Stainless steel, brass, bronze, gold and droplets of water
196 cymbals
Jaume Plensa’s World Voices is composed of 196 cymbals that represent the 196 countries of the world – symbolic to Burj Khalifa being a collaboration of people from across the globe and befitting its global iconic status. The Residential Lobby area of Burj Khalifa will be a meeting place of diverse cultures and nationalities – a metaphor of the diversity of our global society, World Voices is homage to this diversity and a celebration of life.
Cast in bronze and brass alloy, finished by hand and plated with 18-carat gold, the cymbals are horizontally suspended on the titanium rods anchored at the bottom of two pools, symbolizing reeds in a lake.
In the ceiling above are 18 droplet nozzles, 9 over each pool, that are choreographed so when the droplets fall on the cymbals a distinct timbre is created as they are struck, which the artist compares to the sound of water falling on leaves. To contribute to the ambience and calming affects of the naturalistic rhythm is the soft lighting from the pool lights and the reflections dancing on the ripples. Burj Dubai’s architects and interior designers Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) approached international and Middle East-based artists to submit concepts for the centrepiece of the Burj Dubai’s residential lobby more than a year ago. Plensa’s winning design was chosen from a shortlist of five.
Even though Jaume Plensa designed World Voices, other contributors to this successful art masterpiece includes; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), Chicago, Galerie-Lelong, New York City, New York, USA, Crystal Fountains, Toronto, Canada and Fisher-Marantz, New York City, New York, USA. The Black Absolute stone used for the Residential Pavilion floor was quarried in Zimbabwe. Pieces were cut and finished by the Marble Distributor Campologhni Italia, Montignoso, Italy.
The cladding system consists of 142,000 m2 (1,528,000 sq ft) of more than 26,000 reflective glass panels and aluminium and textured stainless steel spandrel panels with vertical tubular fins. The architectural glass provides solar and thermal performance as well as an anti-glare shield for the intense desert sun, extreme desert temperatures and strong winds. The glass covers more than 174,000 m2 (1,870,000 sq ft) in area. The Burj's typical curtain wall panels measure 4'6" wide by 10'8" high and weigh about 800 pounds each, with wider panels near the buildings edges and taller ones near the top.
The exterior temperature at the top of the building is thought to be 6 °C (11 °F) cooler than at its base. A 304-room Armani Hotel, the first of four by Armani, occupies 15 of the lower 39 floors. The hotel was supposed to open on 18 March 2010, but after several delays, it finally opened to the public on 27 April 2010. The sky lobbies on the 43rd and 76th floors house swimming pools. Floors through to 108 have 900 private residential apartments (which, according to the developer, sold out within eight hours of being on the market). An outdoor zero-entry swimming pool is located on the 76th floor of the tower. Corporate offices and suites fill most of the remaining floors, except for the 122nd, 123rd and 124th, where the At.mosphere restaurant, sky lobby and an indoor and outdoor observation deck are located respectively. In January 2010, it was planned that Burj Khalifa would receive its first residents from February 2010.
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Armani Privé is a bar/club situated within the Armani hotel. The doorway of this night-club is on the bottom floor of the Burj Khalifa.
A luxurious nightclub within the world’s tallest building, and designed in person by Giorgio Armani himself. The Armani Prive is a two-level high-end venue placed within the 1st two floors of the largest tower in the world and is considered one among the foremost luxurious venues in Dubai. The drinks are superb as compared to most of Dubai also, typically a large variety of drinks are available.
Dress Code
Consider being at your best since you are joining the chicest venue in the world! The Armani Privé Dress Code is elegant and chic, smart casual and modern! Keep that in mind! Ladies wear heels and gentleman forget about sports and beach wear at one of the best night clubs in Dubai!
Entry Fee
There is no entry fee to the Armani Privé but your chances to get in are extremely low. Door policy applies. Photo ID will be required if asked. Entry searches on your bag / person may be carried out for your safety.
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Age Policy: Over 21’s. You must have an original ID, Passport or Drivers license.
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Dress Code: No effort no entry. Armani Prive reserve the right to entry.
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Music Policy: EDM / House.
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Tue 23:00-05:00 (Lounge from 17:00); Thu-Sun: 23:00-05:00 (Lounge from 17:00).
The building has 57 elevators and 8 escalators. The elevators have a capacity of 12 to 14 people per cabin, the fastest rising and descending at up to 10 m/s (33 ft/s) for double-deck elevators. However, the world's fastest single-deck elevator still belongs to Taipei 101 at 16.83 m/s (55.2 ft/s). Engineers had considered installing the world's first triple-deck elevators, but the final design called for double-deck elevators. The double-deck elevators are equipped with entertainment features such as LCD displays to serve visitors during their travel to the observation deck. The building has 2,909 stairs from the ground floor to the 160th floor. The Burj Khalifa's water system supplies an average of 946,000 L (250,000 U.S. gal) of water per day through 100 km (62 mi) of pipes. An additional 213 km (132 mi) of piping serves the fire emergency system, and 34 km (21 mi) supplies chilled water for the air conditioning system. The waste water system uses gravity to discharge water from plumbing fixtures, floor drains, mechanical equipment and storm water, to the city municipal sewer.
