Exploring Iconic Offices from Burj Khalifa to Petronas

Offices and commercial spaces form an inevitable part of the real estate sector. In the last few years, the global office real estate has been experiencing a boom like never before in spite of the pandemic. In fact, as per reports, the office buildings market is expected to reach $620.94 billion in 2027 at a CAGR of 1.6%.

With extraordinary designs and smart facilities, the offices of today cater to the needs of the urban professionals and seamlessly blend technology, design and services as can be seen in some of the biggest and most well-known office spaces in the world.

Here are a few interesting facts about some of them - 

Surat Diamond Bourse, Gujarat, India

• Largest office in the world
• Spans across 6.6 million sq ft with 15 storeys and nine buildings
• Located in Surat, a city in India that boasts of making 90 per cent of the world’s diamonds
• Has 125 lifts, conference halls, multi-purpose halls, restaurants, banks and retail shops
• Can easily accommodate 67,000 professionals
   

The Pentagon, Washington, United States of America

• Spans across 6.5 million sq ft
• The largest office building in the world for 80 years
• Constructed during 1941–43 at a cost of $83 million
• Has 28 km long corridors in addition to several libraries, two cafeterias, a dining room and seven snack bars
• Has 67 acres (27 hectares) of parking lots, which can accommodate about 8,700 automobiles
• Houses 26,000 employees – both civilian and military and is visited by 106000 tourists every year
   

The Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• Floor area of 395,000 sq mt with 88 storeys in each tower
• Tallest buildings in the world until 2004
• Constructed in 1998 for approximately $1.6 billion dollars and inaugurated in 1999
• Has an observation deck on the 86th floor
• Home to the world’s tallest sky bridge that connects the two towers on the 41st and 42nd floor
• Includes offices, a petroleum discovery centre, an art gallery, an 850-seat concert hall, a multi-media conference centre and underground parking for 7000 cars
   

World Financial Center, Shanghai, China

• Spread across 381,600 sq m and is 492mt high with 101 floors
• World’s tallest mixed-use urban development project
• Home to government agencies, securities and commodities exchanges, banks and trading companies
• Planned for construction in the late 90s by the American architectural firm Kohn Pederson Fox
• Asian Financial Crisis delayed the work and the building finally opened in 2008
   

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE 

• Height of 828 mt with more than 160 storeys
• Thrice as tall as the Eiffel Tower and almost twice as high as the Empire State Building
• Holds records for the tallest building, tallest free-standing structure, highest number of storeys, highest occupied floor, highest outdoor observation deck, elevator with the longest travel distance and tallest service elevator in the world
• Also reuses 15 million gallons of water every year for its gardens, the cooling system and the Dubai Fountain