Everything about Burj Khalifa: features, prices, tips. Dubai, Burj Khalifa: description, history and interesting facts How tall is the Burj Khalifa

Dubai is the most Big City in the United Arab Emirates. It attracts thousands of tourists, surprises with its rich cultural heritage, architectural landmarks. One of the last, and rather the main, is rightfully considered the Burj Khalifa tower - the tallest skyscraper in the world. It is built in a modern architectural style and attracts the attention of everyone who flies to Dubai on vacation or on a business visit.

The height of the Burj Khalifa tower is 828 meters. This is 300 meters more than the height of the building in the city of Taimpei, which is considered the main competitor of the Dubai Tower. So far, no building has been built in the world that could surpass the achieved milestone.

If you are wondering how many floors there are in the Burj Khalifa tower, then it includes 163 floors, which house 9 hotels. There is also a complex of fountains, like in Las Vegas. The total price of the high-rise is just over $4 billion.

The author of the high-rise project was a famous American architect. His name is Adrian Smith. Prior to this, he took part in the development of a high-rise building project in China, stretching upward to 420 meters. The Burj Khalifa tower itself in Dubai has become the heart of the city’s business center:

• on the first 37 floors there are hotels where anyone can rent apartments of the desired level of comfort;
• Floors 45-108 are occupied by 700 modern apartments, equipped in accordance with the most advanced technologies;
• the rest of the area is office space, because the building was built as a business center. But even this feature did not prevent it from becoming the main architectural landmark of the city and the UAE as a whole.

To find out what the view is from the Burj Khalifa tower, just go up to the observation deck At The Top SKY. It is located on the 148th floor, at an altitude of 555 m. The ascent is carried out using a modern high-speed elevator, it is considered one of the best in the world and will take you to your destination in just a few minutes. While on the observation deck, you will be able to:

• explore the entire area, because from here you have an excellent view of Dubai;
• organize relaxation in the lounge;
• visit the interactive room.

It is possible to go down to the observation decks located on the 124th and 125th floors. On average, you can stay at the observation decks for about an hour. This time is enough to look at the surrounding beauty from the heights of the tower. Tickets for the venues are sold on the first floor of the high-rise building.

Important! If you buy a regular ticket to visit the Burj Khalifa in the UAE, you can save a lot of money, but in this case you will have to wait in a fairly long line to visit the site. If you don’t want to waste valuable time, you can purchase a more expensive express ticket. It costs almost twice as much, but allows you to skip the line. You can purchase a pass to the observation deck, which is located on the 148th floor, at the same ticket office or on the 124th floor.

Design features of the high-rise

It is difficult to imagine how the largest building in the city and country, the Burj Khalifa tower, is held on the surface of the earth. But this moment was carefully calculated by the designers and architects. Especially for the construction of a high-rise building, a special grade of concrete was developed that can withstand temperatures up to +50. It is poured at night, and ice must be added to the solution itself. It was this technology that made it possible to build the skyscraper in question.

If we talk about the tower itself and its features, then there are 65 two-story lifts. Their total cost is $36 million. It should be noted that you can only go from the first to the top floor using the service elevator. Residents of the building have to move between its floors with transfers. This does not bring significant inconvenience, because the fastest elevators in the world are installed here. They reach speeds of up to 18 m/s.

A modern fire system allows for the fastest possible evacuation of everyone in the building, spending no more than half an hour. The high-rise is equipped with all technologies that ensure the safety of residents and guests.

Dubai is famous throughout the world for its unique structure, reminiscent of a real stalagmite. This is the Burj Khalifa skyscraper. The height of the building is simply amazing, it is 828 meters, and it consists of 163 floors. Climbing to its top, you can see any point of the Arab metropolis and delight the eyes of tourists who come here from all over the world.

History of construction

The architects developing the project for this structure planned from the very beginning that they would create it under the name “Burj Khalifa”. The height of this skyscraper and the number of its floors were kept in the strictest confidence until the very end of construction. According to the Sheikh of Dubai, this tower was supposed to become a symbol of a new, recently built area, and attract tourists from all over the planet.