Skydive Dubai- sponsored skydivers Vince Reffet and Fred Fugen of the Soul Flyers skydiving team performed a BASE jump off the Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest building, in Dubai on April 21st 2014, This particular jump sets a new world record thanks to having been performed off the very pinnacle of the 2,722-foot-tall building with the help of a specially constructed platform rather than lower on the structure like other jumps. The air conditioning system draws air from the upper floors where the air is cooler and cleaner than on the ground. At peak cooling times, the tower's cooling is 46 MW (62,000 hp), equivalent to that provided by 13,000 short tons (26,000,000 lb; 12,000,000 kg) of melting ice in one day. Water is collected via a condensate collection system and is used to irrigate the nearby park. To wash the 24,348 windows, totaling 120,000 m2 (1,290,000 sq ft) of glass, the building has three horizontal tracks which each holding a 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) bucket machine. Above level 109, and up to tier 27, traditional cradles from davits are used. The top of the building is cleaned by a crew that uses ropes to descend from the top to gain access. Under normal conditions, when all building maintenance units are operational, it takes 36 workers three to four months to clean the entire exterior.
Let’s just take a moment to appreciate these guys. If you’re ever having a bad day, count your blessings. At least you’re not dangling over the side of the world’s tallest building with just a bucket of soap and a squeegee, a rope harness the only thing stopping you from plummeting to your death. Shout out to the bravest window cleaners ever!
Unmanned machines clean the top 27 additional tiers and the glass spire. The cleaning system was developed in Melbourne, Australia, by CoxGomyl, a manufacturer of building maintenance units, at a cost of A$8 million.
The Dubai Fountain
Outside, WET Enterprises designed a fountain system at a cost of Dh 800 million (US$217 million). Illuminated by 6,600 lights and 50 coloured projectors, it is 270 m (900 ft) long and shoots water 150 m (500 ft) into the air, accompanied by a range of classical to contemporary Arabic and other music. It is the world's second largest choreographed fountain. On 26th October 2008, Emaar announced that based on results of a naming contest the fountain would be called the Dubai Fountain.
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An outdoor observation deck, named At the Top, opened on 5 January 2010 on the 124th floor. At 452 m (1,483 ft), it was the highest outdoor observation deck in the world when it opened. Although it was surpassed in December 2011 by Cloud Top 488 on the Canton Tower, Guangzhou at 488 m (1,601 ft), Burj Khalifa opened the 148th floor SKY level at 555 m (1,821 ft), once again giving it the highest observation deck in the world on 15 October 2014, until the Shanghai Tower opened in June 2016 with an observation deck at a height of 561 metres.
Image Above - At the top of the Burj Khalifa.The 124th floor observation deck also features the electronic telescope, an augmented reality device developed by Gsmprjct of Montreal, which allows visitors to view the surrounding landscape in real-time, and to view previously saved images such as those taken at different times of day or under different weather conditions. To reduce the daily rush of sightseers, management allows visitors to purchase tickets in advance for a specific date and time, at a 75% discount on tickets purchased on the spot. Tickets start at 135 AED, or 36.75 USD.
Looking down from the very top of the Burj Khalifa's spire is not for the faint hearted.
Image Above - Observation deck of the Shanghai World Financial Center
Date20 September 2008, 22:05:03
The Petronas Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers Menara Petronas, or Menara Berkembar Petronas), are twin skyscrapers. According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) official definition and ranking, they were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world. The buildings are a landmark of Kuala Lumper, along with the nearby Kuala Lumper Tower. Visitors can experience two different levels of the buildings: the world’s tallest two-story skybridge, that connects the two towers, and an observation deck on level 86.
The International Commerce Centre 環球貿易廣場) (abbreviated ICC) is a 118 storey 484 m (1,588 ft) commercial skyscraper completed in West Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is part of the Union Square project on top of Kowloon station. It was the 4th tallest building in the world (third in Asia) when its construction was completed in 2010. As of June 2019, it is the world's 12th tallest building by height, world's ninth tallest building by number of floors, as well as the tallest building in Hong Kong and also the 6th tallest building in China.
Notable amenities include The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong hotel and an observatory called Sky100. The ICC faces the second-tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, the 2 International Finance Centre (IFC) directly across Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong island. IFC was also developed by Sun Hung Kai Properties, along with another major Hong Kong developer, Henderson Land.
The building has 108 floors above ground and 4 below ground. Due to prevalence of tetraphobia ((tetrás), meaning 'four', and Ancient Greek φόβος(phóbos), meaning 'fear') is the practice of avoiding instances of the digit 4. It is a superstition most common in East Asian nations. Construction work was temporarily halted on 13th September 2009, due to a lift shaft accident that killed six workers. The LED light show set a new Guinness World Record for the “largest light and sound show on a single building” using a total of 50,000 square metres on two facades of the International Commerce Centre. The ICC Light and Music Show is designed by lighting designer Hirohito Totsune who already designed the lighting system of the Tokyo Skytree. Similar to the daily “A Symphony of Lights Show” in Victoria Harbour, the ICC Light and Music Show creates a theme and storyline using light and music elements.
