It’s the shining jewel of the Arabian Peninsula. It started life as the Burj Dubai, but after a $25 billion dollar bailout from Abu Dhabi’s ruler, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, it is now the Burj Khalifa. Either way, the tallest building in the world had an appropriately massive grand opening ceremony yesterday, complete with fireworks (as you can see above). Of course, this all took place outside, because vast swaths of the building remain unfinished, but that’s just quibbling!
Just look at this beautiflu monster’s features: 1044 residential apartments, 49 floors of office space, the 160-room Armani Hotel Dubai, the world’s most innovative water reclamation system, the world’s highest observation deck, the world’s highest nightclub, the world’s highest swimming pool, pressurized safe zones in case of fires, daily water shows… basically, it’s the world’s highest or tallest anything man-made. It’s a staggering feat of architecture seemingly dropped into the middle of the desert from the not-too-distant future.
Tags: the world’s tallest building, the tallest building in the world, world records, Burj Dubai, Burj Khalifa, Armani Hotel Dubai, world’s highest nightclub, world’s highest swimming pool, giant buildings, architecture, wonders of the modern world, dubai