Landmark Asia
Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa is a super tall building in Dubai. Today, it is the tallest building in the world. It looks like a giant silver needle pointing at the sky.
Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is 828 meters tall, the tallest building in the world (2026). It took about six years to build, from 2004 to 2010. Its Y-shaped plan, inspired by a desert flower, helps it stand up to strong winds.
Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill with Adrian Smith and opened on January 4, 2010, Burj Khalifa rises 828 m on a buttressed concrete core with a steel spire. The Council on Vertical Urbanism, formerly the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, ranks it the world's tallest building (2026).
Photo: Tim.Reckmann, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover Burj Khalifa
Burj Khalifa is in Dubai, a city in the desert near the sea.
Today, it is taller than any other building in the world. It has 163 floors. People live, work and stay in a hotel inside it. Fast elevators zoom up and down.
Burj Khalifa stands in Downtown Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, on the coast of the Arabian Gulf. At 828 meters, it is the tallest building in the world (2026), according to the Council on Vertical Urbanism, a group of experts that ranks the world's tallest buildings.
It is like a city stacked up into the sky: it has 163 floors with a hotel, apartments, offices and observation decks where visitors look out over the city. Seen from far away, it rises high above every other tower around it.
Burj Khalifa is the centerpiece of Emaar Properties' Downtown Dubai development. The Council on Vertical Urbanism (formerly the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, CTBUH) lists it as completed in 2010, 828 m to its architectural top with 163 floors above ground, and ranks it first in the world (2026). The council's other two measures give 584.5 m to the highest occupied floor and 829.8 m to the tip; BESIX, one of its builders, notes that it is the tallest on all three.
It is a mixed-use tower: the Armani Hotel Dubai occupies the lowest levels and Levels 38 and 39, private residences fill Levels 45 to 108, and corporate suites spread over Levels 112 to 154, with the At the Top observatory on Level 124. The official site calls it the tallest structure in the world.
- Height
- 828 m
- Floors above ground
- 163
- Opened
- January 4, 2010
- Uses
- offices, homes and a hotel
Six years to the sky
Building started in 2004. First, workers dug deep and made a strong base.
Then the tower grew taller and taller. In 2010, it opened with a big celebration.
Digging began in January 2004. Workers spent about a year building the foundation, then the tower rose quickly: by January 2007 it had reached 100 floors. In 2008 the main structure was finished, and in September 2009 the glass outer walls were finished.
Burj Khalifa officially opened on January 4, 2010. It is still the world's tallest building (2026).
Excavation began in January 2004, and the official timeline gives the foundation phase as 2004 to 2005 and the structural phase as 2005 to 2008. The tower passed 100 floors in January 2007 and became the tallest building to its roof that year, overtaking Taipei 101. In November 2007 concrete for the highest core walls was pumped from ground level to 601 m, a record.
Structural work was complete in 2008, the exterior cladding in September 2009, and the tower was inaugurated on January 4, 2010. The Council on Vertical Urbanism lists 2010 as its completion year. BESIX reports that at the peak of work, in 2009, more than 12,000 workers and staff were on site every day.
Who built it, and how
Thousands of workers built Burj Khalifa.
They poured lots and lots of concrete. They added strong steel. Special workers fitted almost 26,000 glass panels on the outside.
The tower was designed by the Chicago office of the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with the architect Adrian Smith. At the busiest time, in 2009, more than 12,000 workers and staff were on site every day. More than 300 cladding specialists came from China to fit the glass outer walls.
It took 330,000 cubic meters of concrete and 39,000 tonnes of steel bars. Dubai gets very hot, over 45°C, so concrete was mostly poured at night, using special mixtures. Builders finished up to two floors a week.
SOM's Chicago office, with Adrian Smith as consulting design partner, won the design competition. BESIX, one of the contractors, describes the main challenges as organizing vertical transport of materials, workers and waste to reach a cycle of up to two floors per week, and pumping concrete to record heights; in temperatures above 45°C, special mixes were poured mainly at night. More than 12,000 workers and staff were on site daily at the 2009 peak.
The official site gives 330,000 m³ of concrete and 39,000 tonnes of reinforcing steel. The cladding, close to 26,000 individually hand-cut double-layer glass panels of 362 kg each in aluminum frames, was fitted by more than 300 specialists brought from China. The spire, over 4,000 tonnes of structural steel, was assembled inside the building and jacked to its full height of over 200 m with a hydraulic pump.
Wings, core and spire
From above, the tower looks like the letter Y.
It has three wings around a strong middle. The wings get shorter as the tower goes up. At the very top is a pointy steel spire. Deep underground, long concrete legs hold it up.
