The most significant chapter in the Dubai story is the Burj. After writing on Dubai for so long I find a compulsion of saying a few words about this landmark. The few words are quite lengthy considering the subject is the tallest structure. This perhaps is the only claim that others will not be able to refute. The tallest man made structure of the world. Other claims about the largest Mall or the longest this or biggest that is subject which are regularly discussed and debated at the cocktail parties. But this one is a definitive statement and above everyone’s doubt! This was also a happy moment for thousands of professionals and skilled workers from around the world worked on this once-in-a-lifetime project. Unfortunately most of them were not present in Dubai at this time of ceremonial inauguration.
January 4, 2010 is the date that will make the residents of the emirate of Dubai proud for generations to come. The world's tallest tower, developed by Emaar Properties, was unveiled to a crowd of thousands on ground and millions around the world in a crescendo of fireworks, lasers and fountain displays that lit up the Dubai nightscape.
A secret that was so closely guarded for so many years was flashed onto a giant screen before an estimated crowd of about 400,000.
The Burj Dubai was unveiled as 'Burj Khalifa' named after the ruler of Abu Dhabi, who had just proved recently that a “friend in need is a friend indeed”. The official height of the tower was announced as 828 meters (2,716.5 ft).
Fireworks cascaded from the tower's spire to the base and lasers blazed out from all levels leaving the crowds awestruck.
The height was disclosed with a dramatic impact with the numbers being flashed onto the screen, one after another in an arithmetic progression. The tower's height broke all existing world records for tall buildings.
Some Facts about the Burj Khalifa:
The complex of apartments, offices, shops, restaurants, a mosque, gym, nightclub and Giorgio Armani-designed hotel, was designed to the brief that residents never need to leave and go somewhere else.
The hotel takes up the first eight floors with suites on the 38th and 39th. Residential apartments go up to the 108th floor – at about 1,300 feet.
The number of the higher floors – up to the 160th – have been designated as office space, while there is a restaurant on the 122nd floor and a gym, with an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, on the 123rd floor – about 1,440 feet off the ground.
The Burj Dubai is also intending to host the world's highest nightclub – on the 143rd floor.
This is the tallest building in the world according to the three main criteria of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). The CTBUH ranks the world’s tallest buildings based on ‘Height to Architectural Top,’ ‘Height to Highest Occupied Floor’ and ‘Height to Tip.’
At 828 meters (2,716.5ft), the Burj is 320 meters taller than Taipei 101, which at 508 meters (1,667 ft) had held the record for the world’s tallest building measured to the architectural top since 2004, the year the project was announced.
Burj achieved the distinction of being the world's tallest structure – surpassing the KVLY-TV mast (628.8 meters; 2,063 ft) in North Dakota, USA – 1,325 days after excavation work started in January 2004.
The tower also beats the 31-year-old record of CN Tower, which at 553.33 meters (1,815.5 ft) had been the world’s tallest free-standing structure on land since 1976.
Burj Khalifa employs a record-breaking 330,000 cubic meters of concrete, 39,000 metric tons of steel rebar and 142,000 square meters of glass; and it took 22 million man hours to build.
Other world records for Burj Khalifa include the highest occupied floor in the world, at over 550 meters (1,800 ft); the highest outdoor observation deck in the world – At the Top on Level 124; and the tallest service elevator, which travels to a height of 504 meters (1,654 ft).
More than 60 of the world’s leading consultants including South Korea’s Samsung Corporation and New York-based Turner Construction International realized the design for Burj Khalifa created by Chicago-based Architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM).
Here are some Photos from Inagural celebrations
A combination of dazzling fireworks, light beams, choreographed water displays, and sound & music effects will describe the evolution of the world’s most iconic new building in a breathtaking sensory journey.
In all, 868 high-powered ‘stroboscope’ lights will be integrated into the facade of Burj Dubai and the tower’s spire – and each stroboscope will be fired individually to create a series of hypnotic lighting sequences.
The entire display is controlled by a sophisticated arrangement of ultra high-tech IT systems, which choreograph at least 50 different sequences of lighting, fireworks, water and sound effects.
Event experts from France, Britain and the United States collaborated on the project, demonstrating the global spirit of teamwork which defines Burj Dubai itself.
This is a compilation of information circulated by Press and other forms of media
