The Burj Khalifa dominates Dubai’s skyline and has become a symbol of the emirate’s ambition. The archived author described passing it daily and finding it a reminder of the city’s forward momentum.
Height and scale
With more than 160 floors and a height beyond 828 metres, or roughly 2,716 feet, it was the world’s tallest building at the time of writing.
Records held
- Highest of any building on Earth
- Highest freestanding structure of any kind
- Greatest number of storeys
- Highest occupied floor
- Highest outdoor observation deck
- Elevator with the longest travel distance
- Tallest service elevator
It also surpassed two earlier record holders: the KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota for tallest structure, and Toronto’s CN Tower for tallest free-standing structure.
How tall is “tall”?
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, based in Chicago, sets three criteria for ranking tall buildings, and the Burj Khalifa leads in all of them. The measure most often quoted starts at the lowest main pedestrian entrance that opens to the outdoors and runs up to the building’s architectural top. Spires count towards that figure, while antennas, signs, flagpoles and similar equipment do not.
Context
Records change as new towers are built, so the claims above reflect the situation when the post was written in 2011. Check the CTBUH database for the latest rankings.
Compare with another Dubai landmark in the Palm Jumeirah fact sheet.