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 which is 30 MPa which yielded 450 sq. A cathodic protection system is under the concrete to neutralise the sulphate and chloride-rich groundwater and prevent corrosion.
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Most of the workers involved in the riot returned the following day but refused to work. CTLGroup, working for Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, conducted the creep and shrinkage testing critical for the structural analysis of the building. Samsung C&T built the tower in a joint venture with BESIX from Belgium and Arabtec from the UAE. 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.
The hotel was supposed to open on 18 March 2010, but after several delays, it finally opened to the public on 27 April 2010. At the top, the central core emerges and is sculpted to form a finishing spire. The building was opened in 2010 as part of a new development called Downtown Dubai. The steel was shipped to Dubai after the Palace’s demolition was completed in 2008. Engineers initially considered installing the world’s first triple-deck elevators. The double-deckers are equipped with LCD displays to amuse visitors during their travel to the observation deck.
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An outdoor zero-entry swimming pool is located on the 76th floor of the tower. The design is derived from the Islamic architecture of the region, such as in the Great Mosque of Samarra. The Y-shaped tripartite floor geometry is designed to optimise residential and hotel space. A buttressed central core and wings are used to support the height of the building. The structure also features a cladding system which is designed to withstand Dubai’s hot summer temperatures. It has also been the tallest building in the world since its topping out in 2009, surpassing Taipei 101, which had held the record for a half-decade.
The Burj Khalifa was built primarily by workers from South Asia and East Asia. On 17 June 2008, there were about 7,500 skilled workers employed at the construction site. 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. Cooler concrete cures more evenly and is, therefore, less likely to set too quickly and crack. Samples were taken from test holes drilled to a depth of 140 metres, finding weak to very weak rock all the way. On the higher floors, the sun is seen for several minutes after it has set at ground level.
Outside the Burj Khalifa, WET Enterprises designed a fountain system at a cost of Dh 800 million (US$217 million). On 26 October 2008, Emaar announced that based on results of a naming contest the fountain would be called the Dubai Fountain. The spire of Burj Khalifa is composed of more than 4,000 tonnes (4,400 short tons; 3,900 long tons) of structural steel. The central pinnacle pipe weighs 350 tonnes (390 short tons; 340 long tons) and has a height of 200 m (660 ft).
This 244-metre (801 ft) spire is widely considered vanity height, since very little of its space is usable. Such a skyscraper, if located in Europe, would be the 11th tallest building on that continent. The firm had designed the Sears Tower in Chicago, a previous record holder for the world’s tallest building. Like the tower, the park’s design was based on the flower of the Hymenocallis, a desert plant.
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Putzmeister created a new, super high-pressure trailer concrete pump, the BSA 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. Three tower cranes were used during the construction of the uppermost levels, each capable of lifting a 25-tonne load. Hyder Consulting’s role was to supervise construction, certify the architect’s design, and be the engineer and architect of record to the UAE authorities.
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Emaar Properties also engaged GHD, an international multidisciplinary consulting firm, to act as an independent verification and testing authority for concrete and steelwork. Burj Khalifa uses the bundled tube design of the Willis Tower, invented by Fazlur Rahman Khan. Due to its tubular system, proportionally only half the amount of steel was Lucky Mister used in the construction, compared to the Empire State Building. Khan’s contributions to the design of tall buildings have had a profound impact on architecture and engineering. It would be difficult to find any worldwide practices in the design of tall buildings that have not been directly or indirectly influenced by his work.
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The air conditioning system draws air from the upper floors where the air is cooler and cleaner than on the ground. The tower was known as Burj Dubai («Dubai Tower») until its official opening in January 2010. The Emaar New Year’s Eve fireworks celebration originated in 2010 with the inauguration of the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa.