LEGO Architecture Burj Khalifa Building Instructions page 6

The structural system

To support the unprecedented height of the building,

the engineers developed a new structural system called

the buttressed core, which consists of a hexagonal core

reinforced by three buttresses that form the 'Y' shape. Each

wing, with its own high performance concrete corridor walls

and perimeter columns, buttresses the other wings through

a connection to the six-sided central core, or hexagonal

hub. The result is a tower that is exteremly stiff laterally and

torsionally.

Each tier of the building sets back in a spiral stepping

pattern up the building. The setbacks are organized

with the tower's grid, such that the building stepping is

accomplished by aligning columns above with walls below

to provide a smooth load path. This allows the construction

to proceed without the normal difficulties associated with

column transfers.

The setbacks are organized such that the tower's width

changes at each setback. The advantage of the stepping

and shaping is to 'confuse the wind'. The wind vortices are

never allowed to build up because at each new tier the wind