The Most Famous Buildings in the UAE

Most of the interesting architecture in the UAE dates back to the late 20th or early 21st century. Dubai is home to the majority of the most famous buildings in the UAE and almost all of them are skyscrapers. Despite this, you can also see some other interesting objects that have not broken any height records.

• Burj Khalifa
• The Dubai Mall
  
• Burj Al Arab
  
• Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC)
  
• Cayan Tower
  
• Emirates Towers
  
• JW Marriott Marquis Dubai
  
• Jumeirah Beach Hotel
  
• Princess Tower
  
• Atlantis The Palm
  
• The Marina Torch
  
• Almas Tower
  
• Marina 101
  
• Gevora Hotel
  
• The Jumeirah Mosque
  
• The Dubai Frame
  
• Dusit Thani Dubai
  
• The Opus
  
• The Green Planet
  
• Museum of The Future
  

Burj Khalifa

The Burj Khalifa tower is definitely one of the city's most iconic landmarks. At 828 metres, this is the tallest building in the world, with the longest spire on the planet, extending to 180 metres. Burj Khalifa also has the most floors of any building in the world: 163 in total, excluding 46 technical levels in the spire and two in the foundation. The construction of the stalagmite-shaped skyscraper began in 2004 and ended in January 2010 with a grand opening ceremony.

The total cost of this project was about $1.5 billion. Adrian Smith, an American architect working for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill at the time, designed the skyscraper.

It took 320,000 cubic metres of concrete and over 60,000 tonnes of rebar to build it. The surface area of the building is equal to 17 football fields.

Burj Khalifa is a mixed-use tower. Inside you can find a car park, the Armani Hotel, about 900 flats, some offices, gyms with pools, an observatory and the highest restaurant in the world, At.mosphere. It is located on the 122^nd floor at 442 metres above ground. There are three separate entrances to Burj Khalifa to avoid mixing the flows of visitors to the hotel, residential and office areas. The famous building in UAE has 57 lifts and eight escalators. However, only the service lift, which also holds a world record, can go from the ground to the top floor.

Burj Khalifa features two observation decks, one on the 124^th floor (at 452 metres) and the other on the 148th floor (at 555 metres), though you can only visit this one before 10 p.m. There is telecommunication equipment hidden inside the spire.

There is an artificial 12-hectare lake with a musical fountain at the foot of the Burj Khalifa. The jets of water can reach up to 150 metres.

Burj Khalifa uses a number of green technologies. For example, the plants on the premises are watered with recycled condensate. The air inside the building is cooled and scented with an especially designed aroma. The building's exterior consists of reflective thermal glazing that protects the interior from overheating. Fun fact: window washing in Burj Khalifa almost never stops as it takes around three months to clean the entire surface.

Several building projects have been planned in the past few years that would break Burj Khalifa's record. However, construction on these buildings has either not yet started or has been suspended.

The Dubai Mall

The Dubai Mall is the biggest shopping mall in the world, taking up an area of 1.2 million square metres. However, considering it only has 350,000 square metres of leasable area, it is the 20^th biggest in the world. When it opened in November 2008 next to Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Mall became the flagship project of Emaar Malls Group (a division of Emaar Properties).

The mall features more than 1200 shops, including the 44,000-square-metre Fashion Avenue with 70 premium brands displayed. The Dubai Mall is also home to Gold Souk, the world's biggest indoor gold market, with 220 shops inside. You can enjoy one of the many cultural and entertainment facilities in the Dubai Mall, from a cinema with 22 screens and an ice rink to an indoor VR Park Dubai theme park and KidZania (an educational and entertainment area for children). It is also worth visiting the aquarium. It is one of the world's largest aquariums, with over 33,000 fish and sea creatures swimming in 10 million litres of water.

The mall's indoor car park can accommodate up to 14,000 vehicles. There is also a 5-star hotel, The Address, next to the Dubai Mall. You can stay in one of 250 rooms or 450 hotel units with housekeeping staff on hand.

Burj Al Arab

Constructed between 1994 and 1999, Burj Al Arab is a hotel in the shape of the sail of an Arab dhow vessel. Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island, 280 metres away from the coast. You can get to the mainland by crossing the bridge. At the time of its opening, Burj Al Arab was the tallest hotel in the world (321 metres) and held that record until 2008. Today, Burj Al Arab is the 5^th tallest hotel in the world, but is definitely one of the most remarkable.

Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC)

Built by Sheikh Rashid Al Maktoum between 1974 and 1979, the Dubai World Trade Centre consists of a 38-storey office tower (184 metres), eight exhibition halls, the Dubai International Convention Centre, and residential units. While it was under construction, the DWTС skyscraper was the highest building in the UAE and the first high-rise building on the Sheikh Zayed Road. Offices of global conglomerates as well as several consulates are located in the Dubai World Trade Centre. The building itself is featured on the 100-dirham banknote.

A reconstruction project began in the early 2010s. It affected the Convention Centre, offices, residential skyscrapers, two 5-star hotels and shopping centres. The project also aimed to create 8300 parking spaces around the DWTС.

