Burj Khalifa

The much-heralded Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the tallest building and tallest free-standing structure in the world. This 162-story vertical city encompasses commercial, residential, retail, hospitality, restaurants, observation decks and communications facilities. NORR’s role as architect of record was to bring to life the vision of the design architect, Skidmore Owings Merrill (SOM).

The NORR team supervised the architecture and led design coordination during construction. The monumental task of analyzing every aspect of the design to ensure buildability and code compliance was the responsibility of our on-site team of 20 architects and support personnel. The logistics of constructing of the world’s tallest commercial building were staggering; it took 12,000 workers on the site every day, totaling 22 million work-hours over the five-year construction period. The tower’s curtainwall is equivalent to 25 American football fields and the concrete used in construction could lay a sidewalk 1,285 miles (2,065 kilometers) long. The coordination and installation of complex mechanical and electrical requirements for this massive commercial mixed-use building was a major challenge. In the end, Burj Khalifa is an architectural, engineering and construction marvel that continues to dazzle the world.