Burj Dubai Tower Opens as World's Tallest Building in January 2010

The world's tallest building officially opens for business on January 4, 2010. The Burj Dubai Tower stretches 2,684 feet - one-half mile - into the sky and will consist mainly of residential space designed with attention to making its occupants feel at home - high in the sky above Dubai. According to the Burj Dubai Tower's website, the building will also be occupied by retail and restaurants, making the headlining Dubai skyscraper a true hub for all of Dubai.

The Burj Dubai Tower property will also be the home of the Giorgio Armani Hotel, four pools, a cigar club, library, observation deck, and a 15,000-square-foot fitness area.

Fast Facts About the Burj Dubai Tower

The Burj Dubai Tower is record-breaking for its sheer height. But it takes a lot of material to build a skyscraper that reaches 162 stories tall and a half-mile into the sky:

300,000 cubic yards of concrete - enough concrete to build a sidewalk from Philadelphia to Miami

Enough metal rebar to stretch a quarter of the way around the globe

20 acres of glass windows

The fastest elevators in the world and also the highest elevator service

Between three and four months to clean the building's exterior facade

The Burj Dubai Tower Design

The Burj Dubai Tower's design is quite unique - and very much unlike the boxy-looking skyscrapers most are used to seeing. The Burj Dubai Tower website states designer Adrian Smith (of architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) took cues from traditional Middle Eastern and Islamic architectural styles. The shape of the building was inspired by the Hymenocallis flower, a plant that is found in Dubai and throughout the region.

About The World's Tallest Buildings

At a half-mile tall, the Burj Dubai Tower will far and away be the world's tallest building. Behind the Burj Dubai Tower, though, are a score of other buildings topping out at over 1,000 feet. According to About.com's Architecture site:

Taiwan's Taipei 101 Tower was built in 2004 and is 1,670 feet tall

The Shanghai World Financial Center is 1,614 feet tall

Currently under construction is Hong Kong's International Commerce Centre, which stands at 1,587 feet tall

The twin Petronas Towers were built in 1998 and reach 1,483 feet into the sky

The Willis Tower in Chicago (formerly known as the Sears Tower) is 1,450 feet tall, making it currently the tallest building in the United States. When the Willis Tower opened in 1974, it stole the "World's Tallest Building" crown from New York's World Trade Center twin towers.

New York's World Trade Center towers were 1,368 feet tall (North Tower) and 1,362 feet tall (South Tower); both towers managed to become the world's tallest buildings at the time when, in 1971, they rose above the nearby 1,250-foot-tall Empire State Building, which held the coveted "World's Tallest Building" title for 40 years.

New York's Freedom Tower, which is slated to be built out to full height in 2011 on the site of the New York's old World Trade Center complex, will rise to a total height of 1,776 feet tall when including its spire. Without the spire, the Freedom Tower will rise to 1,368 feet - the height of the original World Trade Center.

Resources

About.Com: Architecture.http://architecture.about.com/library/bltall.htm

Burj Dubai Tower. http://www.burjdubai.com/