Dubai has a rich collection of buildings and structures of
various architectural styles. Many modern interpretations of Islamic
architecture can be found here, due to a boom in construction and architectural
innovation in the Arab World in general, and in Dubai in particular, supported
not only by top Arab or international architectural and engineering design
firms design firms such as Al Hashemi and Aedas, but also by top firms of New
York and Chicago. As a result of this boom, modern Islamic - and world -
architecture has literally been taken to new levels in skyscraper building
design and technology. Dubai now boasts more completed or topped-out
skyscrapers higher than 2/3 km, 1/3 km, or 1/4 km than any other city. A
culmination point was reached in 2010 with the completion of the Burj Khalifa
(Khalifa Tower), now by far the world's tallest building at 828 m (2,716 feet).
The Burj Khalifa's design is derived from the patterning systems embodied in
Islamic architecture, with the triple-lobed footprint of the building based on
an abstracted version of the desert flower hymenocallis which is native to the
Dubai region.The completion of the Khalifa Tower, following the construction
boom that began in the 1980s, accelerated in the 1990s, and took on a rapid
pace of construction unparalled in modern human history during the decade of
the 2000s, leaving Dubai with the world's tallest skyline as of January 4, 2010.