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, It was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and completed in 1931. The building has a roof height of 1,250 feet (380 m) and stands a total of 1,454 feet (443.2 m) tall, including its antenna. As of 2019 the building is the 6th tallest completed skyscraper in the United States and the 45th tallest in the world.
It is also the 6th tallest free standing structure in the America's. The Empire State Building stood as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years until the completion of the World Trade Center's North Tower in Lower Manhattan in late 1970. Following the September 11th attacks in 2001, it was again the tallest building in New York until the new One World Trade Center was completed in April 2012.
The balcony on the 103rd floor is only open to VIPs, such as tennis star Michelle Wie. Adam Hunger/Getty Images - Construction began on March 17, 1930, and President Herbert Hoover officially opened it on May 1, 1931. Initial plans for the skyscraper were quite modest, but the "Race into the Sky" was just too much to resist and plans were revised to make it the 103-story, 1,250-feet-tall monolith we know now. The Empire State Building is open 365 days a year, from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., with the last elevator to the observatory leaving at 1:15 a.m.
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The German zeppelin Hindenburg floats past the Empire State Building over Manhattan, on August 8, 1936, en route to Lakehurst, New Jersey, from Germany.
It's also a wedding venue for a few lucky couples every year: the only day it hosts ceremonies is Valentine's Day. And if you're planning a proposal, there's a saxophonist on duty from 9 p.m. to midnight from Labor Day (the beginning of September) to Memorial Day (the last Monday in May) and from 10 p.m. -1 a.m. from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
And like any must-see spot in NYC, there are VIP-only areas, including the observation deck on the 103rd floor. Don't get too jealous of celebrities like Tom Cruise or Taylor Swift -- the narrow outdoor terrace would give anyone vertigo.
The Empire State Building has been a pop culture staple for nearly 90 years; from "King Kong" to "Elf," it's made countless appearances in movies and TV.
Lotte World Tower (Korean 롯데월드타워) is a 123-floor, 555-metre (1,821 ft) supertall skyscraper located in Seoul, South Korea. It opened to the public on April 11, 2017 and is currently the tallest building in South Korea and is also the 6th tallest building on earth.
The Lotte world tower is similar in construction to that of The Shard in London, Burj Kahlifa continued: On 8th February 2010, the observation deck was closed to the public for two months after power-supply problems caused an elevator to become stuck between floors, trapping a group of tourists for 45 minutes. When the tide is low and visibility is high, people can see the shores of Iran from the top of the skyscraper.
Burj Khalifa is surrounded by an 11 ha (27-acre) park designed by landscape architects SWA Group. Like the tower, the park's design was based on the flower of the Hymenocallis, a desert plant. At the centre of the park is the water room, which is a series of pools and water jet fountains. Benches and signs incorporate images of Burj Khalifa and the Hymenocallis flower. The plants are watered by water collected from the building's cooling system. The system provides 68,000,000 L (15,000,000 imp gal) annually. WET Enterprises, who developed the Dubai Fountain, developed the park's six water features.
On the higher floors, the sun can still be seen for several minutes after it has set at ground level. This has led Dubai clerics to rule that those living above the 80th floor should wait 2 additional minutes to break their Ramadan fast, and those living above the 150th floor, 3 minutes. The tower was constructed by Samsung C&T from South Korea. Samsung C&T built the tower in a joint venture with BESIX from Belgium and Arabtec from the UAE. Turner was the project manager on the main construction contract. Hong Kong based Far East Aluminium combined to provide the exterior cladding for Burj Khalifa. The contractor and the engineer of record was Hyder Consulting. Under UAE law, the contractor and the engineer of record is jointly and severally liable for the performance of Burj Khalifa.
The primary structure is reinforced concrete. Putzmeister created a new, super high-pressure trailer concrete pump, the BSA 14000 SHP-D, for this project. Burj Khalifa's construction used 330,000 m3 (431,600 cu yd) of concrete and 55,000 tonnes (61,000 short tons; 54,000 long tons) of steel rebar, and construction took 22 million man-hours. In May 2008 Putzmeister pumped concrete with more than 21 MPA ultimate compressive strength of gravel to surpass the 600 meters weight of the effective area of each column from the foundation to the next fourth level, and the rest was by metal columns jacketed or covered with concrete to a then world record delivery height of 606 m (1,988 ft), the 156th floor. Three tower cranes were used during construction of the uppermost levels, each capable of lifting a 25-tonne load. The remaining structure above was constructed of lighter steel.
PDF Above - The design and construction of the Burj Khalifa, Dubai.
