, and at a cost of Dh 800 million (US$217 million), a record-setting fountain system was designed by WET Design of California They also built and planned out the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel Lake in Las Vegas. It Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 50 coloured projectors, it is 275ft long and shoots water 150ft into the air to the sounds of classical and modern Arabic and world music. On 26 October 2008 Emaar announced that based on results of a naming contest the fountain would be called the Dubai Fountain.
Emaar Properties said on 9 June 2008 that construction of Burj Khalifa was delayed by upgraded finishes by September 2009. An Emaar official said "The luxury finishes that were decided on in 2004, when the tower was initially planned out, are now being replaced by upgraded finishes. The design of the apartments has also been improved to make them both more pretty, attractive and functionally superior." The faults concerned the marble decorations, flooring, the top floors' sanitation system, broken glasswork and a poorly done wall mural of the Sultan of Oman. A new ending date of 2 December, 2009, was then set in place. However, Burj Khalifa was opened on 4 January 2010.
Burj Khalifa was built primarily by workers from South Asia. Press reports indicated in 2006 that skilled carpenters at the site earned UK£4.34 a day, and labourers earned UK£2.84. According to a BBC investigation and a Human Rights Watch report, the workers were housed in abysmal conditions, their pay was often withheld, their passports were confiscated by their employers, and they were working in hazardous conditions that resulted in an apparently high number of deaths and injuries on site. Firms not paying workers has been reported to the authorities on several occasions.
On 21 March 2006, about 2,500 workers, who were upset over buses that were delayed for the end of their shifts, protested, damaging cars, offices, computers, and construction equipment. A Dubai Interior Ministry official said the rioters caused almost UK£500,000 in damage. Most of the workers involved in the riot returned the following day but refused to work.
As of 17 June 2008, there were 7,500 skilled workers employed in the construction of Burj Khalifa.
To wash the 24,348 windows. Normally it will take 36 workers three to four months to clean the entire exterior.
Unmanned machines will clean the top 27 additional tiers, the glass and aluminium spire and the communications mast. The cleaning system was developed in Australia at a cost of A$8 million.
Officials said in March 2009 that the price to buy a office room 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). The completion of the tower happened during the worldwide economic slump causing it to be called "the latest ... in [a] string of monuments to architectural vacancy."
It is not only the tallest structure in the world, it has also done the following records-
Records | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Warsaw Radio Mast 646.38 m (2,120.67 ft) |
World's
tallest structure ever built 2008 – Present |
Incumbent |
Preceded by KVLY-TV mast 628.8 m (2,063 ft) |
World's
tallest structure 2008 – Present |
|
Preceded by CN Tower 553.33 m (1,815.39 ft) |
World's
tallest free-standing structure 2007 – Present |
|
Preceded by Taipei 101 509.2 m (1,670.6 ft) |
World's
tallest building 2009 – Present |
|
Preceded by Sears Tower 108 floors |
Building
with the most floors 2007 – Present |
Here is an animation of how it was biult.
Here is a map of it's location enGB358GB358&q=Burj Khalifa&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl.