Burj Khalifa known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the
tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft). Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010 and is part of the new 2 km2 (490-acre) flagship development called
Downtown Dubai at the 'First Interchange' along Sheikh
Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district.
The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill of Chicago, with Adrian Smith as chief architect, and Bill Baker as chief structural engineer.The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea.
The
total cost for the project was about
US$1.5 billion; and for the entire
"Downtown Dubai" development, US$20 billion. In March 2009, Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of the project's developer, Emaar Properties, said office space pricing at Burj Khalifa reached US$4,000 per sq ft (over US$43,000 per m2) and the Armani Residences, also in Burj Khalifa, sold for US$3,500 per sq ft (over US$37,500 per m2).