Mystery of Burj Khalifa _ How Tall can Humans Build _ Dhruv Rathee
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00:00Hello, friends.
00:01On January 6, 2004,
00:02the excavation work in the Dubai sand begins
00:05to build the world's tallest building.
00:08The world's tallest building.
00:10By the end of 2004,
00:12the world's tallest building was actually Taipai 101.
00:15This building in Taiwan,
00:16whose height was a little more than 500 meters.
00:19But what the people in Dubai were trying to achieve,
00:22was unimaginable and record-breaking in itself.
00:25They wanted to make the building so tall
00:27that it not only became the world's tallest building,
00:29but 62% taller than the second tallest building.
00:33To make such a difference between the tallest and second tallest,
00:36that the next time someone wants to break this record,
00:38they should think twice.
00:39All the world's tallest buildings before Burj Khalifa,
00:42were 5% or 10% taller than the last world's tallest building.
00:46At most, it was 19% taller.
00:49But here, they are talking about taking it straight to 829 meters.
00:5462% difference.
00:56It takes about 5.5 years to construct this building.
01:00And on 1st October 2009,
01:02the construction of Burj Khalifa ends
01:04and the world is shocked by this building.
01:07Seeing the success of Burj Khalifa,
01:09many countries announced that they would build a taller building.
01:12Many tried but all the plans have been flopping.
01:16It's been more than 13 years
01:18and no one has been able to break the Burj Khalifa record yet.
01:21What is the reason behind this?
01:23Why is it so difficult to break this record?
01:25And practically speaking,
01:27how tall is it possible to build a building for humans?
01:30Let's try to find out in today's video.
01:36When the Burj Dubai is complete,
01:38it will be the tallest structure that mankind has ever built
01:42on the face of the planet.
01:45Until someone builds an even bigger one.
01:49This is the story of the tallest tower mankind has ever built.
01:54Half a mile high.
01:58Friends, for almost 4,000 years,
02:00the world's tallest structure was built by humans,
02:04the Great Pyramid of Giza.
02:06It was built around 2500 BC.
02:09It was built as a tomb for Pharaoh Khufu.
02:11And its height is 145 meters.
02:14This record was broken only after 1300s
02:17when a cathedral was built in England
02:19whose height was 160 meters.
02:22For the next 500 years,
02:23this record was not broken by another church
02:25until the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889.
02:29But the Eiffel Tower is not a building.
02:31It is not a building where people can live
02:33or go to work.
02:35If we talk about proper buildings,
02:37this building built in 1884 by Chicago Home Insurance
02:40is called the world's first skyscraper.
02:43Because it was a building built for humans.
02:46Where people could go to work.
02:48And use it as an office space.
02:49Before this, all the tall buildings
02:51were either built for kings or emperors
02:53or for gods.
02:55So this was a big turning point
02:57in the history of humans.
02:59Although this building was not that tall.
03:01It was only 55 meters.
03:03It was smaller than the Great Pyramid of Giza.
03:05But after this, such innovation and technology
03:07came that we could build tall buildings
03:09that we could live in.
03:11So the competition to build tall buildings
03:13was only seen in New York and Chicago.
03:15Because America was the world's
03:17largest and most productive economy
03:19till the end of the 19th century.
03:21And these two cities were the central cities
03:23where the most economic boom was seen.
03:25Many people wanted to live in these cities.
03:27Big companies
03:29demanded big office spaces.
03:31And to accommodate people in the city
03:33in a better way,
03:35skyscrapers were needed.
03:37There are some honorable mentions here.
03:39Like this Empire State Building of New York.
03:41From 1931 to 1971,
03:43it was the tallest building in the world.
03:45It held this record for 40 years.
03:47And if you compare it to the modern times,
03:49it held this record for the longest time.
03:51In 1971,
03:53it was beaten by another building
03:55of New York,
03:57World Trade Center.
03:59At 417 meters.
04:019% more than the 381 meters of Empire State Building.
04:03In 1998,
04:05this competition left America
04:07and shifted to Asia.
04:09When the Petronas Towers were built in Kuala Lumpur
04:11at a height of 452 meters.
04:13By 2004,
04:15it was ranked as the world's tallest building.
04:17After that,
04:19Taipei 101 beat it.
