Burj Khalifa Building the world’s tallest had its challenges
The much-heralded Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is the CLIENT Emaar Properties PJSC tallest building and tallest free-standing structure in the world. This PORTFOLIO Commercial 162-story vertical city encompasses commercial, residential, retail, CATEGORY Ground Up Building hospitality, restaurants, observation decks and communications facilities. SIZE 3,331,100 SF (309,473 SM) NORR’s role as architect of record was to bring to life the vision of the LOCATION Dubai, UAE design architect, Skidmore Ownings & Merrill (SOM). DATE 2009
The NORR team supervised the architecture and led design coordination SERVICES Architecture 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.
View Online Commercial
NORR’s focus on high-performance buildings is supported by our integrated design approach, with architects, interior designers and engineers working in unison to create optimum solutions. Our project experience extends across the entire spectrum of services, from master planning to workplace strategies. We take a client-centric approach to every project to deliver on business objectives and long-term value and efficiencies.
Designing to Meet Business Objectives need to offer a gamut of completely-wired, flexible floor plates, collaborative and hoteling workspaces and Our commercial architecture design approach is to employee amenities to remain competitive for tenants create impactful, creative and sustainable projects and skilled talent respectively. At NORR, we design for to respond to our client’s very specific goals and today, and tomorrow, to ensure our clients realize long- business objectives. We design for the future by term value. creating state-of- the-art office structures and interiors that support healthy environments for the workforce. Sustainable building practices are also relevant when This enables higher employee productivity and lower considering resiliency in the designs of building operating costs. We do this through research and envelopes and reducing the environmental footprint, selection of mechanical, electrical, life safety, elevator resulting in cost and energy savings. We’ve partnered and communications systems, sustainable materials with our clients to realize efficiencies on everything and programs for each and every design project. The from brownfield projects to renovations to adaptive result is measurable performance against business reuse structures. In every instance, we embrace the objectives. vital role that design plays in our lives and communities.
Creating for Long-Term Value and Efficiencies
We also know that it is critical that office buildings, workspaces and systems, be designed for flexibility, to accommodate the changing demands of tenants, and their workforce, over time. Expectations of the work environment and the rapid advance in technology are major factors in design. Building owners and employers
CONTACT E [email protected] norr.com