Burj Khalifa

«Dubai needed an object that would define it on the world map.»

— MOHAMED ALABBAR · FOUNDER, EMAAR

The idea of a tower that would become the world's tallest emerged inside Emaar Properties under the leadership of its founder Mohamed Alabbar in the late 1990s. Dubai was already known as an ambitious tourist hub, but lacked the architectural object that would define it on the world map. Alabbar saw the tower as a way to make a statement: Dubai is not merely a business hub between Europe and Asia, but a place where the impossible is possible. In 2003 the company signed a contract with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill — an American architectural firm that had already designed the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) in Chicago. Adrian Smith was appointed lead architect.

Foundation works began on 6 January 2004. Beneath the tower sit 192 reinforced concrete piles, 1.5 m in diameter and 50 m deep. The foundation took 7,000 cubic metres of concrete. Construction itself moved at a furious pace: by 2007 the 141st floor was reached — the height at which Burj Khalifa already surpassed Taipei 101. By August 2008 it stood at 688 metres, becoming the tallest man-made structure on Earth. At peak, more than 12,000 workers operated on site across two shifts. Concrete was pumped to a height of up to 605 metres through specialised systems — a world record for liquid concrete placement. The tower was built by a joint venture of Samsung C&T (South Korea), BESIX (Belgium) and Arabtec (UAE).