Fascinating facts about Burj Khalifa
When it comes to extreme megastructures, Dubai indisputably takes the lead. The city’s star-studded skyline features some of the best manmade structures in the world, but none of them comes even close to the glitz and grandeur of the iconic Burj Khalifa. While many people know about its amazing height, there are several interesting facts about Burj Khalifa, that will definitely make you want to check out the awesome attraction in Downtown Dubai.
Inaugurated in 2010, Burj Khalifa became the tallest building in Dubai and the tallest structure to grace the face of the earth. Standing at an astounding 828 m (2,716.5 ft.) height, the skyscraper is thrice as tall as the Eiffel Tower and twice the height of the Empire State Building! The world already knows about Burj Khalifa’s spectacular height! But did you know, laying each individual piece of Burj Khalifa end to end would stretch out more than a quarter way across the globe?
We bet you didn’t. And if you found this trivia fascinating, there is are a lot of other facts about Burj Khalifa that would surprise you!
FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE Tallest building in Dubai
It’s Not JUST the Tallest Building in the World
For nine years now, Burj Khalifa has reigned the charts of the tallest buildings in the world. We admit that it’s quite a feat, but it’s not the only record this gargantuan structure is breaking. The stunning skyscraper also holds the titles for:
- Being the tallest building in Dubai
- Being the tallest freestanding structure
- Having the largest occupied floor area
- Having the highest
- Outdoor observation deck
- Number of storeys (163)
- Housing the tallest service elevator and the elevator that travels the longest distance
- Being the building with the second highest swimming pool – on the 76th floor!
Burj Khalifa Didn’t Rise Alone
The spectacular Burj Khalifa may be the biggest, meanest player on the block, but it’s part of a much bigger plan. The tower was planned as the central attraction of what would soon become the iconic district of Downtown Dubai. Burj Khalifa construction began in 2004 and over the course of the next five years, the whole town came to life alongside it. In addition to the Burj Khalifa real estate, Downtown Dubai is home to the Old Town, Souk Al Bahar, The Dubai Mall and other notable attractions.
The Design Isn’t Just a Design
When you look at it from the top, the building resembles the letter ‘Y’. The shamrock-shaped footprint it is built on gives the Burj Khalifa a solid foundation as the cross sections rise from the ground and reduce in area as they go upward. Renowned architect Adrian Smith of Jin Mao Tower (Wuhan, China) fame, took design inspiration for the Burj Khalifa from the desert lily.
The Hymenocallis, desert or spider lily is a regional flower that grows in the local desert. The homage to the blooming spider lily silhouette is not just for aesthetic appeal, it was also seen as symbolic of the growth of the city as a whole, with the Burj Khalifa at the centre of the massive development. A beautiful flower blooming in the otherwise barren desert.
4. The Armani Hotel
Burj Khalifa is home to Armani Hotel – the first ever hotel designed by the maestro Giorgio Armani himself. The hotel is elegantly finished in muted grey tones and minimalist interiors that speaks volumes of Armani’s signature style. You may all know about the Armani Hotel, but here’s a fun fact for you – there is no reception or check-in desk in the hotel because Giorgio Armani wanted guests to experience what it’s like to enter his personal home.
Size Matters
- The building is gigantic. There is nothing small-scale about it. With 163 floors, it is only natural to have 54 working elevators travelling at a whopping 40 miles/hour to care of all that distance!
- This magnificent tower has three proper divisions that serve as distinct hotel, residential and office spaces. There are a total of 304 luxury hotel suites and 900 apartments in Burj Khalifa residence, providing elite accommodation to whoever seeks it.
- The tower’s curtain wall alone is the size of 17 football fields! Cleaning all those windows is an ordeal that takes 36 employees a minimum of 90 days to complete, working their way from the top to the bottom.
- The building uses approximately 250,000 gallons of water every day!
Awed by what you’ve learned so far? This is not the end of it. We’re only getting started with the fun part. These facts about Burj Khalifa get even more interesting now!
The Matters of Construction
- Megastructures like these need extreme amounts of raw materials too. The concrete alone used to construct Burj Khalifa weighs as much as 100,000 elephants. If you want to put that into perspective, an average elephant weighs somewhere around 5 tonnes – that means a whopping 500,000 tonnes of concrete that went into the making of the iconic Burj Khalifa!
- The construction of Burj Khalifa cost $1.5B altogether. The entire investment was then paid off within the first year of its inauguration.
- The construction site for this marvel was a spectacle on its own. It was dominated by the most ingenious machinery and equipment you can find in the world. The construction of Burj Khalifa also featured the world’s three largest self-jacking cranes with lifting capacities of 25 tonnes each.
- The structure took almost 6 years to complete. While its construction was in full swing, there were over 12,000 workers working on the project at any given time of the day.
With that, let’s move on to our last set of facts about Burj Khalifa.
The Amazing Burj Khalifa Itself
- Considering this mega skyscraper shoots more than 800 metres into the sky, there is a noticeable temperature difference between the ground and the top of the building. It is believed that the temperature at the pinnacle of Burj Khalifa is almost 6°C less than that at the base of it. So, if you have ground temperatures at 30°C, the temperature at the top would be around 24°C!
- Burj Khalifa may be an everyday sight for the people living in Downtown Dubai and nearby areas, but even the people living as far as 95 kilometres from the tower can clearly see the tip of the world’s tallest skyscraper.
- The Burj Khalifa is also home to the world’s tallest art gallery. It’s famous for displaying the commissioned works of more than 85 artists from across the globe.
The tower is a stunning spectacle of modern engineering and architectural genius. People from all across the world make sure they check Burj Khalifa off their list of places to see when they visit Dubai. Visiting Burj Khalifa still remains one of the top things to do in Downtown Dubai and for good reason. If nothing else, you can always enjoy a high-rise dining experience at one of the Burj Khalifa restaurants.
If you are keen on living close to the tallest building in Dubai, don’t forget to check out the properties for rent in Downtown Dubai and if you fancy investing in the location, there are plenty of apartments for sale in the district.
Which of these fascinating facts about Burj Khalifa did you enjoy most? Send us your feedback on social@bayut.com and stay tuned to Dubai’s best property blog, MyBayut for more such interesting trivia from around town.
do you think that there will be the next tall building than burj khalifa soon???????
Hi Veronica,
The Creek Tower will soon be the tallest building in Dubai, surpassing the Burj Khalifa by 100 metres. The tower is expected to be completed in 2021. You can learn more about it here: https://www.bayut.com/mybayut/dubai-creek-tower-vs-burj-khalifa/
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