04:21And in 2009,
04:23Burj Khalifa beat them
04:25by the largest margin.
04:27From 510 meters,
04:29it jumped to 828 meters.
04:31Actually, when Burj Khalifa was being planned in the beginning,
04:33its initial proposed height
04:35was set at 550 meters.
04:37During the planning, it was gradually said
04:39to increase it further.
04:41At that time, the brief for the tower was to
04:43design a tower that's 550 meters.
04:45Which would have been just slightly taller
04:47than the world record holder at that time
04:49which is Taipei 101.
04:51We learned as we got into the project
04:53that we could go higher.
04:55And there was a desire to go higher
04:57and not only break the record by a little bit
04:59but to really break it by a big margin.
05:01The reason was that the downtown area of Dubai
05:03was the centerpiece attraction of this building.
05:05Before the 1990s,
05:07Dubai was basically a fishing and pearl diving village.
05:09Which had recently discovered oil.
05:11But by the late 1990s and early 2000s,
05:13Dubai's leaders wanted
05:15to diversify their economy.
05:17They wanted to move ahead
05:19from dependence on oil.
05:21They wanted Dubai to become
05:23an international tourism hub.
05:25To get international attention and investment,
05:27they had to do something
05:29that would shock the world.
05:31Burj Khalifa is such a tall building
05:33that if you jump from the top
05:35to the bottom,
05:37it can take 20 seconds to come down.
05:39If there is no air resistance.
05:41If you take air and air resistance into account,
05:43it can take you 20 seconds
05:45to jump from the top to come down.
05:47Burj Khalifa is so tall
05:49that if you stand below it
05:51and look at the sunset
05:53and quickly take a lift to reach the top,
05:55you can see the sunset again.
05:57To build this entire building,
05:59it cost $1.5 billion.
06:01It took more than 12,000 workers.
06:03They came from 100 different nationalities
06:05and spent 22 million man-hours.
06:07Obviously, the purpose
06:09for which this building was built
06:11was quite successful.
06:13Today, Dubai has not only become
06:15a destination for international tourism
06:17but has also become an economic hub.
06:19Many companies want to open their offices in Dubai.
06:21People want to come and live in Dubai.
06:23They want to buy property.
06:25And in the downtown area
06:27where Burj Khalifa was built,
06:29the price of property has increased so much
06:31that $1.5 billion was easily recovered.
06:33Now the question is
06:35what is it in Burj Khalifa
06:37that is making it so difficult to beat it?
06:39And if you try to make it higher than this,
06:41then realistically, how high can a person make it?
06:43To know this,
06:45you will have to understand
06:47what problems arise when such tall buildings are built.
06:49When a building is built so high,
06:51it will have to support its own weight.
06:53Very strong winds blow at this height.
06:55So it will have to ensure that there is no damage from the winds.
06:57And Burj Khalifa overcame all these challenges
06:59due to its innovative design.
07:01If you look at its design from the top,
07:03it is in a Y shape.
07:05Like a tripod, there are three wings
07:07coming out of the building.
07:09Which are supported by a hexagonal core
07:11which is placed in the center.
07:13This structural system is called a butt-rest core.
07:15And it was invented by
07:17the structural engineer of Burj Khalifa,
07:19Bill Baker.
07:21This structural system was first used
07:23when a Tower Palace 3 was built in South Korea.
07:25Its height was 264 meters.
07:27After its success,
07:29architects realized that
07:31if we use this system,
07:33we can go very high.
07:35And only with the help of this,
07:37Burj Khalifa was able to become so tall.
07:39So tall that the second tallest building
07:41was 300 meters smaller.
07:43And Burj Khalifa was the second tallest building in the world
07:45in which this butt-rest core system was used.
07:47With the help of this system,
07:49the winds that blow,
07:51the impact of the winds can be reduced.
07:53Compare this to New York's new residential building
07:55which is very tall.
07:57New York comes in the category of tall
07:59but they didn't use this butt-rest core system.
08:01So what do they have to do in those buildings?
08:03To avoid the winds,
08:05some floors have to be left empty
08:07so that the wind can pass through.
08:09Like this 432 Park Avenue building.
08:11Apart from this,
08:13192 concrete and steel columns
08:15are placed under the foundation of Burj Khalifa.