Cayan Tower

You will find this skyscraper in the Dubai Marina district. Cayan Tower was the world's tallest building with a twist of 90 degrees and the 8^th highest residential building. The construction of the Infinity Tower, as it was originally called, began in 2006 and was finished in 2013.

The Cayan Tower is about 305 metres high with 73 visible floors and seven underground floors. There are almost 500 high-end flats in the tower. The walls of the building are evenly twisted to reach exactly 90 degrees from the base to the roof. Each storey is rotated by 1.2 degrees to the previous one. The interior is protected from sunlight with mobile perforated screens. All utility systems and wiring are hidden inside the circular "core" of the building.

Emirates Towers

Emirates Towers is a complex of two towers — the 54-storey Emirates Office Tower (355 metres) and the 56-storey Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel (309 metres). They are connected by a 2-storey retail area known as "The Boulevard." The Emirates Towers were built between 1996 and 1999 and opened in 2000. The hotel has 400 rooms.

Both towers have aluminium panels with silver and copper reflective glazing, creating light effects on the facades. Equilateral triangles and spires can be seen on top of the towers.

Although the two towers have different heights, the number of floors is almost identical due to the difference in the floor heights. The Emirates Towers boast more than 570,000 square metres of gardens with lakes, waterfalls and recreational areas.

JW Marriott Marquis Dubai

The hotel complex consists of two 72-storey towers of 355 metres each. Built between 2006 and 2013, the hotel has 1608 rooms and 15 restaurants, as well as offices, conference and meeting rooms, a spa, and a shopping centre. There is a 32-metre swimming pool on the 7th floor of one of the towers.

The opening of the hotel was timed to coincide with the visit of the delegates from the International Exhibition Bureau as the UAE had applied to host the Dubai Expo 2020. The JW Marriott Marquis Dubai cost around 1.8 billion AED (around $432 million) to build.

Jumeirah Beach Hotel 

The 5-star hotel shaped like a sea wave perfectly complements the sail-shaped Burj Al Arab opposite it. Opened in 1997, the Jumeirah Beach Hotel was the Jumeirah Group’s first hotel. The 26-storey modernist building is 104 metres high. There are 598 rooms, 19 beachfront villas, around 20 restaurants and bars, pools, tennis courts, and a private marina. In addition, Jumeirah Beach Hotel guests have unlimited access to the Wild Wadi water park nearby. Wall sculptures up to 90 metres high are one of the hotel’s unique features.

Princess Tower

The Princess Tower is a 101-storey residential skyscraper in the Dubai Marina district. As of September 2022, the 413.4-metre Princess Tower was the third-highest building in Dubai and the 36^th in the world. It was the highest residential building in the world for a short period between 2012 and 2015. Now it is down to fifth place.

There are 763 flats in the tower, a 6-level underground parking for almost 1000 vehicles and eight retail floors. The Princess Tower also features indoor and outdoor swimming pools, gyms, a sauna, game rooms, a playground, a banqueting hall and an observation deck on the 97^th floor.

Atlantis The Palm

Atlantis The Palm is the first hotel on the man-made island of Palm Jumeirah. Opened in 2008, it is dedicated to the myth of Atlantis. The luxury complex has 1548 rooms and resembles the Atlantis Paradise Island resort in the Bahamas. The complex consists of two buildings connected by a bridge. Hotel guests can enjoy dozens of restaurants and bars, a dolphinarium, a theme water park and the Lost Chambers aquarium, home to about 70,000 inhabitants.

Atlantis The Palm boasts two underwater hotel suites, Poseidon and Neptune, which are often ranked as the most extraordinary in the world. The entrance to the suites is at ground level, while the master bedroom and the bathroom are underwater. The floor-to-ceiling windows overlook the lagoon, where you can see many exotic creatures.

Royal Bridge Suite is another unique place in the Atlantis the Palm. It is located on the bridge between the two towers.

The Marina Torch

The Marina Torch, also known as Dubai Torch or The Torch, is a residential skyscraper in Dubai Marina. The total height of the 86-storey tower is 352 metres. The construction took six years, from 2005 to 2011, and during one year between 2011 and 2012, the Marina Torch was the tallest residential building in the world. Today, it is the 13^th tallest building in Dubai and the 10^th highest residential building in the world.

There are 676 flats and four duplex suites in the skyscraper. The car park occupies the first three floors. The 5^th and the 6^th floors have a pool, a fitness club, a gym, a restaurant, a sauna, and a retail area.

The Marina Torch has been damaged by fire several times.

Almas Tower

The Almas Tower is a 360-metre skyscraper, built between 2005 and 2008. The 68-storey building is located on one of three artificial islands in the middle of the Jumeirah Lakes Towers. This is the 7^th tallest building in Dubai and the highest office tower in the city.

The Almas Tower is home to the Dubai Diamond Exchange, the Dubai Gems Club, the Dubai Pearl Exchange, the Kimberley Process Certification offices and other companies involved in the selling, cutting and transporting of gemstones. All of this requires the building to have a high security level.