Mary Josephine Fulay: Burj Khalifa

I think Dubai is one of the popular places that well known in architectures. And Burj Khalifa is one of the architectures that famous in Dubai. It was year 2011, I had a chance to see how beautiful Burj Khalifa is. And I was amazed! I think I was dreaming that time because I can’t believe that I’m in the front of the tallest building in the world.

Burj Khalifa (Arabic: برج خليفة‎, "Khalifa tower"), known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is the tallest man-made structure in the world, at 829.8 m (2,722 ft).

Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010, and is part of the new 2 km² (490-acre) development called Downtown Dubai at the 'First Interchange' along Sheikh Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district. The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill of Chicago, with Adrian Smith as chief architect, and Bill Baker as chief structural engineer. The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea.

History of Burj Khalifa

In March 2009, Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of the project's developer, Emaar Properties, said office space pricing at Burj Khalifa reached US$4,000 per sq ft (over US$43,000 per m²) and the Armani Residences, also in Burj Khalifa, sold for US$3,500 per sq ft (over US$37,500 per m²). He estimated the total cost for the project to be about US$1.5 billion.

The project's completion coincided with the global financial crisis of 2007–2012, and with vast overbuilding in the country; this led to high vacancies and foreclosures.With Dubai mired in debt from its huge ambitions, the government was forced to seek multibillion dollar bailouts from its oil-rich neighbor Abu Dhabi. Subsequently, in a surprise move at its opening ceremony, the tower was renamed Burj Khalifa, said to honour the UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his crucial support.

Burj Khalifa was designed to be the centerpiece of a large-scale, mixed-use development that would include 30,000 homes, nine hotels (including The Address Downtown Dubai), 3 hectares (7.4 acres) of parkland, at least 19 residential towers, the Dubai Mall, and the 12-hectare (30-acre) man-made Burj Khalifa Lake.

The building has returned the location of Earth's tallest freestanding structure to the Middle East, where the Great Pyramid of Gizaclaimed this achievement for almost four millennia before being surpassed in 1311 by Lincoln Cathedral in England.

The decision to build Burj Khalifa is reportedly based on the government's decision to diversify from an oil based economy to one that is service and tourism based. According to officials, it is necessary for projects like Burj Khalifa to be built in the city to garner more international recognition, and hence investment. "He (Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum) wanted to put Dubai on the map with something really sensational," said Jacqui Josephson, a tourism and VIP delegations executive at Nakheel Properties.

Architecture and design

The tower was designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, who also designed the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower) in Chicago and the new One World Trade Center in New York City. The Burj Khalifa uses the bundled tube design, invented by Fazlur Rahman Khan. Proportionally, the design uses half the amount of steel used in the construction of the Empire State Building thanks to the tubular system. Its design is reminiscent ofFrank Lloyd Wright's vision for The Illinois, a mile high skyscraper designed for Chicago. According to Marshall Strabala, an SOM architect who worked on the building's design team, Burj Khalifa was designed based on the 73 floor Tower Palace Three, an all residential building in Seoul. In its early planning, Burj Khalifa was intended to be entirely residential.

Subsequent to the original design by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Emaar Properties chose Hyder Consulting to be the supervising engineer with NORR Group Consultants International Limited chosen to supervise the architecture of the project. Hyder was selected for its expertise in structural and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) engineering. Hyder Consulting's role was to supervise construction, certify SOM's design, and be the engineer and architect of record to the UAE authorities. NORR's role was the supervision of all architectural components including on site supervision during construction and design of a 6-storey addition to the Office Annex Building for architectural documentation. NORR was also responsible for the architectural integration drawings for the Armani Hotel included in the Tower. Emaar Properties also engaged GHD, an international multidisciplinary consulting firm, to act as an independent verification and testing authority for concrete and steelwork.

The design of Burj Khalifa is derived from patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture. According to the structural engineer, Bill Baker of SOM, the building's design incorporates cultural and historical elements particular to the region such as the spiral minaret. The spiral minaret spirals and grows slender as it rises. The Y-shaped plan is ideal for residential and hotel usage, with the wings allowing maximum outward views and inward natural light. As the tower rises from the flat desert base, there are 27setbacks in a spiralling pattern, decreasing the cross section of the tower as it reaches toward the sky and creating convenient outdoor terraces. At the top, the central core emerges and is sculpted to form a finishing spire. At its tallest point, the tower sways a total of 1.5 m (4.9 ft).

To support the unprecedented height of the building, the engineers developed a new structural system called the buttressed core, which consists of a hexagonal core reinforced by three buttresses that form the ‘Y' shape. This structural system enables the building to support itself laterally and keeps it from twisting.

The spire of Burj Khalifa is composed of more than 4,000 tonnes (4,400 short tons; 3,900 long tons) of structural steel. The central pinnacle pipe weighing 350 tonnes (390 short tons; 340 long tons) was constructed from inside the building and jacked to its full height of over 200 m (660 ft) using a strand jack system. The spire also houses communications equipment.

In 2009, architects announced that more than 1,000 pieces of art would adorn the interiors of Burj Khalifa, while the residential lobby of Burj Khalifa would display the work of Jaume Plensa, featuring 196 bronze and brass alloy cymbals representing the 196 countries of the world. It was planned that the visitors in this lobby would be able to hear a distinct timbre as the cymbals, plated with 18-carat gold, are struck by dripping water, intended to mimic the sound of water falling on leaves.

