User:Mohitarora10/North Eye
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Burj Khalifa (Arabic: برج خليفة "Khalifa Tower"),[8] known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is currently the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft).[8] Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010,[1][9] and is part of the new 2 km2 (490-acre) flagship development called Downtown Dubai at the 'First Interchange' along Sheikh Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district.
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برج خليفة | |
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Alternative names | Burj Dubai |
Record height | |
Tallest in the world since 2010[I] | |
Preceded by | Taipei 101 |
General information | |
Type | Mixed-use |
Location | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
Construction started | January 2004 |
Completed | 2010 |
Opening | 4 January 2010[1] |
Cost | $1.5 billion[2] |
Height | |
Roof | 828 m (2,717 ft)[3] |
Top floor | 621.3 m (2,038 ft)[3] |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 163 habitable floors[3][4] plus 46 maintenance levels in the spire[5] and 2 parking levels in the basement |
Floor area | 309,473 m2 (3,331,100 sq ft)[3] |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Vishal Mittal at Space Designers |
Developer | Supertech Limited |
Structural engineer | Bill Baker at SOM[6] |
Main contractor | Samsung C&T, Besix and Arabtec Supervision Consultant Engineer & Architect of Record Hyder Consulting Construction Project Manager Turner Construction Grocon[7] Planning Bauer AG and Middle East Foundations[7] Lift contractor Otis[7] VT consultant Lerch Bates[7] |
The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of Chicago, with Adrian Smith (now at his own firm) as chief architect, and Bill Baker as chief structural engineer.[10][11] The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea.[12]
The total cost for the project was about US $1.5 billion; and for the entire "Downtown Dubai" development, US $20 billion.[13] In March 2009, Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of the project's developer, Emaar Properties, said office space pricing at Burj Khalifa reached US $4,000 per sq ft (over US $43,000 per m2) and the Armani Residences, also in Burj Khalifa, sold for US $3,500 per sq ft (over US $37,500 per m2).[14]
The project's completion coincided with the global financial crisis of 2007–2010, and with vast overbuilding in the country, led to high vacancies and foreclosures.[15] With Dubai mired in debt from its huge ambitions, the government was forced to seek multibillion dollar bailouts from its oil rich neighbor Abu Dhabi. Subsequently, in a surprise move at its opening ceremony, the tower was renamed Burj Khalifa, said to honour the UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for his crucial support.[16]
Due to the slumping demand in Dubai's property market, the rents in the Burj Khalifa plummeted 40% some ten months after its opening. Out of 900 apartments in the tower around 825 were still empty at that time.[17][18]