| Growing
up, whenever a new edition of The Guinness Book of Records was
published, the first page I always consulted was on tallest manmade
structures. It was therefore no surprise that back in 1990, a visit up
the CN Tower in Toronto and The Empire State Building in N.Y.C.
confirmed my love of high buildings. Here, in Dubai, the visit would have felt personally far from fulfilling without a trip up the Burj Khalifa tower. Construction of Burj Khalifa began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010. At 829.8 m (2,722 ft) and more than 160 floors, Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world by every architectural definition*. It is the tallest free-standing structure in the world, has the highest number of stories in the world, the highest occupied floor in the world, the second highest outdoor observation deck in the world, elevators with the longest travel distance in the world (504 m/1,654 ft) and it boasts the tallest service elevator in the world. At the base, the fountains are not to be missed, with regular shows of light and sound, shooting water up to 150 m (490 ft) into the air. Its a big one. After my photo slideshow below, a brief bit about the visit itself, and then a panoramic stitch I have put together from my photos. Some photos taken with zoom on. * Burj Khalifa is due to be overtaken in height by the Jeddah Tower (Kingdom Tower) in Saudi Arabia, due for completion in 2020. As of June 2016, the Jeddah Tower had reached the 42nd floor. |
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Notes on visit: Tickets
for the observation deck were purchased in advance over the internet for
£22 per person. People at the ticket desk itself were paying in the
region of £65 per person and being told to come back another day due to
it being sold out. Entrance is via the lower ground level of The Dubai
Mall - allow plenty of time to get there and various items, such as food
for consumption aren't allowed in. For our visit, we went up just before
sunset, so the price of a single ticket provided viewing both in
daylight and night time. There is no limit per se as to how long you are
allowed to stay up the observation deck, but bear in mind that there are
no refreshments available once up there and no seating. It is by first
hand account here that if you find a nice spot on the floor to sit, a
member of staff will politely ask you to stand up. The observation deck
is divided into an indoor area and a smaller outdoor area. Space in
terms of too many people was not an issue, although as one might expect,
some patience is required when jostling for that all important photo
spot. The observation deck allows for complete 360° views from the 124th
floor. Personally, I found it quite difficult to judge the scale of
everything - what appears to be a relatively small building you are
looking down on is quite tall in its own right. The best bet is to look
straight down! Palm Jumeirah and The World Islands (in daylight) were
clearly visible, although the desert dust did hinder very long distance
viewing. Further details here: http://www.burjkhalifa.ae/en/ As mentioned above, below is a panoramic stitch I have put together from some of my photos, showing the view from the observation deck. |