The exterior cladding of Burj Khalifa consists of 142,000 m² (1,528,000 sq ft) of reflective glazing, and aluminium and textured stainless steel spandrel panels with vertical tubular fins. The cladding system is designed to withstand Dubai's extreme summer temperatures. Additionally, the exterior temperature at the top of the building is thought to be 6 °C (11 °F) cooler than at its base. Over 26,000 glass panels were used in the exterior cladding of Burj Khalifa. Over 300 cladding specialists from China were brought in for the cladding work on the tower.

A 304-room Armani Hotel, the first of four by Armani, occupies 15 of the lower 39 floors. The hotel was supposed to open on 18 March 2010, but after several delays, it finally opened to the public on 27 April 2010. The corporate suites and offices were also supposed to open from March onwards yet the hotel and observation deck remained the only parts of the building which were open in April 2010.

The sky lobbies on the 43rd and 76th floors house swimming pools. Floors through to 108 have 900 private residential apartments(which, according to the developer, sold out within eight hours of being on the market). An outdoor zero-entry swimming pool is located on the 76th floor of the tower. Corporate offices and suites fill most of the remaining floors, except for a 122nd, 123rd and 124th floor where the At.mosphere restaurant, sky lobby and an indoor and outdoor observation deck is located respectively. In January 2010, it was planned that Burj Khalifa would receive its first residents from February 2010.

Burj Khalifa can accommodate up to 35,000 people at any one time. A total of 57 elevators and 8 escalators are installed.The elevators have a capacity of 12 to 14 people per cabin, the fastest rising and descending at up to 10 m/s (33 ft/s) for double-deck elevators. However, the world's fastest single-deck elevator still belongs to Taipei 101 at 16.83 m/s (55.2 ft/s). Engineers had considered installing the world's first triple-deck elevators, but the final design calls for double-deck elevators. The double-deck elevators are equipped with entertainment features such as LCD displays to serve visitors during their travel to the observation deck.^[ The building has 2,909 stairs from the ground floor to the 160th floor.

The graphic design identity work for Burj Khalifa is the responsibility of Brash Brands, who are based in Dubai. Design of the global launch events, communications, and visitors centers for Burj Khalifa have also been created by Brash Brands as well as the roadshow exhibition for the Armani Residences, which are part of the Armani Hotel within Burj Khalifa, which toured Milan, London, Jeddah, Moscow and Delhi.

Burj Khalifa Construction Timeline

January 2004	Excavation started
February 2004	Piling started
March 2005	Superstructure started
June 2006	Level 50 reached
January 2007	Level 100 reached
March 2007	Level 110 reached
April 2007	Level 120 reached
May 2007	Level 130 reached
July 2007	Level 141 reached - world's tallest building
September 2007	Level 150 reached - world's tallest free-standing structure
April 2008	Level 160 reached - world's tallest man-made structure
January 2009	Completion of spire - Burj Khalifa tops out
September 2009	Exterior cladding competed
January 2010	Official launch ceremony

FACTS

• During the peak in the design of the tower, SOM’s Chicago office had a team of 100 employees working on the project, as well as others in Dubai.

• According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the tower is comprised of 330,000 cubic meters or 11.6 million cubic feet of concrete, which weighs as much as 100,000 elephants, to put it in perspective, as well as 39,000 tonnes or 86,000 pounds of steel rebar.

• It takes three months to clean the windows from top to bottom. While the cleaning carousels may be technologically advanced, the window washers still use a traditional squeegee with soapy water.

• The external surface of the tower is equivalent to the area of 17 football fields or 25 American football fields.

• The top of the tower sways an estimated 1.5 meters, or the height of the average person, and is visible from 95 km or 60 miles away.

At over 828 metres (2,716.5 feet) and more than 160 stories, Burj Khalifa holds the following records:

· Tallest building in the world

· Tallest free-standing structure in the world

· Highest number of stories in the world

· Highest occupied floor in the world

· Highest outdoor observation deck in the world

· Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world

· Tallest service elevator in the world

· Y. The Burj Khalifa's floor plan is a Y-shape so as to give a maximum view of the Arabian Gulf. These three elements are arranged to go around the central core of the structure. This design gives the structure a stable foundation along with twenty-six helical levels. The levels decrease in size, at different increments, as the structure continues to grow upward in height. The central core reaches the top and forms a sculpted spire.

· Burj Dubai. Prior to the inauguration of Burj Khalifa, it was known as Burj Dubai when the project began in 2004. On January 4, 2010 Burj Dubai was inaugurated and surprisingly was renamed after His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE.

· To keep up with the demand for hot water. 140,000 liters of water are used daily in the Burj Khalifa. Keeping up with the demand for water has pushed the need of solar panels for the purpose of heating the water. The energy that will be saved by the use of solar panels is equal to 690 megawatts per year.

TRIVIA

Tom Cruise climbs the 2,700-foot Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai in "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol."

· MI:4 director Brad Bird:-" We're a mile and a half above the earth. The tallest building on the planet. The Burj Khalifa in Dubai. And we're filming a scene where Tom Cruise is climbing on the outside of the building."