The global crisis may have put a halt to many planned tall buildings throughout the world, but Adrian Smith, the Burj Khalifa's Chicago-based designer, believes these epic constructions have a future, even in Dubai. "There's no question that the economic downturn has had an impact on the development community," he says. "But I don't think we're out of the game yet." The blueprint for the Burj Khalifa was completed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in 1997 and was originally intended as a hotel. It was later sold to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, who decided to turn it into a skyscraper instead. The project was launched in 2004 and was completed eight years later. The Burj Khalifa has 828 rooms, including 56 luxury suites, and rises up to meet the top of its cylindrical atrium tower. It also features a number of other unique design elements, such as a rainforest garden, which provides natural cooling through evapotranspiration, or the process by which plants absorb water from the air rather than from the ground. It is believed that Norman Foster was approached to design another skyscraper in Dubai, but he declined due to time constraints.