Mystery of Burj Khalifa | How Tall can Humans Build?

6th January, 2004. Dubai’s sandy soil started being dug to build the tallest building in the world. Around the end of 2004, the world’s tallest building was Taipei 101. Located in Taiwan, this building was a little over 500m tall. But the goal they set out to achieve in Dubai was unimaginable and record-breaking. They wanted a building so tall that not only would it be the tallest building in the world but also be 62% taller than the second-tallest building.

The difference between the tallest and second tallest would discourage anyone attempting to break its record. Before Burj Khalifa, the previous world’s tallest buildings were about 5%-10% taller than their predecessor. At most, 19% taller. But here, they were aiming to build it 829m tall. A difference of 62%. It took about 5.5 years to construct this building, and on 1st October 2009, the construction of the Burj Khalifa ended, and this building left the world astounded.

After the success of Burj Khalifa, several countries announced that they’ll build even taller buildings. Many attempted it. But till now, all plans have flopped. It has been more than 13 years, and till now, the record set by Burj Khalifa remains unbeaten. Why? Why is it so difficult to beat this record? And practically speaking, how tall can the buildings built by humans be? Come, in this video, let’s try to understand this.

“When the Burj in Dubai is complete it will be the tallest structure that mankind has ever built on the face of the planet. Until someone builds an even bigger one.” “This is the story of the tallest tower mankind has ever built. Half a mile high.”

Friends, for about 4,000 years the tallest structure built by humans was the Great Pyramid of Giza. It was built around 2500 BC as a tomb for the Pharaoh Khufu. Its height is 145m. This record was broken only after the 1300s, when a cathedral was built in England that was ~160m tall. For the next 500 years, this record was beaten by a series of churches, until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889. But then, Eiffel Tower isn’t precisely a building. It’s not a building in which people can stay or work in.

In terms of proper buildings, this building by Chicago Home Insurance, built in 1884, is known as the world’s first skyscraper. This was a building built for humans. Where people went to work, it was used as an office space. Before this, the previous tall structures were either built for monarchs or for Gods. This was a major turning point in human history. Though this building was only 55m tall. Shorter than the Great Pyramid of Giza. But only after this did we get the innovation and technology that we could build habitable skyscrapers.

When the competition to build tall buildings began, it was limited to New York and Chicago. Because America was the world’s largest and most productive economy till the end of the 19th century. And these 2 cities were central to the most economic boom. Many people wanted to live in these cities. Big companies wanted big office spaces, and to accommodate people better in the city, these skyscrapers had to be built.

Some honourable mentions here: New York’s Empire State Building. It remained the world’s tallest building from 1931 to 1971. It held the record for 40 years. And in the modern context, it held the record for the longest time. It was beaten in 1971 by another building in New York, the World Trade Centre at 417m. 9% taller than Empire State Building’s 381m. In 1998, the competition spread out of America and shifted towards Asia. When the Petronas Towers were built in Kuala Lumpur at the height of 452m. They held the status of the world’s tallest building till 2004, after which, it was beaten by Taipei 101. And in 2009, with the biggest margin, Burj Khalifa beat all of them. From 510m to 829m.

Initially, when Burj Khalifa was being planned, its initial proposed height was around 550m. During planning, they kept on increasing the height until it was as tall as we know. At that time, the brief of the tower was to design a tower which was 550m. Which was then slightly taller than the world record holder at that time which was Taipei 101. We learned as we got into the project that we could go higher. And there was a desire to go higher. And not only break the record by a little bit, but we could break it by a big margin. The reason was that in the downtown area of Dubai this building would be the centerpiece attraction.

Before the 1990s, Dubai was basically a village for fishing and pearl diving that had discovered oil recently. But by the late 1990s and the early 2000s, the leaders in Dubai wanted to diversify their economy. To move beyond the dependence on oil. They wanted to make Dubai an international tourism hub. To grab international attention and to bring foreign investment, they had to do something to surprise the world.

Friends, Burj Khalifa is so tall that if you jump out from its top, it will take you 13 seconds to fall to the ground. Without any air resistance. But if you account for the air resistance then, to fall to the ground from the very top, it might take you up to 20 seconds. Burj Khalifa is so tall that if you watch the sunset from the ground, and then take the lift to its top, you can watch the sunset again. It cost $1.5 billion to build this. With more than 12,000 workers, with more than 100 distinct nationalities, and spent 22 million man-hours.

