Design inspired by the desert

The design for the Burj Khalifa combines local cultural influences with cutting-edge technology to achieve high performance in an extreme desert climate. As the centerpiece of a mixed-use development, the 162-story tower contains offices, retail space, residential units, and an Armani Hotel. The Y-shaped floor plan maximizes views of the Arabian Gulf. At ground level, the skyscraper is surrounded by green space, water features, and pedestrian-friendly boulevards.

The design for the tower is inspired by the geometries of a regional desert flower and the patterning systems embodied in Islamic architecture. Built of reinforced concrete and clad in glass, the tower is composed of sculpted volumes arranged around a central buttressed core. As it rises from a flat base, setbacks occur in an upward spiraling pattern, which reduces the building’s mass as it reaches skyward. At the pinnacle, the central core emerges and is sculpted to form a spire.

Engineered to reach new heights

SOM’s architects and engineers developed innovative strategies to meet the unique challenges of building a tower of unprecedented height. The simple Y-shaped plan reduces wind forces and also enhances constructability. Each wing, with its own high-performance concrete core and perimeter columns, buttresses the others via a six-sided central core, or hexagonal hub. The result is a tower that is extremely stiff torsionally. The rigorous geometry of the design aligns all of the common central core and column elements.

The setbacks are organized in conjunction with the tower’s grid: the stepping is achieved by aligning columns above with walls below to provide a smooth load path. This enabled construction to proceed without the typical delays associated with column transfers. At each setback, the building’s width changes. The advantage of the tower’s stepping and shaping is, in essence, to “confuse the wind.” Wind vortices can never coalesce because the wind encounters a different building shape at each tier.

Artful interior design

With more than 3 million square feet of interior space at Burj Khalifa, planning and interior design began at the earliest stages of structural and architectural development. In designing the lobbies, guest amenities, lounges, offices, board room floor and chairman’s suite, SOM’s interiors team took inspiration from the building’s technological achievement as much as from the region’s culture and heritage. The interiors of the highest floors reflect celestial influences, inspired by the notion of a stationary spacecraft.

This is in contrast to the lower floors, which evoke the natural elements of the land. Apart from glass, stainless steel and polished dark stones, the interiors also feature silver travertine flooring, Venetian stucco walls, handmade rugs, stone flooring and dark, intricate Brazilian Santos rosewood to reflect shelter, comfort, and above all, restrained luxury.

SOM also developed an art program for the tower, placing more than 500 individual pieces by local and international artists. In the residential lobby, a large-scale installation by artist Jaume Plensa, entitled “World Voices,” consists of 196 hand-crafted cymbals attached to slender stainless steel tubes above shallow pools of water. Special equipment mounted within the ceiling slowly drips water onto the cymbals, producing an ambient soundscape within the lobby.

Sustainable engineering innovation

Beyond its record-breaking height, the Burj Khalifa incorporates holistic strategies for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems that make the building highly efficient, while minimizing environmental impact and reducing material usage and waste. Providing comfort and a healthy indoor environment were central goals. The high-performance curtain wall attenuates the summer heat and delivers superb radiant thermal comfort.

The team designed a “life boat” vertical transportation system with advanced monitoring and controls to provide easy egress during emergency events. The office pavilion integrates a backup system that can serve critical functions, such as supplying and draining water during a power outage. A “sky-sourced” ventilation system pulls cool, less humid air through the top of the building while employing one of the largest condensate recovery systems in the world.