Burj Khalifa: Everything You Need to Know About the Tallest Building in the World 

Within a three-week period, Adrian Smith sketched out the original designs that would eventually become the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. In the early 2000s, he was approached by Emaar Properties, the real estate company that developed the skyscraper. “They wanted to ask us about our experience with supertalls,” Smith tells AD. At the time, he was working at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and had designed buildings such as Jin Mao Tower, a 1,380-foot tower in Shanghai; and Zifeng Tower (formerly known as Nanjing Greenland Financial Tower), a 1,480-foot tower in Jiangsu, China. 

Smith and colleagues, including Bill Baker, a structural engineering partner at SOM, took the meeting and traveled from Chicago to New York for an informal yet informational conversation. “We talked a lot about designing tall buildings, because they are so different from even a 60-story building,” Smith says. Emaar representatives told the SOM team that they were looking to develop the tallest skyscraper in the world in Dubai, and asked for recommendations for selecting an architect. “I said that you ought to have about a two- or three-week ideas competition,” Smith remembers. “And they called back the following week, and said, ‘That’s what we’re gonna do.’”

Soon after, Emaar approached a handful of architectural firms, including Smith’s team at SOM, with the basic project details—they wanted something in the 1640- to 1968-foot range—and gave each team a few weeks to pull together their ideas. As Smith explains, the SOM team submitted “a rough form” of what eventually became the Burj Khalifa. “The initial drawings, which weren’t much, suited their needs,” he says. “They selected us and we then started in earnest about a month later.”

What is the design of the Burj Khalifa based on?

Structurally, the Burj Khalifa is designed with a Y-shaped tripartite floor geometry. The design was largely based on Samsung Tower Palace Three, a skyscraper in Seoul with a similar structure that Smith had previously worked on. Because of zoning restrictions, Tower Palace Three currently stands at 73 stories, though it was originally meant to be 93, with multiple setbacks as it grew taller. When the height was reduced, “I brought it down to a point where they still stepped but only in two-story or three-story increments,” Smith explains. “So it was almost like building a top to the building.” 

Though the original vision for Tower Palace Three didn’t come to pass in Seoul, the Smith still had the idea for a supertall structure with varied stepping from the three points of the tripod. “I had a scheme where each leg of the three tripods would drop off at different points,” he says, “and the other two legs would go up and then one of those would drop off, until just one leg would continue on.” Similarly, Smith had also designed a version where the legs stepped at varying intervals around the building, so that from a distance the building would appear to spiral. During the three-week ideas competition, Smith had presented both of these concepts to Emaar, who were drawn to the fact that in either iteration, the building was not only buildable, but also had a dynamic quality. 

After winning the competition, the architect turned his attention to refining the building to better match the heritage of the Middle East. “As I was developing the massing, I thought about the architectural elements that exist in the Middle East, not just Dubai, that people are familiar with,” he says. Thinking particularly about Islamic architecture, pointed arches came to mind as did the onion dome—though often associated with Russian Orthodox churches, this form has roots in Syria and Iran. “So I thought, ‘I’m gonna use that, and I want to use it in an abstracted way where it’s not obvious,” Smith says of the dome shape. Because of its various setbacks, when looking down at the building, a dome form appears, though when looking up from the base, the shape isn’t particularly visible. “I wanted that to be a little mysterious, but prevalent.” 

Where is the Burj Khalifa?

Burj Khalifa is located in Downtown Dubai in the United Arab Emirates near the Dubai Fountain Boardwalk. Today, the building is surrounded by other offices, shops, and restaurants including the Dubai Mall, which includes many designer retailers such as Hermés, Saint Laurant, Cartier, and Balenciaga, with other notable destinations like Burj Al Arab and Palm Jumeirah nearby. Though the city is now known for its glitzy lifestyle and wealth, when the project was first getting started, the area wasn’t much more than a plot of land with a few buildings scattered here and there.

