The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has the task of determining the height of the buildings. According to the organization, a structure is considered a building if at least fifty percent of its height is habitable by man. Structures that do not meet the criteria are referred to as “towers”.
The tallest building
The Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates is the highest artificial structure in the world. The building was opened in January 9, 2010, and was known as Burj Dubai. It rises 2,722 feet above the ground and has retained the title of the tallest building in the world since 2008. In addition to being the tallest building, it is also the tallest self-supporting structure in the world that beats Tokyo Skytree at 2.080 feet. However, Tokyo Skytree boasts of being the tallest tower in the world, while the KVLY-TV tree is the tallest structure.
The Burj Khalifa was mainly constructed of steel and concrete. It was designed by the architectural firm of Chicago Owings, Skidmore and Merrill LLP, which is also credited for the design of the One World Trade Center and the Willis Tower. The South Korean company Samsung C&T was responsible for the engineering and construction of the company. The government built the building with the aim of stimulating tourism and diversifying the economy from the dominant oil industry. Burj Khalifa has about 30,000 residences, a thirty-acre artificial lake, a seven-acre car park, 19 residential towers, nine hotels and a shopping center.
Height increases
Since its inception, there have been several reports concerning plans to increase the height of the building. The architects who designed it claimed that it was designed to be 2.651 ft. It was developed as a virtual clone of the Grollo Tower in Australia, located at 1,837 ft. Adrian Smith, one of the architects, proposed that the top section was not elegantly aligned with the rest of the building and requested approval to increase its height. Your proposal has been approved and the height has been increased to the current height. The change in height did not increase the number of floors.
Development
The construction of the Burj Khalifa began in January 2004. At the beginning of October 2009, the exterior was complete. A 490-acre development project was officially opened in January 4, 2010, as part of Downtown Dubai. The opening of the building was delayed by the need to furnish it with luxury and luxury finishes. The design has also been improved and reshaped to make it more aesthetically appealing
Awards
The Burj Khalifa has received numerous awards, including:
- American Architecture Award from Chicago Athenaeum, 2011
- Project of the Year from the Middle East Economic Digest, 2011
- International Architecture Award, 2011
- Interior Architecture Award, 2012
- Design Excellence Award, 2012
- Design Excellence Award: special function room, 2012
Unique experiences
On March 28, 2011, Alain Robert climbed the building to the top in six hours. Although Roberts usually climbs without safety equipment, he was forced to use a rope and harness in accordance with UAE safety laws. The building was also used as a BASE jump site, both by authorized BASIC jumpers and unauthorized jumpers, in an attempt to break world records.
