Burj Dubai - The Tallest Building in the World

The Burj Dubai (Arabic: برج دبي for "Dubai Tower") is a supertall skyscraper currently under construction in the "New Downtown" of Dubai,United Arab Emirates. Projected to be completed and occupied in 2009, the building is part of a huge development located at the "First Interchange" (aka "Defense round-about") along Sheikh Zayed Road at Doha Street. On completion, it will likely be the tallest structure in the world of any kind by a wide margin.

The Burj Dubai under construction


Facts:

A subtle reference to the onion domes of Islamic architecture can be found in the building's silhouette when looking up at the lobes from near the base.

The tower will be situated on a man-made lake which is designed to wrap around the tower and to provide dramatic views of it.

Engineers working on the design considered installing triple-decker elevators, which would have been the first in the world. The realized building will use double-decker elevators.

The top of the building will contain a public observation deck and a private club above that.

Although the building's shape resembles the bundled tube concept of the Sears Tower, it is structurally very different and is technically not a tube structure.

The design by Skidmore Owings & Merrill replaces a plan to reuse the design for Grollo Tower, which was proposed in Melbourne a few years earlier.

Designed by Adrian D. Smith, FAIA, RIBA Design Partner at Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP.

"Burj" is Arabic for "Tower".

Burj Dubai will become the world's tallest building, along with the world's tallest man-made structure when it is completed.

The highest residential floor will be level 109.

An observation deck will occupy the 124th floor.

The building was rotated 120 degrees to allow for less stress from the prevailing winds.

The building sits on a concrete and steel podium with 192 piles descending to a depth of more than 50 metres (164 feet).

A total of 45,000 cubic metres of concrete are used in the foundations with a weight in excess of 110,000 tonnes.

The exterior cladding is of reflective glazing with aluminium and textured stainless steel spandrel panels with vertical tubular fins of stainless steel.

The cladding system is designed to withstand Dubai's extreme summer temperatures.

This is the first world's tallest building since prehistoric times to include residential space.

The official height has not been released, and remains secret. The total height of 808 meters is subject to change.