In 2003, 33 test holes were drilled to study the strength of the bedrock underlying the structure. "Weak to very weak sandstone and silt stone" was found, just meters below the surface. Samples were taken from test holes drilled to a depth of 140 meters, finding weak to very weak rock all the way. The study described the site as part of a "seismically active area".
Over 45,000 m3 (58,900 cu yd) of concrete, weighing more than 110,000 tonnes (120,000 short tons: 110,000 long tons) were used to construct the concrete and steel foundation, which features 192 piles; each pile is 1.5 metre in diameter by 43 m in length, buried more than 50 m (164 ft) deep. The foundation was designed to support the total building weight of approximately 450,000 tonnes (500,000 short tons: 440,000 long tons). This weight was then divided by the compressive strength of concrete of which is 30 MPa which yielded a 450 sq.meters of vertical normal effective area, which then yielded to a 12 meters by 12 meters dimensions. A cathodic protection system is under the concrete to neutralize the groundwater and prevent corrosion.
Image Above - April 2004 and the construction process has began. In Dubai, Bauer Spezialtiefbau and the Middle East Foundation founded the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. 200 piles with a diameter of 1.5 m were drilled to a depth of 50 m and 650 piles with a diameter of 900 mm to a depth of 36 m. The Burj Khalifa is highly compartmentalised. Pressurized, air-conditioned refuge floors are located every 13 floors (in floors G, 13, 26, 39, 52 etc.) where people can shelter on their long walk down to safety in case of an emergency or fire. Special mixes of concrete were made to withstand the extreme pressures of the massive building weight; as is typical with reinforced concrete construction, each batch of concrete was tested to ensure it could withstand certain pressures. CTLGroup, working for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, conducted the creep and shrinkage testing critical for the structural analysis of the building. The consistency of the concrete used in the project was essential. It was difficult to create a concrete that could withstand both the thousands of tonnes bearing down on it and Persian Gulf temperatures that can reach 50 °C (122 °F). To combat this problem, the concrete was not poured during the day. Instead, during the summer months, ice was added to the mixture and it was poured at night when the air was cooler and the humidity was higher. Cooler concrete cures more evenly and is therefore less likely to set too quickly and crack. Any significant cracks could have put the entire project in jeopardy.
Mohammad Azmi, 29, spent two hours on the roof of a 56 storey building in Dubai’s business area, opposite the Burj Khalifa, during a thunderstorm to take this incredible photographic image of a lightening strike on to the very top of the highest structure on earth. Despite fearing that he could be struck by lightning at any second, Azmi braved the weather for long enough to get this stunning image. Azmi said he took over 400 shots that day and was determined to get a shot of lightening. Azmi said it was raining and he was worried for his life but continued with determination. The ceremony was broadcast live on a giant screen on Burj Park Island and on smaller screens elsewhere. Hundreds of media outlets from around the world reported live from the scene. In addition to the media presence, 6,000 guests were expected. The opening was held on 4 January 2010. The ceremony featured a display of 10,000 fireworks, light beams projected on and around the tower, and further sound, light and water effects. The celebratory lighting was designed by UK lighting designers Speirs and Major Associates. Using the 868 powerful stroboscope lights that are integrated into the façade and spire of the tower, different lighting sequences were choreographed, together with more than 50 different combinations of other effects.
Images Left and Right - Dubai's Burj Khalifa tower, the world's tallest skyscraper, is lit by fireworks during its opening ceremony in the Gulf emirate on January 4, 2010. Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, officially opened the world's tallest building, which stands at 828 metres high. AFP PHOTO
Image left: In this picture released by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum's Media Office, Sheik Mohammad, second from right, the ruler of Dubai, and Sheik Tahnoun Bin Mohammad Al Nahyan, right, the ruler of the eastern region, inaugurate the Burj Dubai tower, the tallest skyscraper in the world, during its opening ceremony in Dubai - As an orchestra played, a video screen proclaimed the building's height after years of mystery: 828 meters, a full 319 meters taller than the Taipei 101 tower, formerly the world's tallest building.
Within 17 months of the building's official opening, a man described as "an Asian in his mid-30s" who worked at one of the companies in the tower, died by suicide on 10 May 2011 by jumping from the 147th floor. He fell 39 floors, landing on a deck on the 108th floor. Dubai police confirmed the act as a suicide, reporting that "[they] also came to know that the man decided to commit suicide as his company refused to grant leave."
