Plans call for 59 elevators, including 54 single-deck and five double-deck cabs. The dedicated elevator serving the observatory is designed to travel 10 m per second in both directions.

The top occupied floor is more than 600 m high. For the elevators, the key issue is building sway. The elevator design incorporates "followers," cables that keep the main cables from hitting the shaft walls. The followers are more than half the height of the occupied levels of the building—more than 300 m.

Though the tower's form is inspired by the folded fronds of young desert plant growth, the three-petal footprint is ideal for residential units and the tapering wings produce an aerodynamic shape that helps minimize structural loads due to vortex shedding, said Smith. He is satisfied that the lessons learned from the burj construction will result in a better building that is much quicker to build.