The developer of the world's tallest building, which finally opened Jan. 4 in Dubai after more than a year's delay, has announced the height at 828 meters. The announcement ends years of speculation, fueled by developer Emaar Properties. Members of the design and construction team, including architect-engineer Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and lead contractor Samsung Corp., were contractually obligated to keep the height a secret.
The 828-m height makes the building a whopping 320 m taller than the previous world's tallest building, the 508-m Taipei 101. The difference is equivalent to an 80-story-plus tower. The Burj Khalifa, which is the Burj Dubai's new name, became the world's tallest structure--surpassing the 628.8-m-tall KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota--1,325 days after excavation started in January 2004. The height has not yet been confirmed by the keeper of the records, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
