The beginning of a new era

This century could be a shifting time for humanity, regarding the last big projects constructed, the buildings that are currently under construction, or the ones that are only models.

We have seen huge changes in the history of buildings, from adpated caves to wooden constructions, or last century´s most commonly material used: concrete. We have also seen buildings grow from 2 to hundreds of metres. But this time, the change is not only in terms of materials and height, but also in design and, whats more important, in creating living environments inside the buildings, as if they were small cities.

The inflection point has come with the recent construction of the Burj Khalifa (known as Burj Dubai during its construction process). Built in the new cradle of skyscrapers, the Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, surpassing the last record by more than 300 metres, held by Taipei 101. But this is not the only record that this building has crashed, some other examples are:

• World´s tallest structure ever built, preceded by Warsaw Radio Mast.
• World´s tallest free-standing structure, preceded by CN Tower.
• Building with most floors, precede by Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower).
• Highest outdoor observation deck in the world.

The building itself has beaten up to 14 records, but if we look at what´s surrounding the building, we would realise that the project was from the beginning even bigger than just constructing the tallest building in the world. For instance, the Dubai Fountain at the bottom of the tower is the biggest fountain spectacle in the world, beating the Bellagio fountain´s spectale in Las Vegas, which was designed by the same company that designed the Dubai Fountain. Furthermore, the Burj Khalifa is surrounded by a 27-acre park, which has six water features, gardens, palm lined walkways, and flowering trees.

But all these facts and figures, all these records crashed wouldn´t mean anything if we dont know what´s the building being used for. And here is what´s going to be changed by the future projects, because the Burj Khalifa is mainly used, as many other skyscrapers, for offices, residences and corporate suites, communication and broadcast, and it also features the first Armani Hotel in the world.

From now on, this is about to be changed, as some of the most ambitious projects are concieved to hold not only residences, hotels and offices, but also a whole environment to provide everything that someone would need to live inside a building, and therefore creating vertical cities.

Here´s a short promotional video of the construction process of the Burj Khalifa, recorded by one of its builders (Samsung Engineers):