Construction of this structure began in 2004. Every day, more than 12 thousand workers came to work to erect the building, who built two floors a week. The height of the Burj Khalifa tower is several hundred meters higher than many skyscrapers; the structure itself has no analogues in the whole world; an asymmetrical shape was invented for its construction. It is thanks to this idea of ​​the architects that this structure can withstand strong winds.

The United Arab Emirates is known for its high temperatures and scorching rays of the sun, so a special type concrete that can withstand heat up to +50 degrees Celsius. It’s also not hot inside the building, since it is completely glazed with unique materials that do not allow the sun’s rays to pass through and repel all dust. But despite this, the tower windows are washed every day. The skyscraper is even endowed with its own aroma, which is created by special membranes.

Construction ended in 2010, and the grand opening of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper took place. The height of this Arab landmark instantly made the building famous throughout the world. According to the Sheikh of Dubai, the tower received this name in honor of their president, the Khalifa.

Description

Many people say about this skyscraper that it is an independent city in the very center of the metropolis. It has its own electrical and air conditioning systems. Electricity is supplied to the building thanks to a large array of solar panels, and a comfortable temperature is maintained using sea ​​water and underground cooling modules. Therefore, the air inside this building will not warm up above +18 degrees Celsius, which is undoubtedly very important for the hot climate of the UAE.

Near the structure itself there is a beautiful, unique singing fountain, the creation of which cost approximately 217 million dollars. It can throw its jets to a height exceeding 150 meters.

What's inside?

The height of the Burj Khalifa building is quite impressive, so it could accommodate many hotels, offices, apartments and shopping centers. For them, the building has three separate entrances: one is intended for guests of hotel complexes, the other is for office employees, and the third is for residents of apartments.

From the 1st to the 39th floor there is a hotel in the skyscraper, where the interior was designed by the famous designer and fashion designer after whom it was named (Armani). For lovers of an active lifestyle, the building's designers built sports complexes with swimming pools located on the 43rd and 76th floors. And from 44th to 72nd and from 77th to 108th there are nine hundred luxury apartments. An Indian billionaire lives on the hundredth floor and bought it entirely as his own property.

Office premises are located from the 111th to 154th floors. The Atmosphere restaurant is located on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa, its height suggests that it is the highest restaurant in the world. The number of seats in it is designed for eighty people.

The observation deck is considered the most popular place in the Burj Khalifa tower (124th floor). Its height is 472 meters.

Excursion to the top

The panoramic platform called At the Top, which means “at the top,” was opened to its first guests back in 2008. Many tourists say that if they have not been to this observatory, they have not been to Dubai.

Many people come here to specially visit observation deck Burj Khalifa building. Photos from above are stunning: you can photograph an incomparable view or the desert of the Arabian Peninsula. It looks like they were made on board some kind of plane. There are also many telescopes located in this place; their power allows you to take a closer look at the entire metropolis. A bird's eye view offers beautiful panoramas of Sheikh Zayed Road and the entire surrounding area. Undoubtedly, visiting this observation deck, you will look at Dubai with completely different eyes.

The duration of this excursion is one hour, but this is enough to enjoy all the beautiful views and landscapes.

How to purchase a pass to the tower?

Tickets can be purchased at the skyscraper's box office located on the first level, but to do this you will have to stand in a long line. To avoid this, it is better to purchase them on the Burj Khalifa website. It is also possible to order them from travel agencies, but this will cost 25 dirhams more.

The cost of entry to the tower varies depending on the date of purchase of the ticket and age. Therefore, an express pass will cost AED 400 for both children and adults. Regular ticket prices range from 95 to 125 AED. It would also be appropriate to purchase a special telescope card worth 25 dirhams. If a whole group of friends or family is going on such an excursion, then one such card will be enough for them; there is no need to take it for each person.

Work on the original and complex project began in January 2004. The tower was designed by the American company Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. Samsung C&T was selected as the general contractor.