Image Left - Mr. Clause Mirna (Putzmeister), Dr. Aldred (Concrete Future), Mr. Santosh (Unimix) The critical Independent Verification and Testing Agency (IVTA) role on the 160-plus storey Burj Khalifa was led by concrete specialist Dr James Aldred who is now the Technical Director of Concrete Future. Dr Mohamad Nagi, who is a consultant with Concrete Future, was also part of the specialist team. GHD’s IVTA team was involved in concrete mix development as well as quality control and assurance on materials used throughout the project. One of the major challenges posed by the project was the high temperatures experienced in the Middle East, where temperature can reach 50°C in the shade. A decision was taken to do all concreting for the vertical elements of the tower at night and the concrete’s water content was made up almost entirely of flake ice during the summer months. The highest temperature recorded by James during concreting on site was 40°C at midnight! Getting the concrete mixture right was also crucial to success with a range of different mixtures tested during initial trials. The Concrete Institute of Australia (CIA) recognised significant contributions to the development of concrete technology and practice made by the IVTA. The IVTA team was the winner in the Technology Category of the prestigious Award for Excellence in concrete for its ground-breaking work in pumping concrete to a height of 601m during construction. “The pumping of high quality concrete on the Burj Khalifa to 600 metres was an exceptional achievement in concrete technology, and one of which our team is very proud,” Dr Aldred said. “Our team is well known for its technical skill, and we are building a reputation for innovation in solving technical challenges for our clients.” The Burj Khalifa was built primarily by workers from South Asia and East Asia. This is generally because the current generation of UAE locals prefer governmental jobs and do not have an attitude favouring private sector employment. On 17 June 2008, there were about 7,500 skilled workers employed at the construction site. Press reports indicated in 2006 that skilled carpenters at the site earned £4.34 a day, and labourers earned £2.84. According to a BBC investigation and a Human Rights Watch report, the workers were housed in abysmal conditions, and worked long hours for low pay.During construction, only one construction-related death was reported. However, workplace injuries and fatalities in the UAE are "poorly documented", according to Human Rights Watch.
Image Left - Workers at Burj Dubai site. On 21 March 2006, about 2,500 workers, upset over buses that were delayed for the end of their shifts, protested and triggered a riot, damaging cars, offices, computers and construction equipment. A Dubai Interior Ministry official said the rioters caused almost £500,000 in damage. Most of the workers involved in the riot returned the following day but refused to work. A topic that deserves to be visited and re-visited from time to time is the plight of the laborer in the UAE--those workmen seen in countless numbers, by whose physical exertion Dubai's towers and civil works are constructed. It is the rare few among them who are ever able to enjoy the fruit of their labor. Workers are being exploited with low pay and harsh and cramped accomodation.
Rooms have 10 to 20 men sleeping in bunk beds.
The room serves as dining quarters, where newspaper spread out on the floor serves as a table.
The only recreation available is the one television per room, which the men chip in and buy.
Two or three hundred men will make use of a cooking area with perhaps a dozen or so burners.
The same number of men will share a dozen or so sinks, showers and toilet stalls.
Laundry is done by hand in the same sinks or showers and strung out in the rooms, hallways or sometimes outside of the complex.
There is no provision for privacy or personal space--no desks or tables, no chairs or lounging areas, no cupboards or wardrobes. Men use suitcases or buy or make small lockers kept under beds or attached to the wall of their bunkspace for storing personal items.
There are no public telephones, computers or other communications facilities available.
For cooking and other supplies there are small canteens or supermarkets in the general vicinity of the labor camps--one small store, for example, serving several thousand laborers.
In areas where thousands to tens of thousands of laborers live there are no community or recreational facilities. There are no street lights and open spaces are left dusty and desolate.
What is provided are
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air-conditioners, in otherwise windowless rooms.
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electricity and running water, most of the time.
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bed space, most of the time.
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someone to clean the bath and toilet area.
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transportation to and from the worksite.
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Beyond the issue of facilities is that of time. The workers normally have very little time, apart from working hours, in which to bathe, do laundry (by hand), cook, eat and maintain their rooms. The day generally starts early, around 5 a.m., with an hour to wash up, have tea and bread and then board a bus. There is an hour break around noon to have lunch and rest out of doors at the site. Work finishes about 5 p.m. with a return to the camp site one or two hours later. By 6 or 7 p.m. the worker will have arrived and take time to shower, clean his clothes and prepare and eat his dinner. This all can be finished by 9 p.m. with an hour for TV and lights out at 10.
This generally constitues a working day. Fridays are off for most workers. It is during this time that they can do some extra laundry, clean their rooms, visit friends and relatives at other campsites and enjoy adhoc recreational activities. From an international perspective it is rather inconscionable that properties being sold for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars are being built with labor that is paid hourly wages that can be counted in cents. When outsiders report on the incredible spectacle of development in the UAE they often make reference to the underclass of workers involved, whose own lives could hardly contrast more with the kind of lifestyles and communities they are laboring to build. A comparison of wages alone reveals the vast disparity. Perhaps as many as half of the lowest paid group (the laborers) earn as little as Dhs 500 (US $136) per month for 9-10 hour days with 2-4 days off per month. The salaries and wages paid for other positions (as shown below) follow a range as indicated below (all figures tax-free):
Special Forces surrounding Labor Camp
Laborers suppressed by Police © 2006 by Jim Krane
Laborers Riot Over Low Dubai Wages © 2006 by The Associated Press
The building has been used by several experienced BASE jumpers for authorised and unauthorised BASE jumping: Mild-mannered Vince Reffet and Fred Fugen attempted the challenge in Dubai and succesfully jumped from the spire of the Burj Khalifa. On 21 April 2014, with permission of the authorities and support from several sponsors, highly experienced French BASE jumpers Vince Reffet and Fred Fugen broke the Guinness world record for the highest BASE jump from a building after they leapt from a specially designed platform, built at the very top of the pinnacle, at 828 metres (2,717 feet). In May 2008, Hervé Le Gallou and David McDonnell, dressed as engineers, illegally infiltrated Burj Khalifa (around 650 metres (2,130 ft) at the time), and jumped off a balcony situated several floors below the 160th floor.
Al Niyadi and Omar Al Hegelan fell 672 metres at 350km/h before their parachutes opened.Image Credit: Oliver Clarke/Gulf News On 8 January 2010, with permission of the authorities, Nasr Al Niyadi and Omar Al Hegelan, from the Emirates Aviation Society, broke the world record for the highest BASE jump from a building after they leapt from a crane-suspended platform attached to the 160th floor at 672 m (2,205 ft). The two men descended the vertical drop at a speed of up to 220 km/h (140 mph), with enough time to open their parachutes 10 seconds into the 90-second jump. Al Niyadi and Al Hegelan, who are both members of the Fazza Sky Team, covered the distance in a breathtaking 10 second freefall delay and 30-40 second parachute flight. They set a new world record by jumping from the highest point of a man-made structure. They landed smoothly at Burj Park Island with the parachutes fanning out 10 to 12 seconds after their jump. Al Niyadi started freefly jumping in 2002. In 2008, Al Niyadi and Al Hegelan were among a Fazza Sky Team expedition that made a world record jump over Mount Everest at 29,500 feet.
French climber Alain Robert scales the world's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa, in Dubai on March 28, 2011.
Credit: Marwan Naamani - On 28 March 2011, Alain "Spiderman" Robert scaled the outside of Burj Khalifa. The climb to the top of the spire took six hours. To comply with UAE safety laws, Robert, who usually climbs in free solo, used a rope and harness.
"I'm doing this to show the students there is no edge or borders and to inspire people to break the mold and not limit themselves," said Robert. "Part of my message is not only to follow your heart but try to innovate in all things you do."
"I climb because I need to find something I enjoy in life and I enjoy climbing buildings," he continued. Robert made the climb despite windy conditions. By the time he finished, around midnight, he was climbing in the dark.
Some scenes of the 2011 American action film Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol were shot on and in the Burj Khalifa.
In the fourth film, directed by Brad Bird, Ethan Hunt is forced to climb the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building on Earth. Of course, since this is Mission: Impossible, they actually filmed Cruise hanging 2,722 feet above the ground. As Cruise later recalled, "Some of the crew couldn’t even go on the floor [of a room where the window had been taken out] just because of the height issue, it was too much for them. When I’m swinging from the building, I have crosswinds, and, when you see the shot, you’ll see that I’m actually flying. I had to figure out how to do that, I’m on a single rope at that point and when I leave the building and catch that wind, I am actually flying and trying to figure out how to move my feet like a rudder to move across the whole arc of the building."
An alternate version of the Burj Khalifa appears in the 2012 video game, Spec-Ops: The Line.
In the 2013 American animated film Planes, Dusty Crophopper and the plane competitors pass the Burj Khalifa in the stage from Germany to India.
In the 2016 American science fiction film Independence Day: Resurgence, the Burj Khalifa was seen where it—along with many other structures—is being thrown into London by the aliens using their mothership's anti-gravity pull.
The Burj Khalifa, alongside other Dubai landmarks, was featured in the music video of Thunder by Imagine Dragons.
In the 2017 American disaster film Geostorm, the building is hit by a massive tsunami, which causes the antenna to fall off and the building itself to tilt at a precarious angle.
In The Amazing Race 31, The Burj Khalifa served as one of the two detour choices in Leg 5. The Amazing Race 31 (also promoted as The Amazing Race: Reality Showdown) is the thirty-first installment of the reality television show The Amazing Race,
It features eleven teams of two – each consisting of contestants from previous seasons of Big Brother, Survivor, and The Amazing race - in a race around the world for a US$1 million grand prize. The season premiered on April 17, 2019.
The unique design and engineering challenges of building Burj Khalifa have been featured in a number of television documentaries, including Big, Bigger, Biggest and Mega Builders. In June 2010, Burj Khalifa was the recipient of the 2010 "Best Tall Building Middle East & Africa" award by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. On 28 September 2010 Burj Khalifa won the award for best project of the year at the Middle East Architect Awards 2010. The Burj Khalifa has won many outstanding awards in engineering Design Architecture and project to name a few. In 2012 an Award of Merit for World Voices Sculpture, Burj Khalifa Lobby from Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI), Chicago was awarded.
At the Top, Burj Khalifa SKY’ is the fourth Guinness World Records title for the Burj Khalifa. It also holds the records for the tallest building, the tallest man-made structure on land ever and the highest restaurant from ground level for At.mosphere.
