Now Introducing The Burj Dubai

But the emirate does have something to celebrate: The Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building, is due to officially open on January 4.
 
Precisely how many feet this superlative tower rises into the sky remains a mystery. “The final height is still being guarded closely,” says George Efstathiou, FAIA, managing partner in charge of the project at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. “We’re bound to keep it a secret.”
 
The skyscraper is widely believed to be 2,684 feet tall, but recent changes to the way the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat measures building height complicates such estimates. Still, regardless of final calculations, the Burj Dubai will rise considerably higher than Taiwan’s 1,667-foot-tall Taipei 101, which opened in 2004 and has held the record for the world’s tallest building in terms of “height to architectural top.”
 
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