A video on Twitter purports that the surface of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, put on a light show in support of China amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
Such an impressive light show can be difficult to believe. Is it possible that the video was edited?
THE QUESTION
Is this a real light show on the Burj Khalifa, and was it lit up in support of China amidst the coronavirus outbreak?
THE ANSWER
Yes. The Burj Khalifa put on the show in support of Wuhan, specifically.
WHAT WE FOUND
The show of support for Wuhan was done on Feb. 2. The building lit up exactly in the way the video depicts.
If it seems improbable, that’s because there’s nothing else in the world like it. The Burj Khalifa has previously earned a Guinness World Record for the largest light and sound show on a single building. Their show was more than double the size of the previous single building light and sound show record holder.
Back in 2016, the Burj Khalifa posted a video of how the LED facade was put together. That video says the Burj Khalifa has the Guinness World Record for the largest and highest LED screen on the planet.
That video said the screen required 72 kilometers of cabling and 10,000 connectors to cover a total area of 33,000 square meters. That’s equivalent to a screen that’s larger than 355,000 square feet.
One usage of the building’s LED screen is advertising. A single three minute ad on the Burj Khalifa could cost more than $68,000.