Burj Khalifa's floor plan is shaped like a Y, with three wings around a strong six-sided core in the middle. The design was inspired by Hymenocallis, a desert flower. The wings hold each other up, and the core stops the tower from twisting. As the tower rises, the wings step back in a spiral, which helps reduce the push of the wind.
Under the tower is a concrete slab 3.7 meters thick, about as thick as two grown-ups are tall, resting on concrete piles 43 meters long. At the top, the steel spire carries communication equipment and lights that flash to warn aircraft.
The structure is a buttressed core: three wings anchored to a hexagonal central core, each buttressed by the others. The core resists torsion while the wings resist wind shear, and the Y-shaped plan with spiraling setbacks reduces wind forces; more than 40 wind tunnel tests were run, even on the construction cranes. Studies also addressed the stack effect, the pressure and temperature changes that build up over great heights.
The foundation is a reinforced concrete mat 3.7 m thick, poured in four pours totaling 12,500 m³ of high-density, low-permeability concrete, on bored reinforced concrete piles 1.5 m in diameter and 43 m long. The telescopic steel spire houses communications equipment and xenon obstruction lights that flash 40 times a minute. Air-conditioned, pressurized refuge areas occur every 25 floors, and the 57 lifts include the world's tallest service elevator, rated at 5,500 kg.
- Foundation mat
- 3.7 m thick, 12,500 m³ of concrete
- Piles
- 1.5 m wide, 43 m long
- Glass panels
- close to 26,000
- Lifts and escalators
- 57 lifts, 8 escalators
Living in a vertical city
Today, people live and work in Burj Khalifa.
Visitors ride elevators up to look out over the city. Cleaning all the windows takes months!
Burj Khalifa works like a small city. Its water system supplies about 946,000 liters of water a day. Machines on tracks and workers in hanging cradles clean the outside, and washing the whole tower takes three to four months.
Visitors can go up to observation decks, including At the Top on Level 124, to look out over Dubai.
Running the tower is an engineering task of its own. The official site gives an average water supply of 946,000 liters (250,000 gallons) a day, a condensate collection system that provides about 15 million gallons of extra water a year, and a peak electrical demand of 36 MW. Seven double-height mechanical floors hold substations, tanks, pumps and air-handling units.
Track-mounted units and manned cradles take three to four months to clean the whole facade. Public observation decks include At the Top on Level 124, and the Sky Lobbies on Levels 43, 76 and 123 serve residents.
Amazing facts
-
The spire was built inside the tower and pushed up.
The steel spire was put together inside the building and then pushed up to its full height with a hydraulic pump.
The telescopic spire, over 4,000 tonnes of steel, was built within the tower and jacked to more than 200 m using a hydraulic pump.
-
Each glass panel was cut by hand.
Close to 26,000 glass panels cover the outside, and each one was cut by hand. Each panel weighs 362 kilograms.
The cladding uses close to 26,000 individually hand-cut double-layer glass panels of 362 kg each, set in aluminum frames.
-
Concrete was poured at night when it was cooler.
Dubai can get hotter than 45°C, so builders poured most of the concrete at night, using special mixtures.
To place concrete in temperatures above 45°C, special mixes were developed and poured mainly at night.
-
Lights on top flash to warn airplanes.
Bright white lights on the spire flash 40 times a minute so that aircraft can see the tower.
High-intensity xenon obstruction lights on the spire flash 40 times per minute to prevent air collisions.
Words to know
- skyscraper
- a very tall building with many floors
- foundation
- the solid base under a building that holds it up
- pile
- a long, strong post driven or drilled deep into the ground to support a building
- core
- the strong central part of a tall building that holds it steady
- spire
- a tall, pointed structure on top of a building
- wind tunnel
- a tube where engineers blow air past a model to test how wind affects it
Discovery challenge
-
Which city is Burj Khalifa in?
In which city does Burj Khalifa stand?
Which city's downtown district is built around Burj Khalifa?
- Dubai
- Tokyo
- London
Show the answer
Dubai
Dubai! It is a city near the desert and the sea.
Burj Khalifa is in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, on the Arabian Gulf.
Dubai: the tower is the focal point of Emaar Properties' Downtown Dubai.
-
What letter does the tower look like from above?
What letter is Burj Khalifa's floor plan shaped like?
What is the shape of Burj Khalifa's three-winged floor plan?
- O
- Y
- Z
Show the answer
Y
Y! It has three wings around the middle.
It is shaped like a Y: three wings around a strong core, inspired by a desert flower.