08:17They go down to 50 meters.
08:19But to build the upper building,
08:21the concrete has to be transferred up.
08:23And to do this,
08:25concrete pumps were made to build Burj Khalifa.
08:27If we talk about the exterior of the building,
08:29more than 1 lakh square meters
08:31of glass was used outside the building
08:33which you can see in the photos.
08:35But what is even more surprising
08:37is that outside Burj Khalifa,
08:39is the world's largest LED screen.
08:41You heard it right.
08:43The world's biggest LED screen.
08:45This is the reason why you can see
08:47light shows on Burj Khalifa.
08:49You can see colourful designs and patterns.
08:51And you can even see movie trailers.
08:53Recently, before the release of Pathan film,
08:55Shahrukh Khan was standing in front of Burj Khalifa
08:57when the trailer of Pathan film
08:59was being shown on Burj Khalifa.
09:01How is this possible?
09:03The entire trailer of the movie is being shown on the building.
09:05You might think that this is a projection.
09:07The trailer is being projected on the building
09:09through a projector.
09:11But this is not the case.
09:13LED lights are installed on the building.
09:15Like there are small LED lights in your computer screen and TV.
09:17And in total, 1.2 million LED lights
09:19are installed on this building.
09:21If you look closely,
09:23the LED lights look like this.
09:25But if you look from a distance,
09:27these 1.2 million LED lights
09:29will look like a TV screen.
09:31Entire videos can be played
09:33on this building because of this reason.
09:35And one question will come to your mind
09:37when this is done,
09:39the people who live in Burj Khalifa,
09:41in hotels and houses,
09:43won't they have a problem?
09:45Will they always see a movie on their screen?
09:47Will they see these lights?
09:49No. Next time when you go to Burj Khalifa
09:51during the light show, look closely.
09:53These lights are not spread out
09:55on the entire building.
09:57They are only on the frames.
09:59And it is enough when you look at it from a distance
10:01and it looks like a video is playing.
10:03There is another problem in such tall buildings.
10:05Suppose you are living on the 160th floor
10:07of Burj Khalifa and there is a fire in the building.
10:09Will you get down from the stairs
10:11to the 160th floor?
10:13For such scenarios, for emergency cases,
10:15after every 25th floor,
10:17there are pressurized and air-conditioned
10:19refuge areas.
10:21Apart from this, the staircases are made of fireproof concrete
10:23so that the fire doesn't spread.
10:25Now, let's see which buildings in the future
10:27can be taller than Burj Khalifa.
10:29Here,
10:31an interesting thing to note is that
10:33in the last 12 years,
10:35although no building was able to beat Burj Khalifa,
10:37still, out of the 20 tallest buildings
10:39today, 17 of them
10:41were built after Burj Khalifa.
10:43For example, 679 metres
10:45per Medair Ka 118
10:47which is being built in Kuala Lumpur.
10:49It will be officially opened in mid-2023.
10:51But it has already become
10:53the second tallest building in the world.
10:55It is a good attempt but
10:57679 metres, 828 metres
10:59is still too far.
11:01But there are many buildings that have been planned
11:03to be taller than Burj Khalifa.
11:05Among them, there are at least two buildings
11:07that have already begun to be built.
11:09The first is the Jeddah Tower of Saudi Arabia.
11:11If it is constructed according to the plan,
11:13it will be the first building to cross
11:15a height of 1 kilometre.
11:17Its design is quite similar to Burj Khalifa
11:19because the architect of both the buildings is the same.
11:21Adrian Smith.
11:23Again, Adrian Smith has followed the Y-shaped design
11:25so that structural integrity can be achieved.
11:27Again, the purpose of building this building
11:29is to diversify the economy of Saudi Arabia
11:31so that it does not rely only on oil.
11:33And like Burj Khalifa,
11:35this building will be used
11:37to build a new district.
11:39Jeddah Economic City.
11:41The construction of this building
11:43started in 2013 and
11:45around one-fourth of the tower was constructed.
11:47But unfortunately,
11:49in early 2018,
11:51this construction was stopped.
11:53And since then, this construction has not started again.
11:55The thing is, between 2017 and 2019,
11:57there was an anti-corruption purge in Saudi Arabia.