“Sheikh Mohammed was a brilliant leader and had all of this land around Dubai, and he wanted to develop this city into a world class destination,” Smith explains. The effort was, in part, to diversify Dubai’s economy away from being largely oil-based. “He told his developer friends ‘if you have a really good idea, I'll give you the land as long as you develop it quickly,’” Smith says. “So that's really how Dubai blossomed so quickly.” 

It’s also the reason the Burj Khalifa started coming together so fast. Less than a year after Emaar had selected Smith and SOM to design the supertall structure, they’d broken ground. “We got that building in the ground, in about four or five months,” Smith recalls. At the time, the Burj Khalifa was designed as a 2297-foot tower, but since it can take about a year to excavate and lay the foundation for a building of that size, Smith used that time to further develop the structure’s design. “During that process, I was able to do a series of options which would incrementally increase the height of the building, one of them even went up to about 3117 feet,” he says. 

How tall is the Burj Khalifa?

From the base of the building to the very top—which includes a spire and antenna—the Burj Khalifa is 2,722 feet, or a little over a half of a mile. Still, this wasn’t always the case. Though excited to win the design competition, there was something in the back of Smith’s mind that didn’t feel quite right. “As I was developing it over the next three or four months, it was just nagging at me that it still wasn’t tall enough and it wasn’t completing itself,” he recalls. 

While construction crews excavated the building’s foundation, Smith and his team flew to Dubai to present a series of models to the developers to show different ways the building could be completed. “We modeled them as a tower where I could take the top off and put another top on,” Smith explains. The architect was advocating for something in the 850-meter range (about 2790 feet), though developers were conscious about the price implications of this additional height. But pre-sale numbers were good, interest in the building was high, and the development team made a decision immediately. As soon as Smith was done presenting, they’d decided on an option that brought the building up an additional 500 or so feet—to the 2,722 feet it stands at today. “We made the decision right there,” Smith says

Is Burj Khalifa the tallest building in the world?

At 2,722 feet from base to tip, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world. When construction finished in 2010, it claimed the record from Taipei 101, a mixed-use building in Taipei, China, that stands at 1,667 feet tall. For greater context, two Eiffel Towers could be stacked on top of each other, and the Burj Khalifa would still be taller; the Empire State building just barely passes Burj Khalifa’s midpoint. Excluding the antenna and spire, the building is 1,919 feet tall, which is still equivalent to almost six and half football fields stacked on top of each other. 

However, this is only one of the many world records Dubai’s Burj Khalifa holds. The monumental skyscraper is also the tallest structure ever built (surpassing the 2,121-foot Warsaw Radio Mast), the tallest freestanding structure (surpassing Toronto’s 1,815-foot CN Tower), and the building with the most floors (surpassing the World Trade Center’s 110 floors to its 163). 

What is the cost of Burj Khalifa?

Total construction costs for the Burj Khalifa were reported to amount to $1.5 billion. Though it did cost a large sum, the Burj Khalifa is not the most expensive building in the world; that title goes to Rawabi Abraj Al-Bait Tower in Saudi Arabia, which cost $15 billion. In fact, there are 11 buildings across the globe that were more expensive to build than Burj Khalifa, despite all being shorter. 

What is Burj Khalifa famous for?

Though the Burj Khalifa’s height is certainly its most obvious claim to fame, it’s the implications of this astounding elevation that makes it so special. “Whenever you do a world’s tallest building, it’s different because you confront issues that you don’t know exist yet,” Smith says. When designing a building of this size, it’s not only finding problems that haven’t existed before, but solving them too. “Every time you do a super tallbuilding, you’re learning about 10% more than previously anyone knew about supertall buildings.” 

For example, when designing the Burj Khalifa, Smith and his team received incredible insights from the wind tunnel tests, which are used to predict a building’s response to various wind conditions. As buildings get taller, the impact from the wind is greater, and “with Burj Khalifa, they did wind tunnel tests that showed it would be better to move the orientation of one of the legs about 10-15 degrees in one direction to point more at the wind,” Smith says.

