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Already acknowledged as the world's tallest tower, Burj Dubai achieved another global first on May 12th 2008 when it was officially recognized as the tallest building and the tallest man-man structure in the world. Glass panels that were installed at a dizzy height of 512 meters took the building up to 636 meters surpassing the current record holder, the Petronas Towers of Malaysia by 181 meters.

Scaling New Heights In Luxury

The center piece of Downtown Dubai and one of Dubai's iconic landmarks, Burj Dubai, is surrounded by plush open green spaces and spacious pedestrian boulevards in addition to a combination of residential, commercial, leisure, hotel and entertainment outlets including Dubai Mall, the world's largest shopping mall. A large man-made lake wraps around the tower offering every facade of the tower with dramatic but different day and night-time views.

The tower itself is made up of swanky residential apartments, the uber-luxurious Armani Hotel, high-tech office space, four magnificent pools, an exclusive residents' lounge and an elite cigar club as well as state-of-the-art fitness facilities, serviced residences and an observatory.

Salient Architectural Features

- The footprint of the building, a tri-lobed shape is based on an abstract desert flower indigenous to the region

- At certain angles the silhouette of the building proffers a subtle hint to the onion domes characteristic of Islamic architecture

- The foundation, which was constructed using over 110,000 tons of concrete, consists of a concrete and steel podium with 192 piles descending down to a depth of over 50 meters

- Innovatively designed to withstand Dubai's soaring summer temperatures, the exterior facade consists of 22,000 cladding panels made of reflective glazing with stainless steel tubular vertical fins and aluminum and textured stainless steel spandrel panels

- The building uses futuristic double-decker elevators

- The highest residential floor occupies the 109th floor and the observation deck is on the 124th level with a private club above that

- Remarkably similar to the bundled tube concept of the Sears Tower, Burj Dubai is technically not a tube structure at all. Despite its striking resemblance, it is structurally entirely different from the Sears Tower

The Tower Of Dubai - A Global Icon

Literally translated as the 'Tower of Dubai', Burj Dubai was initially conceived as a 90-storey structure. An ambitious aspiration to construct a global icon gave rise to this towering magnum opus in steel, concrete and glass, which has made the world sit up and acknowledge the Dubai property development market as a global leader to contend with.

According to Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties, the Tower of Dubai is more than just an architectural and engineering masterpiece; it is truly a human achievement that would be impossible to rival or even equal. As a case in point, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat plans on holding its 8th World Congress in Dubai and is using Burj Dubai as an archetype to demonstrate the extent to which modern-day structures are pushing the boundaries of technology and engineering.