Tallest Building in The World

One of the best example of how modern architecture and 

engineering has pushed the boundaries of

what is possible and what is impossible is the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The construction of the Burj Khalifa began on 2004 in the city of Dubai of the United Arab Emirates and completed in 2010. This massive 163 story building is estimated to have cost $1.5 billion to construct in just 6 years. The official height is of 2,717 feet, overtaking its competition by almost 800 feet. This project attracted numerous designers from around the world to a design competition. The winner of which was the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP architecture firm, one of the top firms in the entire world. This is also the same company that designed the One World Trade Center in New York. The consulting design partner from this company is Adrian Smith, who was the primary designer. His designed was based of a flower common to the Middle East called Hymenocallis. Just like the flower's petals, the building begins with a solid base and breaks off sections around a central core as the height of the building increases, until leaving a narrow tip. The building also required a massive amount of work. According to the Burj Khalifa's main website it took 1,325 days since the day construction began in January, 2004 to to become the tallest free staring structure in the world. The job required over 30 different contracting companies from around the world and at peak of the construction, over 12,000 workers were on the site everyday. 

This building has received numerous awards and holds many current world records including:

• The tallest building in the world
• Tallest free-standing structure in the world
• Highest number of stories in the world
• Highest occupied floors in the world
• Highest outdoor observation deck on the world
• Elevator with the longest travel distance in the world
• Tallest service elevator in the world.

References: 

http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/