A Y-shaped plan of three buttressed wings around a hexagonal core, with setbacks that reduce wind forces.
-
How tall is Burj Khalifa?
How tall is Burj Khalifa?
What is Burj Khalifa's height to its architectural top?
- 33 meters
- 330 meters
- 828 meters
Show the answer
828 meters
828 meters! That is more than twice as tall as the Eiffel Tower.
It is 828 meters tall, about two and a half times the height of the Eiffel Tower.
828 m to the architectural top, with 163 floors above ground (Council on Vertical Urbanism).
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What holds the tower up under the ground?
What supports the tower's concrete foundation mat deep in the ground?
What does Burj Khalifa's 3.7 m reinforced concrete mat rest on?
- Long concrete piles
- Wooden boxes
- Nothing
Show the answer
Long concrete piles
Long concrete legs called piles hold it up.
A thick concrete slab rests on concrete piles, each 43 meters long and 1.5 meters wide.
Bored reinforced concrete piles, 1.5 m in diameter and 43 m long, support the mat.
-
Why was some concrete poured at night?
Why did builders pour most of the concrete at night?
Which condition led builders to pour concrete mainly at night, with special mixes?
- Because of the daytime heat
- Because of snow
- Because of the rain
Show the answer
Because of the daytime heat
Days in Dubai can be very hot, so they worked when it was cooler.
Temperatures could go above 45°C, so the builders worked at night with special concrete mixtures.
Temperatures above 45°C; BESIX describes special mixes poured mainly at night.
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Experiments to try
- Watch Try it What If? Lab What if buildings had different foundations? A building's whole weight presses down through its foundation onto the ground. A wide foundation spreads that weight out, like snowshoes on snow. In our model, a 200-tonne building on sand is safe on a 40-square-meter footing. Shrink the footing to 8 square meters and it presses five times harder, more than the sand can take, so the building would sink and could crack or tilt.
- Watch What If? Lab What if skyscrapers could not sway? Tall buildings sway a little in strong winds and earthquakes, and some even hang giant weights inside to calm the motion. Imagine a skyscraper that couldn't sway at all, and follow the clues: the push of the wind, giant swinging weights, and bending without breaking.
- Watch Try it What If? Lab What if concrete had no steel inside? Concrete is very good at being squashed but bad at being stretched, and a bent beam is stretched along its bottom. In our model, a 20-meter beam of plain concrete with no steel inside cracks under a 20-tonne truck, and it cannot even hold up its own weight.
Explore next
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Country
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, or UAE, is a country of seven emirates on the Arabian Peninsula, on the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Most of it is desert, and its cities, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, line the coast. Dubai has the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building.
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- Watch What If? Lab What if skyscrapers could not sway? Tall buildings sway a little in strong winds and earthquakes, and some even hang giant weights inside to calm the motion. Imagine a skyscraper that couldn't sway at all, and follow the clues: the push of the wind, giant swinging weights, and bending without breaking.
- Watch Try it What If? Lab What if concrete had no steel inside? Concrete is very good at being squashed but bad at being stretched, and a bent beam is stretched along its bottom. In our model, a 20-meter beam of plain concrete with no steel inside cracks under a 20-tonne truck, and it cannot even hold up its own weight.
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Dubai and explain what makes Burj Khalifa the world's tallest building and who decides.
- Describe how foundations, a strong core and a Y-shaped plan help a very tall building stand up.
- Explain who designed and built the tower and some of the challenges they faced.
- Compare heights of famous landmarks using real numbers.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Why do you think tall buildings need deep foundations, especially on sandy ground?
- What jobs do you think the 12,000 people on site were doing?
- Why might a city want to build the tallest building in the world?
Try at home or in class
- Build the tallest tower you can from paper, then try a Y-shaped base with three wings and compare how well each stands up to a fan or a gentle breath.
- Push a pencil into a tray of sand and see how easily it tips; then push it deeper and test again, to see why piles go deep.
Key vocabulary: skyscraper, foundation, pile, core, spire, wind tunnel
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Structures , Burj Khalifa (official site, Emaar)
- Architecture and design , Burj Khalifa (official site, Emaar)
- The making of Burj Khalifa , Burj Khalifa (official site, Emaar)
- Burj Khalifa , Council on Vertical Urbanism, formerly CTBUH (The Skyscraper Center)
- Burj Khalifa (project page) , BESIX
- Statue Statistics , National Park Service, Statue of Liberty National Monument
- La tour Eiffel grandit encore pour atteindre 330 mètres ! , Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (official site)
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 24, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.