Burj Khalifa Opens
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai opened as the world's tallest building at 828 meters
January 04, 2010
The World's Tallest Building
The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, opened on January 4, 2010, as the tallest building in the world — a title it still holds today. It stands 828 meters (2,717 feet) tall, with 163 floors above ground. The building smashed the previous record held by Taipei 101 in Taiwan, which stood 509 meters. The Burj Khalifa took six years to build, employed over 12,000 workers at peak construction, and used over 330,000 cubic meters of concrete and 39,000 tonnes of steel rebar. Its design, by the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, was inspired by the Hymenocallis flower — a desert bloom native to the region.
Engineering at the Extreme
Building to 828 meters required solving engineering problems that had never been faced before. The tower uses a "buttressed core" structural system — a central hexagonal core supported by three wings, each with its own core, creating a Y-shaped footprint. This design efficiently resists both gravity and wind loads. At the top, winds can reach 55 meters per second, so the building's shape was carefully tuned in wind tunnel tests to reduce sway. Concrete was pumped to heights never achieved before — the record for vertical concrete pumping was set during construction. The building also required its own purpose-designed high-speed elevators, some of the fastest in the world.
A City in a Building
The Burj Khalifa is not just an office tower — it contains residences, hotels, restaurants, observation decks, and retail space. The observation deck on the 124th floor (and a higher one on the 148th) offers views extending for over 95 kilometers on a clear day. The building's address gives Dubai a global landmark that attracts millions of tourists and signals the emirate's ambition. It was originally called Burj Dubai but renamed in honor of Abu Dhabi's ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan after Abu Dhabi provided financial support during Dubai's 2009 debt crisis. Use the countdown tool to see how many days have passed since it opened its doors to the world.