48 amazing facts about the Burj Khalifa | the definitive list (2023)

dubaiin the United Arab Emirates is home totallest building in the world. Rising above all othersskyscraper Nodubai city, the Burj Khalifa is an impressive sight to say the least.

It currently holds the world record for being the tallest building in the world since its inauguration in 2010.

In this post, you will discover theUltimate Burj Khalifa Facts List, the tallest skyscraper in the world.

1. How tall is the Burj Khalifa?

The construction of the Burj Khalifa began in 2004 and took more than 6 years to complete.

The main structure, made of reinforced concrete, was completed in 2009. The official opening of the Burj Khalifa took place in April 2010.

There are a total of 154 floors, excluding 9 floors reserved for maintenance. So the total floor count is actually 163.

Although the structure is 828 meters (2,717 feet) tall (829.8 meters or 2,722 feet including the spike), the top floor stands at an elevation of 584.5 meters (1,918 feet).

However, the top floor is not open to the public, and the observation deck that tourists can visit is at a height of 555.7 meters (1,823 feet).

2. The Burj Khalifa is unlike any other building in the world

Until now, the Burj Khalifa has not been compared to any other building in the world. It holds the record for the tallest free-standing building in the world and surpasses the second tallest building, theshanghai tower, at an impressive 196 meters (644 feet).

To put that in perspective, it's more than twice theTorre EiffelIt's inEmpire State building. You would also need 16.5Arch of Triumphbuild a structure as tall as the Burj Khalifa.

An interesting fact about the Burj Khalifa: it is also exactly twice the height of the second and third tallest buildings in Dubai, Marina 101 (completed in 2017) and Princess Tower (completed in 2015).

3. How did Burj Khalifa get its name?

Burj is the Arabic word for tower, so the building's name is simply "Khalif's Tower."

But did you know that the original name of the building was actually "Burj Dubai", which at the time would have meant "The Tower of Dubai"?

Apparently the original Emaar developers assigned to the project ran into some financial trouble. So much so that they needed the help of “Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan”, who is still the president of the United Arab Emirates today (and has been since 2004).

As a sign of respect, they allowed Burj Dubai to be renamed Burj Khalifa.

4. Why was the Burj Khalifa built?

The Burj Khalifa is located in the downtown area of ​​Dubai. This consists of several large-scale and mixed-use structures and houses several popular landmarks in the city of Dubai.

This area was created by the government of the United Arab Emirates to give international recognition to Dubai.

It is also an effort to diversify from an oil-based economy to one capable of attracting tourists and shoppers from around the world.

The center of Dubai occupies an area of ​​about 2 square kilometers and the estimated cost so far exceeds 20,000 million dollars.

The Burj Khalifa is the masterpiece of this whole project.

5. Who designed the Burj Khalifa?

The design was done by Adrian Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. This is a Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm that was founded in 1936. They currently have offices all over the world, including one in Dubai.

The interesting thing is that this company also designed the “Torre Willisin Chicago and not“A world trade center”theyNY.

It is fair to say that it is one of the most important architecture studios in the world. They have been involved in thousands of projects in more than 50 countries around the world.

6. Who built the Burj Khalifa?

The construction was carried out by companies from South Korea (Samsung C&T), Belgium (BESIX) and the United Arab Emirates (Arabtec).

UK-based Hyder Consulting was the engineer of record. This means that this company was co-responsible for the result of the construction, as established by law in the United Arab Emirates.

The main contractor, South Korea's Samsung C&T, was also involved in the construction of two other famous buildings. One of them is the world famous.Petronas Twin Towersin Kuala Lumpur, and the other is theTaipei 101building.

An interesting fact about the Burj Khalifa: The contractor responsible for building the Burj Khalifa also built Taipei 101, which was the tallest building from 2004 until the Burj Khalifa opened in 2010. They basically broke their own record.

One thing is for sure: anyone with a fear of heights should not get involved in the construction of the Burj Khalifa!

7. Not the highest observation deck

If you are not afraid of heights, you can visit the Burj Khalifa Observation Deck for incredible views.

