Nestled in amongst countless small business buildings and other business structures, the Burg Dubai skyscraper stands as a solo giant. There is no other structure on earth that even comes close. Imagine, being face to face with the largest skyscraper on earth. The Burj Dubai skyscraper is located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Construction began in 2004, and ultimately completed in 2009. Although constant service and maintenance is done on the skyscraper, the initial construction efforts were completed in this time frame. The name did change to Burj Khalifa “Khalifa Tower”

Even though it's located in the UAE, the engineering and architecture were performed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merill. Based out of Chicago, Skidmore/Owings/Merill was given the responsibility of designing this incredibly important structure from a far away land. The project ended up costing a total of 1.5 billion dollars, 1/20th of the entire construction cost of "Downtown Dubai".

This structure has a list of record breaking accomplishments including:

-Building with the most floors in the world - A total of 160 - Previous record holder was Willis Tower, comprised of 108 floors.

-World’s fastest elevators - 40 mph - Previous record holder was Taipei 101.

-Its height being, 828 m / 2716 feet

The building has 24,348 windows, and to wash them, a horizontal track that allows for easier cleaning efforts. It takes 36 workers a total of three to four months to clean the entire outside of the building. Coordinating the outside cleaning effort of the building takes tact and careful planning.

The building wasn't designed to be just a building. On the outside of the structure lies a fountain. Not some run of the mill, quickly created fountain, but a spectacular and elaborate design created by some of the most talented architects in the world. You can often see these fountains performing to music, accompanied by 6,600 lights and a coloured projector.An observation deck was created, allowing people to bear witness to this buildings amazing vertical prowess. People come from all over the world to visit this breathtaking site, made possible through the use of incredible advancements in architectural technology.

You can purchase your tickets in advance, and if you plan to visit, that's something you're going to want to do. The building gets a steady flow of visitors to the observation deck, enough to sell out at times.

The building is surrounded by a park of sorts. To be exact, it's 27 acres of gardens, palm walkways, and flowering trees with a water room at the centre. The water room features pools, water jets, and fountains. All the plants and shrubbery you'll see is watered through a condensation collection system, a very intricate method of watering plants and flowers that gets the job done efficiently. Annually, 68 million litres of water are fed to the incredibly vast number of plants.

Visiting this skyscraper would be spectacular. Actually bearing witness to such an accomplishment of architectural greatness and all the wonderful design enhancements that went into creating the Burj Dubai skyscraper would be amazing. Pressurized, air conditioned, and fully operational, it's truly spectacular.