The record for the tallest building of the world was surpassed in March 1996 by the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, replacing the Sears Tower. The 88-story towers were raised to a height of 451.9 meters (1,482 feet 8 inches) by installing stainless steel pinnacles measuring 73.5 meters (241 feet). In 2003, Taipei 101, popularly called the Taipei Financial Centre of Taiwan, won the championship with a whopping 508 meters (1,666 feet). The construction of the Burj Khalifa started roughly a year later. It was to be a component of the planned Downtown Dubai, a brand-new showpiece project spanning 2 km (490 acres) at the ‘First Interchange,’ close to the UAE’s leading business center in Dubai.
Emaar Properties and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, an architectural firm led by well-known American architect Adrian Smith, constructed the imposing building. Attaining an incredible height of 828 meters (2,716 feet 6 inches) above the ground, this novel skyscraper would shortly be referred to as a “vertical city” and become a symbol of the contemporary era.
Designing and constructing the tallest building of the world:
At that time, the Burj was planned to be “just” 518 meters tall, or 10 meters higher than the Taipei, in response to questions from people worldwide about whether it was feasible to build a skyscraper so high. Throughout the design phase, it expanded by an astounding 310 meters, or about the height of the French Eiffel Tower. Construction got underway on September 21, 2004, and on October 1, 2009, the building’s exterior was finished. Taller buildings tend to have more consistent weather. However the Burj Khalifa, built in the neo-futurist style, was designed to reduce wind effects using a complex Y-shaped cross-section.
The Burj Khalifa is a massive undertaking that includes many people: approximately 12,000 workers from around the world contributed to its construction. Utilizing nearly 26,000 individually crafted glass panels, the building’s external coating serves as a residential property office and hotel space. Cleaning the structure from top to bottom takes roughly three months! Most of the wind is deflected away from the building by the separate stalks around the central spire. The chief structural engineer, Bill Baker describes it as ‘confusing the wind.’ The imposing structure became the tallest building of the world after its formal inauguration on January 4, 2010.
Smashing previous records:
The Burj stands at 828 meters (2,716 feet 6 inches), over twice as tall as the Empire State Building, and nearly three times larger than the Eiffel Tower. Guinness World Records recognized the Burj as the tallest building of the world while endorsing the original construction for several other remarkable feats. It has the highest elevator (504 m; 1,654 ft.), the greatest number of floors (163), and the highest restaurant from ground level (441.3 m; 1,447 ft 10 in.), among other notable features.
One of the Burj’s most striking features is the observatory deck, which stands at a height of 1,823 feet, 1.9 inches (555.7 meters). Before China’s Shanghai Tower, which is 2,073 feet tall (632 meters), which opened in 2015, this was the tallest building of the world, measuring 561.3 meters (1,841 feet). The most well-known site in Dubai put on a stunning display on New Year’s Eve 2015, with fireworks shooting from the top and all around the 828-meter (2,716-foot 6-inch) tower. Over 1.6 tonnes (3,527 lb) of fireworks were lit up in less than ten minutes, setting a new record for the most fireworks ever placed atop a structure. Numerous other record sets have taken place on the impressive tower, such as the Highest BASE leap from a skyscraper and the fastest time to ascend the Burj Khalifa on a bicycle (2 hours, 20 minutes, and 38 seconds).
Jeddah Tower
A competitor from the Middle East might soon surpass the Burj’s record, the tallest building of the world. Presently under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Jeddah Tower, initially referred to as the Kingdom Tower, is intended to reach a height of 1,000 meters (3,281 feet). It will rise 170 meters (550 feet) above the Burj Khalifa to become the first structure in the world to span one kilometer. Adrian Smith, the designer behind the Burj, is behind it. As of December 31, 2016, 38 levels had been finished, and level 49 is where the heart of the building, the stairwells, and the elevator shafts are located.
