The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is currently the world’s tallest building at 2,717 feet. This building, known commonly as just The Burj, is so tall that if the Empire State Building were stacked on top of itself, the resulting structure would only be a few meters taller by comparison.

“The building so tall, you go through a climate change on your way to the top,” said William Baker, the chief engineer for the Burj Khalifa project.

Baker was the lead speaker for Monday’s event, “Creating the Language of Architecture: Burj Khalifa and Beyond,” which was hosted at the McKimmon Center.

In 2010, the Burj eclipsed Taiwan’s Taipei 101 as the official tallest building in the world, capping off a long history of skyscrapers dating back to 1885. At the end of the 19th century, inventions such as steel beams and the elevator allowed for changes in building design. Engineers no longer had to rely on the strength of the outside walls to support the weight of the building, and instead could allow a central, steel beam structure to carry the building’s weight.

Nearly 130 years later, thanks to Baker’s revolutionary design, the Burj towers over the desert landscape of Dubai.

“The building is an amazing landmark achieved for the 21st century,” said Louis Martin-Vega, dean of the College of Engineering.

According to Baker, the Burj relies on a Y-shaped floor plan as opposed to the traditional square shape. Baker was the lead engineer for the Burj construction project, and said that the Burj’s concrete buttressed core gives buildings a stable tripod-like stance. Narrow floors maximize both the window access and usable space.

Baker said extensive planning was necessary before construction began. The Burj design underwent wind tunnel and lighting tests in preparation for the harsh Dubai conditions.

“Every couple minutes the building is hit by lightning strike,” Baker said. “My inbox gets full of pictures of lightning striking the building when there’s a storm.”

Dubai’s location and economic status helped facilitate the Burj, which cost about $1.5 billion to build. GulfBusiness, a business magazine that covers the Persian Gulf, recently rated the UAE as number six on a list of richest nations in the world, based on gross domestic product per capita. The United States didn’t even make the list.

“Dubai is where everyone goes to do business, and it’s very safe,” Baker said. “All western companies have a headquarters there.”

The Burj is mostly residential, but certain floors toward the top include what Baker calls “prestigious boutique office spaces.” The first floor is also home to Giorgio Armani’s first hotel.

“I thought it would be great to work with a fashion designer, but it took him forever to make decisions,” Baker said of Armani.  

Residents of the Burj enjoy sweeping desert views and top-of-the-line amenities. The one downside, Baker said, is window cleaning.

“You have to be able to wash the windows because Tom Cruise is not always available,” Baker said.