11:59And the major investors
12:01who invested in this project
12:03were arrested.
12:05And then the COVID-19 pandemic came.
12:07And this delay still exists.
12:09No one knows when the construction of this building
12:11will start again.
12:13But if it is done,
12:15Burj Khalifa's record can break this building.
12:17There is another project here
12:19which has a very high potential,
12:21which is in Dubai,
12:23which is Dubai Creek Tower.
12:25This Creek Tower was designed by a Spanish architect.
12:27It will be a big observation tower in Dubai.
12:29It was planned between 2016 and 2018.
12:31And the foundations have already been taken.
12:33But the construction work on it has been stopped.
12:35It was originally planned
12:37that it would be inaugurated in the 2020 Dubai Cruise Expo.
12:39But it didn't happen.
12:41The exact height of this tower
12:43has not been revealed yet.
12:45But it is believed to be between 838 meters
12:47and 1,300 meters.
12:49It is possible that in terms of height,
12:51this tower will beat the Jeddah Tower.
12:53But this tower will not fit
12:55in the category of the tallest building.
12:57Because the plan is to live here
12:59and there will be no office space.
13:01It is being planned as an observation deck.
13:03Like the Eiffel Tower.
13:05But the construction has been stopped.
13:07And we don't know when it will start again.
13:09If not these two, then which other building
13:11can beat Burj Khalifa in the future?
13:13Now this question becomes a bit imaginary.
13:15Because the other planned projects
13:17have been planned and announced.
13:19But not much work has been started on them.
13:21Like the Mubarak Al Kabir Tower
13:23was planned in the country of Kuwait.
13:25It was proposed for the first time in 2007.
13:27And the height of it
13:29was proposed to be
13:31up to 1,001 meters.
13:33The overall design is very similar
13:35to Burj Khalifa's design.
13:37But no construction has been started on it.
13:39So no one knows when it will be ready.
13:41It is just a proposed plan.
13:43If you find this plan amazing,
13:45then there is a more amazing plan
13:47in the Sky Mile Tower in Tokyo.
13:49A 1.7 km tall building
13:51where 5 lakh people can live.
13:53Look at the photos of this proposed building.
13:55Its overall shape is very similar to Burj Khalifa.
13:57But if you have to take a tower
13:59to such a height,
14:01then it becomes very difficult
14:03to control the air.
14:05And that's why so many gaps
14:07have been left in this proposed design.
14:09So that the air can flow in between.
14:11There are proper vertical slots.
14:13And this project is included
14:15in a visionary megacity project.
14:17It will be called Next Tokyo.
14:19The Japanese government will try
14:21to build Next Tokyo near Tokyo.
14:23This plan is still theoretical.
14:25Construction has not started yet.
14:27But if it does,
14:29then it will be completed
14:31in the year 2045.
14:33So if you look at it broadly,
14:35there is a very low chance
14:37that in the next 25 years,
14:39a building will be built
14:41that can beat the design of Burj Khalifa.
14:43The innovative design
14:45that helped Burj Khalifa
14:47become so tall.
14:49Anyway, in the last 10 years,
14:51there were many projects
14:53to build a 800 m tall building
14:55that were planned
14:57but were cancelled.
14:59In 2013, in China,
15:01a 838 m sky city scraper
15:03was planned.
15:05Government approval was not given.
15:07Due to environmental concerns,
15:09this project was also cancelled in 2016.
15:11Now, the plan to build
15:13a building taller than
15:15Tokyo's Sky Mile Tower
15:17is so imaginary that it comes
15:19in the category of science fiction.
15:21Like the plan of Exceed 4000 Building in Tokyo.
15:23This is a visionary project
15:25to build a building
15:27that will be 4 km tall.
15:29It will be taller than Mount Fuji.
15:311 million people can live in it.
15:33It will look like this.
15:35Like a hill in itself.
15:37It was planned in 1995
15:39but it is just a plan
15:41that has not been worked on.
15:43There is a similar plan to build
15:45a space elevator.
15:47By using cable,
15:49we can build such a tall structure
15:51that it comes out of the earth
15:53This is a theoretical thing
15:55that can be discussed in a separate video.
15:57It will not fit in the building category.