Already at the end of September 2004, construction began and proceeded at a very high pace. Within a week, 1-2 floors were erected. The spire, which is 180 meters high, is made using metal structures.

This is a unique structure that has made Dubai famous throughout the world. Burj Khalifa was built using certain grades of concrete that can withstand temperatures of up to 50 degrees. Such concrete was laid only at night, and ice was added to the composition. In total, about 320,000 m3 of this composition were used, and more than 60,000 tons of steel reinforcement.

The construction of the Burj Khalifa (Dubai) cost a huge amount. The UAE spent $1.6 billion on the construction. It should be noted that this amount paid off already in the first year after the start of operation, thanks to the popularity of the building. After all, not everyone, even the most influential and wealthy people in the world, was able to purchase apartments here. The price of one square meter reached 40 thousand dollars, and they were sold out even before construction was completed.

Design Features

The Burj Khalifa, which you see in this article, is equipped with a turbine that is rotated by the wind and generates autonomous electricity, and a special fire safety system allows the occupants of the tower to be evacuated if necessary in 32 minutes.

There are 57 elevators in the building. They move at a speed of 10 m/s. During construction, the climatic features of the UAE were taken into account. To reduce the risk of the structure swaying in the wind, it was given an asymmetrical shape. All guests who come to Dubai are amazed by the Burj Khalifa. On a tour of the skyscraper, tourists are told that special glass was used for the construction, which does not allow dust to pass through and completely reflects the rays of the sun.

Special membranes are installed in the floor, which aromatize and cool the air in the room. All this maintains a comfortable temperature, despite the unbearable heat outside.

Dubai, Burj Khalifa: description

We have already said that the skyscraper in the UAE is currently the tallest on Earth. in Dubai is 828 meters. This is a large-scale and innovative structure. It seems to pierce the sky and rush upward. For comparison, we can say that the famous London Big Ben is seven times lower than the Arab Tower.

Infrastructure

The vast territory houses a luxury hotel with 300 rooms, offices, 700 VIP-class apartments, a restaurant, parking for three thousand cars, shops of famous brands, gyms, swimming pools, spa centers, Jacuzzis, observation decks and even its own park, the size of 11 hectares. As you can see, this is a truly unique building, Burj Khalifa (Dubai). How many floors does it have? This question is probably of interest to many of our readers. The building has 160 floors.

The skyscraper has an asymmetrical shape, reminiscent of a stalagmite, which seems to grow from the bottom of a cave. Another feature of the unique building is that its foundation is not fixed in the ground as usual. It consists of 200 hanging piles, the length of which is 45 meters with a diameter of 1.5 meters.

Air and temperature

The air in the famous tower is not only fully air-conditioned, but also has its own scent, developed specifically for this building. It is fed into the tower through certain holes in the floor. The temperature in the building is maintained at + 18 °C.

Maintaining a stable temperature is achieved by using tinted thermal glass. It will take at least three months to clean all the glass in the building.

Electricity and water supply

How such a huge building is provided with water and electricity is of interest to many tourists who come to Dubai. Burj Khalifa has an autonomous power supply system. It consists of wind generators with turbines 60 meters long and huge solar panels. Their area is 15 thousand square meters. m.

The water supply system supplies the tower with approximately 945,000 liters of water daily through dedicated pipelines. Their length is 100 km. In addition, there is a special pipeline. Its length is 213 kilometers. Another 34 kilometers of pipes supply cold water for air conditioning.

Observation deck

The main panoramic platform is At the Top, which is located at 124,451.9 m). We recommend visiting it to everyone who happens to visit Dubai.

Excursions

You can visit the observation deck either independently, by purchasing a ticket at the ticket office located on the ground floor of the building, or as part of an excursion group. Before your visit, you can put things you don't need in storage rooms. Then be sure to go through a metal detector.

Here on the walls there is various information about the structure and popular quotes related to it. At the appointed time you will be shown to the elevators, but before that you will be photographed. In addition, on the way to the elevator you will see pictures and information about the tallest building in the world, the history of its creation, and the companies that took part in the construction. Access to the elevators, which are designed to transport tourists, is allowed in small groups. During the ascent there is a beautiful light show, accompanied by epic music. The rise takes only one minute.