Visitors to ‘At the Top, Burj Khalifa SKY’ begin their experience by relaxing in an exclusive luxury lounge where they are treated to dates and Arabic coffee, before a Guest Ambassador takes them to a dedicated elevator which transports them to level 125. Here guests switch elevators to reach level 148 where a premium lounge with five-star hospitality services awaits. Once on the record-breaking viewing platform a team of Guest Ambassadors introduce visitors to several pioneering experiences that integrate the latest in technology. An interactive life-size screen enables guests to discover iconic destinations in the city, from their prime position in the sky.
Visitors to At The Top Sky stop stop at the lower At The Top observation deck
The Burj Khalifa's At The Top Sky is the highest observation deck in the world
Unusual Skyscrapers from around the globe.
The Robot Building (Thai: ตึกหุ่นยนต์), located in the Sathorn business district of Bangkok, Thailand houses United Overseas Banks Bangkok headquarters. It was designed for the Bank of Asia by Sumet Jumsai to reflect the computerization of banking; its architecture is a reaction against neoclassical and high-tech postmodern architecture. The building's features, such as progressively receding walls, antennas, and eyes, contribute to its robotic appearance and to its practical function. Completed in 1986, the building is one of the last examples of modern architecture.
Shaped like an enormous pair of trousers, and known locally as Dà Kùchǎ (大裤衩; Big Pants), the astonishing CCTV Tower is an architectural fantasy that appears to defy gravity. It's made possible by an unusual engineering design that creates a three-dimensional cranked loop, supported by an irregular grid on its surface. Designed by Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, the building is an audacious statement of modernity (despite its nickname) and a unique addition to the Běijīng skyline. Unfortunately, there's no access to the site, unless you can score a visitors pass from someone who works there; the armed police who guard the gates lack a sense of humour. The strict security is partly a result of a February 2008 fire caused by stray fireworks from CCTV’s own Lantern Festival celebration, which sent the costly Television Cultural Center in the north of the complex up in flames. Despite burning for five hours with spectacular ferocity, none of this was shown on TV, with CCTV famously censoring its reporting of the huge conflagration (Běijīng netizens dryly noted how CCTV created one of the year’s biggest stories only to not cover it). The Běijīng Mandarin Oriental, a visitor’s centre and theatre were also destroyed in the blaze, but Big Pants itself escaped unsinged.
With it's distinctive and unique design, the Lippo Centre is one of the landmarks of Hong Kong. Completed in 1988, the building consists of 2 office towers with a retail element at ground floor and podium level. Tower one has a height of 186m and comprises 46 office floors while Tower two has 42 floors with a height of 172m. Located in the heart of Admirality, upper floor ocupants enjoy full sea views to the rear and views of Hong Kong Park in front of the building. The building design was inspired by Australian architect Paul Rudolf of Wong & Ouyang (HK) Ltd and indeed there are some who beleive the shapes along the building facade resemble koala bears climbing a tree trunk. Intially called the Bond Centre, the building was later renamed to The Lippo Centre on 23rd March 1988.
The Sutyagin House was a wooden house in Arkhangelsk, Russia, constructed by the local crime lord Nikolai Petrovich Sutyagin. The house no longer exists, but at one time, the 13-story, 44-metre-tall (144 ft) Sutyagin House was said to be the tallest wooden house in Russia or even the world. Starting in 1992, Mr. Sutyagin and his family constructed the house over 15 years without formal plans or a building permit.
Sutyagin only intended to build a two-storey structure — larger than those of his neighbors to reflect his position as the city’s richest man. He was inspired by the vernacular architecture and wooden houses of Japan and Norway to keep going. Sutyagin even built a five-storey bath house in the garden, complete with rooms where he could entertain his colleagues from his construction company and their girlfriends. However, Sutyagin was arrested on racketeering charges in 1998 and sent to prison for four years. When he was released, he had problems with the Fire Department, while city authorities pointed out to him that no wooden structure should be higher than two floors.
In this regard, in 2008, it was condemned by the city as a fire hazard, and the courts ordered it to be fully demolished by February 1, 2009. Most of the town is built of wood, and the concern was that it would catch on fire, fall over, and then cause the entire town to burn. On December 26, 2008, the tower was pulled down, and the remainder was dismantled manually over the course of the next several months. What remained as of late 2009 was a small two-story wooden house, roughly the size of what Sutyagin had originally planned to build. What remained of the structure burned to the ground on May 6, 2012.
You might consider the Burj Khalifa exceptionally massive and high but that building would be compared to a small house if X-Seed 4000 a revolutionary and extroadinary vision of the future ever becomes a reality. The X-Seed 4000 is the tallest building ever fully envisioned, meaning that the designs for construction have been completed. The idea was initially created and developed by Peter Neville. Its proposed 4 km (2.5 mi) height, 6 km (3.7 mi) wide sea-base, and 800 floor capacity could accommodate five hundred thousand to one million inhabitants. It was designed for Tokyo, Japan by the Taisei Corporation in 1995 as a futuristic environment combining ultra-modern living and interaction with nature. The X-Seed 4000 “is never meant to be built,” says Georges Binder, managing director of Buildings & Data, a firm which compiles data banks on buildings worldwide. “The purpose of the plan was to earn some recognition for the firm, and it worked.”