15:59There is no point in discussing it
16:01in this video.
16:03The question is,
16:05how high can it be built practically?
16:07Burj Khalifa's structural engineer
16:09Bill Baker says that
16:11if we use a modified version
16:13of the design of the buttress core,
16:15we can build a building
16:17that is taller than 2 miles.
16:19It is possible to build a building
16:21that is taller than 2 miles.
16:23He says that theoretically,
16:25we can build a building
16:27that is taller than Mount Everest.
16:29But the problem is that
16:31the higher the building is,
16:33the more weight you are putting
16:35on the lower floors.
16:37The force that falls on the lower part
16:39of the building and the force
16:41of the air on the upper part
16:43will be the two biggest challenges
16:45in building a tall building.
16:47We can use innovative design,
16:49but we can't use
16:51the most advanced materials.
16:53All the materials we know today
16:55like concrete, steel, aluminium
16:57have a limit.
16:59If we want to go beyond their limits,
17:01we will have to invent
17:03materials that are lighter
17:05and more durable.
17:07A promising material is carbon fiber.
17:09Lightweight fibers made of carbon
17:11are woven like a mesh.
17:13It is stronger and lighter than steel.
17:15It can give us a chance
17:17to build tall buildings.
17:19But before these complex engineering problems,
17:21there will be a human body problem.
17:23As soon as the buildings
17:25cross the 1.5 km to 3 km mark,
17:27the altitude will be so high
17:29that there will be differences
17:31in air pressure.
17:33If you have ever been to Leh Ladakh,
17:35you must have noticed how
17:37you start feeling nauseous
17:39and dizzy for a couple of days
17:41because you have to acclimatize
17:43your body for the oxygen
17:45while climbing a mountain.
17:47This can be done slowly.
17:49But if we build a tall building
17:51that is 2 km long,
17:53if we go up from the ground
17:55in an elevator,
17:57our body will face the same problems
17:59unless you control the air pressure
18:01inside the building.
18:03This will cost a lot.
18:05Secondly,
18:07you cannot build balconies
18:09on such high floors.
18:11No one will be able to go inside.
18:13And before the human body problems,
18:15there are socio-economic limitations.
18:17The biggest reason
18:19for not building such tall buildings
18:21is money.
18:23There is no guarantee that
18:25every building will be as successful
18:27as Burj Khalifa.
18:29Investors will have to spend
18:31crores of rupees
18:33to fund such a building.
18:35Funding such a building
18:37means high risk.
18:39Local government support
18:41will be needed.
18:43Many governments will not support such a thing.
18:45Because money can be used
18:47more efficiently in most countries.
18:49In developing countries like India,
18:51if the government invests all the money
18:53to build such tall buildings,
18:55it will be considered a huge wastage.
18:57This is the reason why
18:59the Chinese government
19:01passed a law in China
19:03that no building should be built
19:05more than 500 meters.
19:07Building taller than that
19:09is practically a wastage of money.
19:11The energy consumption of such a building
19:13will be very high.
19:15The government's money will also be wasted.
19:17According to the laws of the Chinese government,
19:19the city with a population of 3 million
19:21has a height limit
19:23of 250 meters for skyscrapers.
19:25One thing to note here
19:27is that
19:29there are very few cities in the world
19:31where the socio-economic factors
19:33allow the construction
19:35of the tallest building in the world.
19:37About 100 years ago,
19:39this city was New York and Chicago.
19:41Where the economic boom was seen.
19:43People were coming there in such large numbers.
19:45There was a demand for
19:47more houses and offices
19:49in less space.
19:51In the 21st century,
19:53this was seen to some extent
19:55in the cities of China and Taiwan.
19:57For this reason, you will see
19:59many tall buildings there.
20:01But not so tall that
20:03they were not profitable.
20:05Countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia
20:07where the government
20:09wants to reduce oil dependence.
20:11The government has oil but a lot of money.
20:13It was possible to do this
20:15in these places.
20:17This is the reason, friends,
20:19for the next few years at least,
20:21Burj Khalifa will be the tallest building in the world.
20:23If you liked the video,
20:25you can now watch the video
20:27on supersonic airplanes by clicking here.
20:29There is another very futuristic
20:31technology-related video.
20:33Thank you very much.