And now you find yourself on the 124th floor of the building. From here you have a 360 degree view. Half of the site is located under open air, its second part is located indoors. Tourists who have already climbed to the observation deck believe that it should be visited at least 4 times: at dawn, during the day, at sunset and at night.

You are allowed 45 minutes to visit the site, but no one really keeps track of time, so you can stay there as long as you need to enjoy the magnificent scenery. A visit in the late evening or at night is attractive because you can see the musical fountains of Dubai from a great height. There is also a souvenir shop with T-shirts, cups and other paraphernalia. You can also take a photo and receive a photo. When you think you have seen everything you planned, go to the exit, and in a minute you will return from heaven to earth. Before leaving, a pretty girl will approach you and present you with an album with your photo against the backdrop of the picturesque Burj Khalifa.

is a famous skyscraper over 800 meters high, built in Dubai in 2010. According to experts, this stalagmite-like tower is currently the tallest in the world.

Khalifa Tower is one of the most famous landmarks of the city, always popular with tourists from all over the world. This is truly a building masterpiece, demonstrating the power and wealth of the Emirates.

How was the Tower built?

The cost of this skyscraper is a total of $1.5 billion. This is a truly unique building, representing a real autonomous city in a metropolis. Burj Khalifa even has its own streets and parks with evenly trimmed lawns

The project was developed under the leadership of the world-famous US architect Adrian Smith, who has extensive practical experience in creating this type of high-rise buildings.

And the general contractor of the construction was the well-known Samsung from South Korea, who also participated in the construction of a number of famous skyscrapers in the USA, China and other countries.

Interestingly, the Burj Khalifa was built from the very beginning with the intention of making it the tallest in the world. Therefore, its final height was kept secret until the end, so that someone would not find out and build an even taller building.

In addition, in preparation for the construction of the Tower, a special concrete was invented that can withstand a constant ambient temperature of more than +50 C, and the concrete mixture was poured using ice.

During the entire construction process, public interest in this unique building was extremely high and gave rise to a lot of rumors and newspaper rumors. In addition, it is known that the builders were paid very little, which is why they periodically rebelled.

What's inside?

Today, the Khalifa Tower is the most important element of the business part of the city. Inside it there are offices and offices, hotels and restaurants, apartments and apartments, shops and boutiques, as well as swimming pools, gyms, Jacuzzis, etc.

The skyscraper even has its own atmosphere inside. Through grates in the floor, purified, cooled and aromatized air enters the rooms. The fragrance was also created by perfumers specifically for this Tower.

The skyscraper is glazed with energy-saving glass that does not let the sun's rays in, reflecting them. This allows you to maintain the coolness inside the building, which people in this hot country so desperately need. Glasses are washed every day.

There are more than five dozen elevators in the Khalifa Tower. Moreover, people living or working here have to take elevators with transfers, the architecture of the entire building is so complex.

Next to the skyscraper on the street there is a huge pond with a beautifully illuminated musical fountain, the height of which reaches 150 m. The fountain works to Arabic national music, as well as world modern and classical hits.

It is known that it rarely rains in the Emirates; a small amount of precipitation falls only in winter. Therefore, the Burj Khalifa has a system for collecting not rainwater, but condensate that falls onto the surface of the building from the air.

This condensate is sent through the plumbing system to a special tank in the basement and is subsequently used inside the building for watering flowers and other plantings throughout the complex.

The Tower has the most floors in the world - 163. Previously, the record for the number of floors belonged to the New York Twin Towers, notorious for the fact that they were completely destroyed as a result of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2000.

Inside the skyscraper, on the 122nd floor, there is the famous Atmosphere restaurant. It operates above all the restaurants in the world. And on the 148th floor there is Observation deck, which is also the highest in the world, with a height of more than 500 m.