For other architects and designers, the building’s design serves as inspiration and guidance for their projects. According to Ashley Davis, an architect and strategic construction advisor at Real Estate Bees, Burj Khalifa is a model for consumer safety and evacuation procedures in high-rise structures. “As an architect, our initial concern is for the public’s health, safety, and welfare,” she says. “The Burj Khalifa tower employs a combination of safety factors, some traditional and some taking into consideration the special circumstance of the massive square footage.” At the world’s tallest tower, some of these notable features include well-defined exit routes with refuse areas, multiple fire and smoke protected egress stairs, and fireproof floors.

However, besides redefining occupant safety and wellbeing, the structure is also aesthetically inspiring. “Burj Khalifa stands out in the midst of copy-and-paste architecture clichés, because its aesthetic fully integrates every detail from materials to geometry, history, metaphor and symbolism,” Ana Maria Torres, a New York City–based architect and founder of At Architects, tells AD. According to Torres, architecture has a way of speaking to people, whether passersby are aware of it or not, and Burj Khalifa has made her a more conscious reader of the environment. “It speaks about subtlety, strength, and intelligence,” she says. “It reinforces the connection between our sense of beauty and our understanding of the nature of a good life,” she explains. 

What is inside the Burj Khalifa?

Originally, developers planned for the building to be fully residential, though over time it changed into a mixed-use structure. “Most of these supertall buildings really need to be mixed-use because the taller they are, typically the larger they need to be at the base,” Smith says. “So you're building maybe two million, three million square feet of space, and if it’s just one use it takes time to fill it, and the carrying costs become excessive while you’re trying to rent out the building.” 

At Burj Khalifa, the building is largely categorized into three main uses: residential, corporate, and hospitality. There are 900 residences in the tower made up of studio, one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom units that span levels 19–108. In addition to the prestige of living in the tallest building in the world, residents also have access to an array of amenities like indoor-outdoor swimming pools, jacuzzis, a library, cigar lounge, and a four-floor health club that includes two gyms and spa facilities. “On the amenity floors we have the pool that actually goes inside and outside,” Smith says. “It goes underneath the exterior wall, so you can actually swim under the wall and go outside.” 

Hospitality offerings include the Armani Hotel Dubai, the first hotel developed by Georgio Armani; At.Mosphere, a fine-dining restaurant on the 122nd floor; and two sky lounges, At The Top Burj Khalifa SKY and the Lounge Burj Khalifa, which are respectively located across the 124th floor, 125th floor, and 148th floor and floors 152, 153, and 154. Corporate suites are found across levels 112 to 154.

“I visited an empty office space in the Burj Khalifa that was available for rent a few years ago and it was the most oddly shaped office space I’ve ever seen,” Nadia Michel, a journalist, podcast host, and author, tells AD. Though the structure of the building yielded a somewhat unusual floor plan—a cavernous, circular area with a pillar in the center, Michel says—the views were unparalleled. “Looking out from a high floor, after sunset, onto the Dubai Fountain is a magical experience. Imagine ending a long day at the office with a spectacular dancing fountain show.” 

Others who have stayed at or visited at the Burj Khalifa have noted similar quirks about the layout, though they also find the view and amenities tend to make up for it. “The hotel had long corridors and some rooms were shaped odd if you were in a room on a curve,” Larina Chen-Mehta, a principal partner at LWC Concepts tells AD. Chen-Mehta visited the Armani Hotel a few years back, and though she noted some of the rooms could be strangely shaped, “everything was impeccable in terms of the design and service.”

Still, while the various uses in the building may have certain similarities—like the floorplans—Smith was intentional in making sure each had its own identity as well. “One of the disadvantages of a Y-shaped building and plan is that when you’re entering that building, you’re basically entering it between the two of the legs,” Smith says. However, he decided to use this to his advantage by crafting distinct entryways and lobby spaces within the legs—one for each use of the building. “We designed each one of those in a different way to relate to the ethos of that function,” Smith says, adding it’s one of his favorite features of the tower. Armani took creative control of the hotel entrance, and Smith and his team designed the other two. 