When the Burj Khalifa opened in 2010, the observation deck, aptly named "on top," opened on the 124th floor. It was located at an altitude of 452 m (1,483 ft), making it the highest highest observation deck in the world.

That was short-lived, because in December 2011 it was surpassed by an observation platform called "Cloud Top 488" (488m or 1,601ft) in theCanton Tower in Guangzhou, Porcelain.

In October 2014, the Burj Khalifa opened the 148th floor SKY level at 555 m (1,821 ft). This allowed it to regain the title of the highest observation deck in the world.

Without effect…

The current highest observation deck is at the Shanghai Tower, at an elevation of 561 meters (1,840 feet).

Anyway, the views you get from the Burj Khalifa observation deck are just amazing!

More interesting facts about the Burj Khalifa

8. The Burj Khalifa is often used for spectacular fireworks displays. This also happened during the opening in 2010 and more recently during theNew Yearcelebration 2020.

9. The attempt to turn downtown Dubai into an internationally recognized tourist attraction seems to have worked. Malls, condominiums and hotels built around the landmarks located in downtown Dubai have generated huge profits.

10. The Burj Khalifa holds the record for the tallest structure ever built. The previous record holder was held by the Warsaw radio mast, which was 646.38 meters (2,120.7 ft) high. We say "was" because this structure collapsed in August 1991.

11. Unsurprisingly, the Burj Khalifa is also the tallest building in the world. It contains 163 floors in total.

12. The design is based on Islamic architecture. A smaller-scale building that reflects this type of design is theGreat Mosque of Samarra, a 9th century mosque located in Iraq.

13. The Burj Khalifa not only has the highest elevator installation, but also the longest-travel-distance elevators, carrying you up to 504 meters (1,654 feet) in the air. The elevator does this at a breakneck speed of 60 kilometers per hour!

14. The construction of the Burj Khalifa was a huge undertaking. Around 12,000 workers, from simple masons to engineers, worked on the site every day.

15. It is estimated that all workers logged a total of 22 million hours in total. Unfortunately, most of the workers came from South Asia and earned very little. that sameresulted in riotswhich temporarily halted construction.

sixteen. Alain Robert, also known as the French Spider-Man, was the first person toSubir Burj Khalifa. It took him more than 6 hours to reach the top.

17. The highest base jump in the world can only be done from the tallest building in the world. And as you guessed it, it was done. French base jumpers Fred Fugen and Vince Reffet had the honor of being the first to jump from the top of the Burj Khalifa antenna on April 21, 2014. Check out the incredible images below:

18. The two Frenchmen were not the first to jump from the Burj Khalifa, two more attempts were made, but not from the top of the building. Both attempts were made from 650 meters (2,130 ft) and 672 meters (2,205 ft).

19. Dubai has lent a staggering $80 billion to finance projects in the city. During the financial crisis of 2007 to 2010, Dubai wasseverely beatenand many buildings became ghost towers when abandoned by failed contractors and developers.

20. Do you want to go out at night in Dubai? Then you can do it at the Burj Khalifa since it has the highest restaurant and nightclub in the world located on floors 122 and 144 respectively.

21. A building like this needs a lot of concrete. In total, more than 330,000 cubic meters of concrete were used for the construction of the Burj Khalifa. That is the weight of 100,000 elephants combined!

22. Surprisingly, there are 163 stories of the Burj Khalifa located above ground level, but only one story below ground level.

23. It can get very hot in Dubai. That is why the outer shell of the Burj Dubai is extremely important. It is made up of 26,000 glass panels cut by hand to ensure they can withstand sweltering temperatures.

24. Concrete is not the only material that has been widely used. The amount of aluminum used issupposedlythe equivalent of five A380 aircraft.

25. The tower itself cost $1 billion, while the entire project cost more than $1.5 billion.

26. The Burj Khalifa's air conditioning system is huge. It not only draws air from the upper floors (since it's cooler than the lower floors), but also uses a condensation collection system that irrigates the collected water to a nearby park. After all, Dubai is a pretty dry place.

27. There are a total of 24,348 windows in the Burj Khalifa, totaling 120,000 square meters (1,290,000 sq ft). That's a lot of windows to clean, don't you think? Under ideal conditions it would take a team 3-4 months to clean all this up!