Excursions to the Khalifa Tower

Tourists love to visit this unique skyscraper and not only for excursion purposes. Here you can stay in one of the hotels and have a great time of relaxation, traveling through the floors and visiting local restaurants, saunas, places of entertainment, etc., although this pleasure is not cheap.

Humanity has long wanted to climb to heaven, and the sad fate of the builders of the Tower of Babel does not in the least cool the ardor of their followers. From the moment when the construction of skyscrapers became technically possible, different countries and cities periodically compete to determine whose building is the highest. For 5 years now (since 2010), the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai has held the record: a 164-story building with a height of 828 meters is a difficult example to reproduce.

Grand construction

However, the builders did not meet the deadline, and the solemn event had to be postponed to January 4 next year. Initially, the Burj Khalifa tower was simply called “Dubai”, but during the opening process, the Prime Minister of the UAE announced that he was dedicating it to the president, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and gave it the name by which it is known today.

During the construction process, the final height of the building was kept secret. The project, developed by the American architect E. Smith, made it possible to vary the height of the spire, so the creators took virtually no risks: if a competitor appeared, the Burj Khalifa tower would simply “grow” by several meters.

Expensive pleasure

The grandiose construction cost one and a half billion US dollars - but this amount, apparently, could have been much larger if the developers had paid humanely for labor and ensured the safety of workers (brought mainly from South Asia).

The Western press periodically made a fuss: in 2006, the British Guardian published that workers were earning up to 3 pounds a day (you can imagine the horror this inspired in the British), and the BBC reported on the terrible conditions in which people involved in construction had to live .

On the Internet you can find many articles about the ugly truth that the Burj Khalifa tower hid behind its sparkling facade. The country and city in which the construction took place do not look very attractive in them.

Little has changed since the construction of the pyramids...

There is evidence that workers worked 12 hours a day and earned about $200 a month (for comparison, the average income of the UAE population is more than $2,000). Moreover, this money was not paid on time, passports were taken away, and in response to outrage they only threatened with deportation. Despite this, workers went on strike and even rioted during almost the entire construction period: in March 2006, the damage caused by the rioters was estimated at half a million pounds sterling.

According to HRW (Human Rights Watch), lack of safety precautions has led to numerous accidents, but only one fatal incident involving the Burj Khalifa has been officially confirmed: the country and city that is home to the giant structure have only shrugged it off from accusations, without trying to pay attention to these annoying details. The result was above all, and the end justified the means.

Sweet fruits of bitter labors

It must be said that the civilized world, “terribly worried” about the moral side of the specific Dubai business, demonstrated its true attitude to what was happening by voting, as they say, with its dollar. A year later, the Burj Khalifa tower paid off with interest - even during the construction of the building, its area was already purchased at a price of 40 thousand dollars per square meter.

The Armani company has made an impressive investment: it owns 37 floors, from the first to the thirty-ninth (excluding two technical floors, the 17th and 18th). There is a hotel named after the famous fashion house (the master himself, Giorgio Armani, had a hand in the design of the rooms) and the company’s offices.

Almost all the upper floors, starting from the 111th, are also given over to businessmen, and a little lower there are apartments that only millionaires can afford. It is known that one floor was completely purchased by the Indian moneybag Shetty.

Each group of premises (apartments, offices and hotel) has a separate entrance. It's funny that the first and last floors are connected by only one elevator, and that is a service one. So if you intend to get to the very top, you will have to make transfers. There are a lot of people interested: one of the two observation platforms is the highest in the world, and the view from it offers a magnificent view. Thanks to this fact, tourists liked the Burj Khalifa tower: the city of Dubai, spread out below, is a beautiful sight. You can spend at least the whole day on the site, there is no time limit. But getting there is problematic, and experienced travelers are advised to worry about tickets in advance.

Tower specifics

The situation with elevators is determined by the configuration of the building: resembling a stalactite in shape, it tapers stepwise upward and ends with a 180-meter spire. During construction, of course, the climate of the place where the Burj Khalifa tower is located was taken into account: the local heat made life very difficult for the workers. For the construction of the structure, special concrete was used that can withstand heating up to 50 degrees. Moreover, when pouring into the solution, it was necessary to add crushed ice and work exclusively at night, otherwise the strength of the finished product would be very far from optimal.