But obviously, the purpose of building it turned out to be quite successful. Today, not only has Dubai become an international hub for tourism, but also an economic hub. A large number of companies want to have their office in Dubai. People want to live in Dubai. Want to buy property there. And the downtown area where this Burj Khalifa was built, property prices have skyrocketed so much that this $1.5 billion was easily recovered.

The question arises, what is so special about the Burj Khalifa that makes it so difficult to beat it? And if someone tries to build a taller building, realistically, how tall can we build? To understand this, we need to first understand the problems that are encountered while building such tall buildings. When such a tall building is built, it needs to support its weight. At those heights, the winds are quite strong, so it needs to be ensured that there’s no damage due to the winds. And the Burj Khalifa overcame these challenges due to its innovative design. If you look at the design from the top, it’s in a Y shape. Similar to a tripod, this building has three wings.

Supported by a hexagonal core at the center of the building. This structural system is known as the Buttressed Core. This was invented by Burj Khalifa’s structural engineer Bill Baker. This structural system was used for the first time in South Korea’s Tower Palace 3. With the height of 264m. After its success, the architects realized that using this system can help build taller buildings. And only with its help, Burj Khalifa could be so tall. So tall that the second-tallest building was 300m shorter. And Burj Khalifa was only the second building in the world to use this Buttressed core system. With the help of this system, the impact of the strong winds that blow can be reduced.

Compare this to the new residential building in New York that has been built very tall and falls under the category of Super Tall but without using the Buttressed Core system. What needs to be done in those buildings? To be safe from the winds, a few floors must be left empty. So that the winds could pass through. Such as this 432 Park Avenue building. Apart from this, Burj Khalifa’s foundation has 192 concrete and steel columns under it. They extend to 50m into the ground. Similarly, the building above ground needed concrete too. Concrete had to be delivered to the very top.

To do this, the world’s largest concrete pumps were built so that Burj Khalifa could be built. The exterior of the building uses more than 100,000m² glass as you can see in the photos. But an even more surprising fact is that the exterior of the Burj Khalifa forms the world’s largest LED screen. That’s right! World’s Biggest LED Screen. This is why you can watch light shows on Burj Khalifa. You can see colorful designs and patterns, and even movie trailers. Recently, before the release of the film Pathaan, Shah Rukh Khan was in front of the Burj Khalifa when the trailer of Pathaan was being shown on Burj Khalifa.

How can this be possible? The entire movie trailer being shown on a building. You might think that this is a projection. That the trailer was being projected onto the building by a projector. It wasn’t. There are LED lights on the building. Such as the tiny LED lights on your computer screens and TV, there are 1.2 million LED lights on this building in total. From up close, the LED lights look like this. Each light is quite large. But if you see these 1.2 million LED lights from afar, it’ll feel as if you are watching a TV screen. It enables videos of any length to be played on this building.

And you might be wondering that when videos are being played, won’t it create problems for the people inside the Burj Khalifa? The fact is that, to avoid such problems, the inside of the Burj Khalifa has been made completely black. The window glasses have been treated in a way that no light can enter the building from the outside. Also, as a safety feature, there are pressurized and air-conditioned refuge areas available on every 25 floors. This ensures safety in case of fire. Apart from this, the staircases of the building are fire-proof and prevent the spread of the fire. In case a fire occurs, these measures can be used to ensure safety and can help control the fire from spreading.

The future holds the possibility of buildings taller than the Burj Khalifa. There are several ongoing projects to build taller buildings. Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, if it’s completed as planned, will become the first building to be taller than 1km. It was designed by the same architect who designed Burj Khalifa. The aim of this building is to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy. But the construction of this building has been stalled since early 2018 due to several issues. Another building that was planned in Dubai, the Dubai Creek Tower, was planned to be an observation tower.

The foundation was laid, but the construction of this building was stopped. Currently, the exact height of this building is undisclosed. The only criterion for a building to be the tallest is that it must have residential and commercial spaces. Since Dubai Creek Tower will only be an observation tower, it won’t be classified as the tallest building if completed. Other proposed buildings include Mubarak Al-Kabir Tower in Kuwait and Tokyo’s Sky Mile Tower.

They all have proposed very ambitious plans to build even taller buildings. But these plans are still theoretical and have faced several delays. The question remains, how tall can we actually build? There are various factors that limit us, such as the strength of materials like concrete and steel. Carbon fiber has the potential to help overcome these limitations. But other practical challenges, such as the acclimatization of the human body and socio-economic factors, play a crucial role. Building structures taller than 1.5 to 3 km poses challenges related to material strength, air pressure, and cost. Despite innovations and theoretical possibilities, practical constraints suggest that Burj Khalifa’s record will likely remain unbeaten for the foreseeable future.