Observatories

[speedbird2]

Excuse me if I am posting this in the wrong place but I have a comment regarding the observatory at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The observatory, named At the Top, is poorly named since the deck is actually on the 123rd/124th floors of this 163 storied building. Strangely, the observatory is about 1,239 feet from the top. Its level is 1483 from the street. My question is why wasn't the observatory built at a higher level. Is there a technical explanation? It seems that most observatories are located just under the spire.

[DJM19]

Just so we are clear, I believe we are talking about observation decks? An observatory would be somewhere you go to look at space (most often)

[Guiltyspark]

Originally Posted by speedbird2

Excuse me if I am posting this in the wrong place but I have a comment regarding the observatory at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The observatory, named At the Top, is poorly named since the deck is actually on the 123rd/124th floors of this 163 storied building. Strangely, the observatory is about 1,239 feet from the top. Its level is 1483 from the street. My question is why wasn't the observatory built at a higher level. Is there a technical explanation? It seems that most observatories are located just under the spire.

Because the floors are too small in area higher up the building to accommodate the large amounts of people you find in a observation deck. Smaller floor plates are ideal for residences, which I am guessing are what are up there.

[speedbird2]

Yes, an observatory usually refers to an area devoted to watching heavenly bodies. Very often the observation decks are merely referred to as observatories so the confusion. I have seen the Burjs' decks referred to as observatories. So it seems the decks were built over 1,000 ft. from the pinnacle as the building is too narrow to accomodate an observation deck. I disagree. The Empire State Bldg has their observation deck directly under the spire. Their 2 decks are extremely small and limited but they are truly at the top. The ESB could have built their decks on the much larger 86th floor level to accomodate greater visitors.