28. Giorgio Armani has a hotel in Milan and also a hotel in the Burj Khalifa. It does not have a reception and it is not the highest hotel in the world, since it is located in the lowest part of the building.

29. Islamic architecture uses the model of the "spider lily", a desert flower often found in the United Arab Emirates. You can see their resemblance when you look at the Burj Khalifa from above.

30. United Arab Emirates is a Muslim country and therefore follows the Ramadan period. These rules are strictly enforced. So much so that for people living above the 80th floor, theRamadan period lasts 2 more minutesand for those who live above the 150th floor, it lasts up to 3 minutes longer. The reason? The sun can still be seen by people living higher up.

31. The total weight of the building is approximately 450 million kilograms. This is an approximate number and the base is built to support this amount of weight.

32. Do you want to have an apartment or an office in the Burj Khalifa? Better get some serious money together! Apartments in Armani residences sold for up to $37,500 per square foot and office space sold for more than $37,500 per square foot.

33. Due to the financial crisis, it took a long time for the sales of apartments and offices to take place. Of the tower's 900 apartments, 825 were still vacant the year the tower opened. Fortunately things improved in the following years and around 80% were sold by 2012.

34. If you are an art lover, you will love the Burj Khalifa. It houses more than 1,000 works of art, many of which were commissioned specifically for the building.

35. There are a total of 8 escalators inside the Burj Khalifa. But don't worry, the chances of you having to use them due to elevator malfunctions are slim as there are 57 of them.

36. Speaking of elevators, here's a fun fact about the Burj Khalifa. It has one of the fastest elevators in the world that moves at 10 meters per second. That means it takes just a minute to get from the ground floor to the observation deck on the 148th floor.

37. Have you ever wondered what the water is like around the Burj Khalifa? This is called the "Dubai Fountain", an artificial lake in the center of Dubai. It is illuminated by 6,600 lights and is capable of shooting water 500 feet (150 meters) into the air.

38. The Dubai Fountain is the highest performing fountain in the world at 270 m (900 ft) in length. It was created by "WET". This Los Angeles-based company also created the Lake Belaggio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States.

39. The Dubai Fountain is so large that you can sail around it in the traditional wooden boats called “Abra boats”. These are also the boats that are used to transport people across Dubai Creek.

40. In one of the "Mission Impossible" movies, Tom Cruise climbed the Burj Khalifa. The film was released in 2011 and is called “Ghost Protocol.” It offers stunning views of the tower and Dubai.

41. A less favorable faith for the Burj Khalifa occurred in the movie Independence Day: Resurgence, in which aliens dropped it on London along with several other structures.

42. If you put all the pieces of the Burj Khalifa together, you could come up with a quarter of the earth.

43.We would assume that the price of real estate increases as you go. One of the reasons is that on the lower floors the temperature can be 15 degrees higher than on the upper floors.

44. The top of the Burj Khalifa is made of more than 4,000 tons of steel and can be seen from more than 60 miles (95 kilometers) away on clear days.

45. If you want to learn all about the engineering side of the Burj Khalifa's construction, then there's good news. He has appeared in a few documentaries that deal with this topic, such as Big, Bigger, Biggest, and Mega Builders.

46. The creators of the Burj Khalifa were serious about their ambition to create the tallest structure in the world. Until 2010, the year the tower opened, no one knew for sure how tall the building would be.

47. Believe it or not, the Burj Khalifa will soon lose its record as the tallest building in the world. Currently, the construction of theYeda Tower", formerly known as "Kingdom Tower" is in progress (but currently on hiatus). This will be the first building to be over 1 kilometer (!) (3,281 feet) tall.

This tower will be located on the north side of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is not known exactly when the construction will be completed, but it is estimated to be around 2022. Until then, the Burj Khalifa will remain the tallest building in the world.

48. We can only hope that the Jeddah Tower will have the same spectacular opening ceremony that the Burj Khalifa had. In addition to 10,000 fireworks launched from the sides of the building, there are 868 strobe lights built into the façade and spire of the tower to create an incredible light show.