An interesting solution was also found regarding water supply. Collecting rainwater and then using it for various needs is not a new idea; it has been used for a long time. The only problem was that in the country where the Burj Khalifa is located, there is practically no precipitation. But (apparently, the designers decided) there will be a huge amount of condensate: the air cooling system “squeezes” water out of the premises, which means it can be collected and thus save a valuable resource. The idea was very successfully brought to life. Now, due to such savings, it is possible to collect about 40 million liters of water per year.

Air conditioners not only cool, but also scent the air in the building (the scent is specially designed). But it would be difficult for them to cope if the special windows did not reflect. They are equal to three in area and are washed constantly: it takes three months to clean everything, and then the work starts all over again.

The shine and poverty of the UAE

The conditions in which the Burj Khalifa tower appeared are curious and indicative. The country called the United Arab Emirates is one of the richest in the world. The fabulous fortunes of local sheikhs have long become the talk of the town, and this building can be considered a kind of symbol of the power of money.

The city of Dubai is the capital of the emirate of the same name (a state within a state) - the largest in the UAE and, perhaps, the most dynamically developing. It is already one of the three in the region (not least thanks to the ultra-modern seaport) and is not going to stop there, striving to conquer more and more heights.

For all its splendor, Dubai (where the Burj Khalifa tower rises) is not the capital of the country, losing this honor to Abu Dhabi, the main city of the emirate of the same name, the largest and richest of all. According to some sources, it provides about 70% of the GDP of the entire state as a whole.

Federal monarchy

It must be said that to understand the structure of the United United Arab Emirates It’s not easy for a European, since this is some kind of completely wild hybrid of democracy with an absolute monarchy, and there are big questions about the equality of federal units. Thus, the main authority in the UAE is the Supreme Council, which consists of the heads (read: monarchs) of all seven emirates. But his decisions are legitimate only if representatives of the “coolest” are present: Abu Dhabi and Dubai. From the point of view of the triumph of democracy, this is very doubtful. But from the point of view of common sense, it is quite natural: these two emirates provide more than three quarters of GDP. Who, if not them, should determine the vectors of development of the state?

A meteoric rise

Now the UAE is developing very quickly. This is due to a favorable tax climate, the presence of free trade zones and the absence of bureaucracy.

Of course, oil production initially gave a start to the economy, but if we strictly adhere to the facts, then the state where the Burj Khalifa tower is located pays due attention to other sources of income. Today, almost 30% of GDP is made up of the services sector, including tourism, and oil provides less than ten percent.

The Emirates trade, mine, purchase the latest technologies and develop - rapidly and mercilessly (especially in relation to those who ensure this development with their labor). About 5 million people live in the UAE. Not very many, but even this number should not be confused with the number of the indigenous population - citizens themselves, of which there are less than a million.

Justice fallen victim to efficiency

Need I say that all the menial work in the UAE is done by people from the poorest countries? They are the ones who work hard like blacks on plantations, earn three kopecks by local standards and do not even have the opportunity to bring their families here: the state where the Burj Khalifa tower is located is a country for Arabs.

The privileges of locals are so great that they do not leave the UAE, because nowhere in the world are there such “hothouse” conditions. Well-being is very high, thanks (among other things) to the specific policies of the state. In order to open an enterprise in the UAE, you must take on a citizen of the country as a co-owner, and not just for show, but with a share of at least 50%. Considering the high rates of economic development, there are many people who want it - and now all the subjects are well settled.

There can be no doubt that for tourists the UAE is... real paradise, where all the conditions for beauty are created, unforgettable holiday. Separately, it should be noted that Dubai (according to numerous reviews) is the freest city in the UAE, where many liberties are allowed, for which in other, more traditional emirates one can easily land behind bars. Luxurious hotels, beaches, shopping centers, the entertainment industry - everything here is of the highest level. So a lot of impressions, excellent service and other pleasures are guaranteed.