Burj Khalifa Story Series Part 4

The Ultimate Glory

The tower's telescopic spire rising upto 200 metres not only earns Burj Khalifa the glorious title of world's tallest building, but it also complements its iconic design.

The Lightning Magic

Reaching unbeatable heights of 800 metres, Burj Khalifa harnesses the powers of nature in the most magical form to stage a profound lightning show automatically earning it the title of the most conspicuous lightning conductor ever witnessed anywhere on the globe.

Memories to Ponder

Ten years ago, that's way back in 2007 (seems like yesterday though) approximately 1,325 days after excavation had began onsite, the structure became the tallest freestanding structure in the world-impressive!

Preventing Aircraft Collisions

Have you ever wondered how this structure is able to evade collisions with aircrafts? Read on to find out. The tower is equipped with high-intensity xenon white obstruction lights flashing upto 40 times per minute. The intensity of the flashing is constantly changing throughout the day as follows to contrast with different times of day for a sharp signal:

Day mode: 270,000 cd

Twilight mode: 20,000 cd

Night mode: 2,000 cd

The Exterior

For the successful installation of the exterior cladding of the Burj Khalifa, more than 380 highly skilled workers participated every single day during construction. The task kicked off in May 2007 and completed in September 2009. At their best, the team successfully installed upto 175 panels per day.

Earning a Mark

In 2010, The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) bestowed the global icon award on Burj Khalifa. The award is intended to be conferred on occasional basis and only when merited by an outstanding structure every 10 or 15 years.

Safety

The right precaution against any fire outbreaks is ensured via unique design and plan of Burj Khalifa's stairwells. This includes surrounding the stairwell with concrete, and pressurized, air-conditioned refuge areas nearly every 25 floors.

Gigantic Curtain Wall

The tower's curtain wall is equivalent to 17 soccer fields or 25 American football fields. Mindblown! Right?

Story Behind the Concrete

Did you know? The highest reinforced concrete core walls of Burj Khalifa were pumped at 80 MPa to a height of of 601 metres way back at the beginning of the construction in 2007.

Ambient Temperature

The temperature between Burj Khalifa's tip and ground floor is pretty captivating with the tip being 6 degrees cooler than the ground.

New Year's Eve Gala

On every New Year's Eve, Burj Khalifa hosts a spectacular light and fireworks show that not only brings downtown Dubai to a stand still, but the entire planet. The nights has over 1 million people in attendance and telecast live to over 2 billion people across the globe.

Too Much Steel?

The total weight of the aluminium used to build Burj Khalifa is equivalent to five A380 aircrafts. In addition to that, the total length of stainless steel bullnose fins is 293 times the height of Eiffel tower.

The Gigapan Picture

The greatest picture in our lifetime. Yeah, you got that one right! The 360 degree Gigapan picture of Dubai was taken from the tip of the tower's spire. This was in courtesy of the second edition of the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum photography award (HIPA)

Peak Cooling

During peak cooling hours, the tower requires about 10,000 tons of cooling that's equivalent to the cooling capacity of approximately 10,000 hours tons of melting ice.

The French SpiderMan

Burj Khalifa has earned many world records and this happened yet again with Alain Robert aka 'The French Spider Man' who scaled the tower in over 6 hrs in March 2011.

World Class Elevators & Escalators

The total amount of of Elevators at Burj Khalifa is 57 and 8 escalators, and among them is world's tallest service elevator. It has a capacity of 5.500 kg and the elevators to the observation decks move at a record breaking speed of upto 10m/s.

World's Highest Base Jump

In 2014, SKYDive Dubai sponsored Soul Flyers World Champions Fred Fugen and Vince Refet who took the maiden leap off Burj Khalifa. This claimed Burj Khalifa the coveted Guiness World Record title of “The Highest BASE Jump from the tallest building.

Mark of Honor

Outside the entrance of Burj Khalifa's corporate suites is a plaque of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Makhtoum to mark the launch of the iconic tower.

Lingua Franca

To bring Burj Khalifa to completion, one of the challenges the construction team faced was achieving perfect communication and harmony from the diverse, multilingual and multicultural task force.

Nature Inspiration

The design of the tower was inspired by spider lily or Hymenocallis flower. The flower is a noticeable part of the stunning landscaping around the tower.

The Concrete

If the construction used in Burj Khalifa was to be laid on a sidewalk, it would 1.283 miles long 🙂

Burj Khalifa/Eiffel Tower

This will make the Eiffel Tower seem so small. The height of Burj Khalifa from level 124 to the spire is actually more than the height of Eiffel tower, Paris

Casting Concrete Structure

To cast Burj Khalifa's concrete structure, a jump form was applied. At peak efficiency, the system could cast a storey every three days.

Luxury Interiors

The interiors of Burj Khalifa feature some of the world's most luxurious materials including:

Silver travertine flooring

Venetian stucco walls

Handmade rugs

Stone flooring