Unlike conventional skyscrapers, the X-Seed 4000 would be required to actively protect its occupants from considerable air pressure gradations and weather fluctuations along its massive elevation. Its design calls for the use of solar power to maintain internal environmental conditions. Also, the proposed area is situated on the Pacific Ring of Fire, which is the most active volcano range in the world so X-Seed 4000 would be subject to tsunamis and earthquakes. The Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid (also planned for Tokyo, Japan) faces the same problems.
Image Above - The Ultima Tower is a hypothetical supertall skyscraper, designed by American architect Eugene Tsui in 1991, It has been envisioned to be built in San Francisco, California and could accommodate up to 1 million people. With a total height of 3,218 metres (10,558 ft), the tower would be 2 miles tall, and comprise 500 stories if built. It is one of the tallest buildings/man-made structures ever conceived. The proposed tower would have a diameter at the base of 1,828.8 metres (6,000 ft), and comprise 1,500,000,000 square feet (140,000,000 m2), which is 140 km2 of interior floor space. Tsui proposed that the tower would be home to 1 million people, and would cost an estimated US$150 billion. The tower would use the atmospheric pressure difference between the bottom and the top of the tower to create electricity throughout the tower.[2] The building is intended to handle problems with overpopulation and to create a "mini-ecosystem" for its inhabitants.
Image Above - X-Seed 400 continued: A sea-based location and a Mount Fuji shape are some of this building’s other major design features — the real Mount Fuji is land-based and is 3776 m (2.35 miles) high, 224 m shorter than X-Seed 4000. The X-Seed 4000 is projected to be twice the height of the Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid at 2004 m. Other projects that may be in the top five man made structures are the Dubai City Tower (2400 m) and the Bionic Tower (1128 m) in either Hong Kong or Shanghai. These structures will all be in Asia. Some estimate that the cost to construct the X-Seed 4000 structure may be somewhere between US$300–900 billion, in 2006 dollars ($346 billion–$1.04 trillion in 2012)
Studio DMTW
Marc Anton Dahmen, Rene Lierschaft, Anna-Maria Wiedekind
Germany - NeoTax is a proposal for a three-dimensional city grid as a response to dead ends, long connection paths, wasted area, and interference with surface-related bio-ecological processes generated by standard skyscrapers.
NeoTax is a three-dimensional infrastructure network organized in a horizontal and vertical street grid that offers short connection paths and higher urban density with better local communications, less social isolation, and higher number of neighbor interactions. This projects seeks to create a hyper-rectangle, where residents can occupy a building site on X, Y and Z coordinates.
The network is based on a modular system where each module can be viewed as a separate quarter or neighborhood. It is designed to be able to expand by adding new infrastructure modules with plug-in residences that are less dependent on specific terrain conditions.
This proposed arched building is a unique solution to the question of how to create density without dominating a skyline or swallowing green space. Proposed for the city of Rennes, France, the gargantuan inhabited dome placed second in 2011's eVolo skyscraper competition. Designed by Yoann Mescam, Paul-Eric Schirr-Bonnans, and Xavier Schirr-Bonnans, Flat Tower envelops a vast green space, has the ability to collect sun and rainwater and is also a sustainable solution to developing appropriately large scale developments. The massive arch is 800 meters across or the length of the Burj Khalifa building set on it's side.
The principle was to build a large building without disrupting the skyline of a midsized city. Sizable honeycomb perforations allow daylight into the green space below while providing windows for the complex’s rooms. The building will hold recreational facilities at the ground level and residential and office spaces inside the vast complex above. Spaces can be arranged as clusters to provide for the needs of the inhabitants. Connectivity is achieved by an automated transport system. The roof mimics a hill, providing an optimal space to install solar electric panels on the southern face. The building also can collect rainwater for domestic use or to feed the urban green space below its arched mass. The design team note that while this project was placed in Rennes, France, it could work well in many mid sized cities.
Certified as the “World’s furthest leaning man-made tower” in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2010, the Capital Gate Building in Abu Dhabi has lately become one of Abu Dhabi’s most famous landmarks. The Capital Gate featuring unusual design, forms the center of the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre complex and the Capital Centre master development, a connected group of 23 towers including luxury hotels, commercial buildings, residential and serviced apartment complexes. The 35-storey 160 meter (520 ft) high leaning skyscraper is one of the tallest buildings in the city. Just imagine, it leans at 18 degrees to the west, which is four times more than the noted Tower of Pisa! The building has a 7-foot-deep concrete base with a dense mesh of reinforced steel; the central core of the building slants in the opposite direction to the lean of the structure, and it straightens as it grows. Interesting is that each hotel room is unique in size and shape, with floor-to-ceiling windows that let visitors enjoy the astounding views of the city below.