What is it like at the top of the Burj Khalifa?

Perhaps no one will quite understand what it feels like to be at the very top of the Burj Khalifa quite like Nicole Smith-Ludvick, a skydiver and stuntwoman, who stood on top of Burj Khalifa’s spire in an advertisement for Emirates airline. “Standing on the pinnacle of the world’s tallest man-made structure, a place where no other woman has ever been, was one of the most extraordinary and exhilarating experiences I have ever had,” Smith-Ludvick tells AD. To shoot the commercial, she went to the top of building three times for about five hours each, usually arriving right before sunrise. “At this time of day, the city is still mostly asleep, so it’s quiet and serene,” she says. “I got a bird’s eye view of the sun rising over the Arabian desert; I watched the fog roll in from the ocean and burn off as the temperature warmed up.” Other than the views, Smith-Ludvick says the most notable difference between the Burj and the ground is the noise pollution. “It was much quieter up there,” she says.  

However, non-stunt professionals who want to experience Dubai from the Burj Khalifa will have to settle for the Burj Khalifa observation decks, which are currently the highest points accessible for visitors. “When you’re at the top of the Burj, it feels like you’re in an airplane, as though you are surrounded by clouds, literally,” Sarah Churbuck, a financial services communications strategist in Boston, tells AD. Churbuck visited the skyscraper in 2011 with her dad, and took what she described as the “very fast” elevator to the 148th floor, one of the two observation decks at Burj Khalifa. “I went through a door to the observatory area, which I didn’t realize was outside,” she explains, “When I realized I was outside, I looked down and noticed I was standing on a wooden deck, hammered together with screws and you could see the sky in between the cracks.” Not the biggest fan of heights, Churbuck quickly dropped to her knees, and crawled back inside, “where I did not last long before taking the elevator down,” she says. 

Of course, for those who don’t mind the heart-stopping heights, the experience is nothing short of magical. “I come from New York City, so I spend a lot of time atop tall buildings, and this one is marvelous,” says Christine Deussen, president of Deussen Global Communications. “The views are great, and it is not dizzying or uncomfortable at all,” she says, adding a recommendation to reserve tickets in advance to be there at sunset. According to Deussen, the building staff are friendly and helpful, you can stay for as long as you’d like, and the photo opportunities are plentiful. 

Is Burj Khalifa Entrance Free?

Generally, entrance for visitors looking to stop by the observation decks at Burj Khalifa is not free, although it does depend on the circumstances. There are many different admission packages available to guests, though visits to the At The Top SKY observation deck generally cost between $108 and $150 depending on the date, time, and the visitor’s age. Visiting the lounge on the 154th floor, the highest observation deck, is reported to cost upwards of $230 per person. 

What is bigger than Burj Khalifa?

While there is currently nothing taller than Burj Khalifa, this likely won’t be the case forever—since Smith has already designed a building that is set to surpass it. “Whenever you’ve done something that’s a first and somebody else wants to build something taller, they usually seek out people that have done it before,” Smith explains. Jeddah Tower, a 3,281-foot-tall tower designed by Smith, is poised to be the world’s first building spanning an entire kilometer. In 2013, construction started on the building—which will be located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia—though it was put on hold in 2018. 

Smith has also been doing research into mile-high structures, though testing for these hasn’t begun yet. “We’ve done a couple of ideas on mile-high structures,” he says, “but oxygen content becomes a factor when you get that high.” At that level, architects and engineers will have to include supplemental oxygen into occupied units since people would be going in and out and wouldn’t have the opportunity to adjust to the higher altitude like in, for example, Colorado. Still, it’s a challenge that Smith, and others, are looking forward to solving. “After doing the Burj Khalifa, I always thought it was a possibility I’d do something taller,” he says.