Burj Khalifa is the world’s tallest building that shows the architectural excellence. Burj Khalifa is located on an artificial lake providing excellent views surrounding the lake. The tower showcases the modern engineering marvel. Burj Khalifa was initially named as Burj Dubai, but later it is named as Burj Khalifa to show respects to the Dubai ruler, Khalifa Bin Zayed. Burj Khalifa is taller than the Taipei 101 of Taiwan. The height of the Burj Khalifa is 828 meters and it has 162 storeys. The structure of the building is innovative, but expensive to maintain. The design ideas for the building are taken from conventional Islamic architecture.
The design idea of the base of the building is from the open petals of the desert flower. The height of the building raises questions about safety of the building during an explosion or natural calamities. According to the engineers of the building, the buttresses which are in the shape of ‘Y’ will provide structural support to the building. It has the capacity to withstand earthquakes with a maximum magnitude of 7.0 Richter scale. Burj Khalifa has the fastest elevators in the world. The building also consists of thirty eight smoke and fire resistant lifts for evacuation during emergency situation.
Burj Khalifa has an Armani-branded hotel with 160 rooms, offices on 49 floors and 1044 luxury apartments. The 124th floor of the building is the observation point from where the public can the watch the surrounding areas. Observation point is open to public for every 30 minutes. In front of the building you can see a fountain which has 6,600 lights and fifty color projectors. The water coming from this fountain will reach to a height of 250m. Burj Khalifa has park which spread in 27 acres of land. The Burj Khalifa Park has water jets, pools, beautiful gardens, and walkways.
Burj Khalifa was officially opened and inaugurated on 4th January 2010. Adrian Smith is the chief architect of this skyscraper and the developer is Emaar Properties. The foundation of the building composed of 192 steel and concrete pilings which are located 50 meters deep inside the ground. These piling are joined by a thick raft of 12 foot on which this building rests. The concrete used for the construction of the foundation is 45,000 cubic meters. There are 16,000 underground parking spots in the building.
The Armani hotel occupies fifteen out of the lower thirty nine floors. Swimming pools are on the 43rd and the 76th floors of the Burj Khalifa. Every 35 floors of the building have refuge floors which are air-conditioned in case of emergency. The residential apartments in Burj Khalifa spread through 19th floor to 108th floor. The highest floors of the tower have corporate suites which occupies thirty seven floors. Burj Khalifa offers various recreational facilities such as swimming pools, service residences, health club, wellness facility, residents lounge, and library. In Burj Khalifa, there are eight escalators and 57 elevators. The elevators are double-deck elevators with entertainment facilities like LCD displays.
