Construction of the tallest building, the Kingdom Tower super skyscraper, has begun. The tallest building in the world is being built in Saudi Arabia Plans and undertakings

Progress does not stand still: in March of this year, construction began on the first skyscraper in human history with a height of more than 1 km! In fact, such a giant (Al Burj) was already supposed to be built in Dubai back in 2012, but due to the global financial crisis the project was canceled in 2009.

But the temptation to be the first to cross the 1,000-meter mark was very great. Kingdom Tower is a project for the tallest building in the world, which is planned to be built 32 km north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The height of the structure should be 1,007 meters, which will exceed the record (828 m) by almost 200 meters. A small city will be located around the building, where up to 80 thousand residents can live.

Comparison with existing skyscrapers and:

The project developer is the British company Hyder Consulting, and the architectural design will be carried out by Omrania & Associates from Saudi Arabia.

In April 2011, several news outlets reported that the construction plan had been accepted and the total cost of the structure would be about $30 billion.

The construction of the tower is planned in the Arabian desert. Construction will be extremely difficult: due to the height of the tower, building materials will have to be lifted using.

The total cost of the project, including the satellite city, is expected to be 20 billion US dollars (for comparison: the cost of constructing the tallest skyscraper at the moment "" is 1.5 billion US dollars), but the amount initially planned was no more than $10 billion.

From the top of the tower, an area within a radius of about 140 km will be visible. It is assumed that the satellite city will consist mainly of luxury housing, hotels and business centers.

The architectural highlight will be a saucer balcony:

Life at a kilometer altitude...

American architecture studio Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture presented a project for the tallest skyscraper in the world. Height of a unique building Kingdom Tower, evoking associations with the launching of an ultra-modern rocket, was about 1000 meters, and the total construction area was 530 thousand square meters.

The Royal Tower will be the first stage of construction of a new city located north of Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). The height of the skyscraper is 173 meters higher than the current world record holder, located in Dubai - a building that we have already written about earlier.

The new skyscraper will include a comfortable Four Seasons hotel, residential apartments with scenic panoramic views, Class A office space, luxury condominiums, an observation deck and the tallest observatory in the world.

At the moment, the final stage of project development is taking place, and its implementation is planned in the very near future. Construction of the building will cost approximately $1.2 billion, and the cost of the entire Kingdom City urban program, formed around the iconic skyscraper, is estimated to be $20 billion.

The authors of the project and representatives of its customers note that the world's tallest skyscraper is intended to symbolize the new spirit of Saudi Arabia. The modern, fast-paced architecture of the building, combined with high construction technologies, will demonstrate the economic power and creative direction of development of the country's new business and cultural center.

Saudi Arabia presents itself to the whole world as an influential and successful country that has huge oil reserves. But this is not enough for kings and princes. The image of a futuristic country is the future of Saudi Arabia, announced by ambitious rulers.

The project of the Royal Tower in the city of Jeddah is a move that will allow the country to declare itself as “the country where the tallest building in the world was built.” Almost ten years passed from the first ambitious idea to build a mile-high building to the laying of the foundation.

Al-Waleed ibn Talal Al Saud, the prince, the richest man in the Middle East, is the author and main leader of the project. His words clearly describe the main function that the Royal Tower should perform:

This will be our message to the world of finance and economics, which should not be ignored. It is important for us from a political point of view to show the whole planet that we can invest in our country, despite the turmoil and revolution happening around us states Al-Waleed ibn Talal Al Saud

The tower is valued at $1.23 billion. It will be the central and first facility in the Kingdom City project, which will be located 32 kilometers from Jeddah.

Adrian Smith - architect and design of the Royal Tower

The designer of the Royal Tower was Adrian Smith, who, by the way, is the designer of the tallest skyscraper in the world located in Dubai - Burj Khalifa with a height of 828 meters. Andrian will have to overcome his own bar and think through how the building will be built, which should be higher than its predecessor in Dubai.

The height of the Royal Tower will be 1000 meters, which is 172 meters higher than the Burj Khalifa. Initially, the prince set the task of developing a project with a height of 1600 meters, but the nature of the soil at the construction site is such that a tower of such a height would be too heavy and would simply go underground.

It is expected that the building will have about 200 floors, which will be divided between a Four Seasons hotel, office space, luxury condominiums, and on the top floors an observatory. The total area will be about 5 million square meters.

Each side of the Tower will be immersed in the shade due to special recesses, the terraces of which offer views of Jeddah and the Red Sea, and glazing with a high degree of thermal insulation will reduce the cost of maintaining a comfortable temperature. The entire building is planned to be surrounded by cozy patios.

59 elevators, 5 of which are double-deck, will serve guests and employees of the tower. The building will also have 12 escalators. To compensate for atmospheric overload, the elevators will have a special speed that is different from the speed of regular elevators.

Laying of the foundation was completed in December 2013. The tower itself is planned to be commissioned in 2017. As of February 2015, construction of the basement and first floor is in full swing.

[:RU]The joint venture of EC Harris and Mace has won the contract to build the Kingdom Tower super skyscraper in Jeddah, which will be the tallest building in the world. Actually, such a super skyscraper was supposed to be built in Dubai last year (Al Burj), but due to the global financial crisis that broke out in 2009, the project was frozen. However, the vainglorious desire to be the first to overcome the 1000-meter mark turned out to be so great that the construction of a super-tall tower nevertheless began in Saudi Arabia, 50 km from the city of Jeddah.

The planned completion date is 2018, the construction cost is estimated at 1.2 billion US dollars. Kingdom Tower will be the tallest building in the world and will be 180 m taller than the Burj Khalifa Tower. Construction is scheduled to begin this year.

It will be the central part of the Royal City, which will be located north of Jeddah, overlooking the Red Sea. The Royal City will include residential, commercial complexes, hotels, offices, shopping, educational and commercial centers.

Waleed Abdul Jalil Batterjee, CEO of JEC, said that the idea of ​​building the tallest tower in the world in Jeddah belongs to His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. In addition, the project will help create hundreds of jobs for Saudi citizens.
An architectural team led by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill (AS+GG), based in Chicago, created the design for Kingdom Tower.


The Kingdom Tower will be an architectural monument, which will clearly demonstrate Saudi Arabia's ambitions in the world.
Mark Reynolds, head of the Mace construction group, said: “Kingdom Tower is a project of international significance and we are delighted to be part of the joint venture. We look forward to realizing the vision of His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, which will provide international recognition for the economic and cultural status of the Kingdom. »

The total construction area will be more than 500,000 m2, the mixed-use structure of the building will include a luxury five-star Four Seasons hotel, apartments, first-class office space, luxury condominiums and an observatory that will be taller than existing observation decks in the world.

Dubai, the capital of the UAE, the world champion of the largest and most expensive buildings, will soon have a rival. And it will be a city in Saudi Arabia.

The world's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa, located in Dubai, may soon lose its Guinness World Records title. This is possible if Saudi Arabia successfully implements its project to build an even larger building. This will require $1.23 billion.

Plans and undertakings

At the end of November, the Saudi Arabian government announced that companies such as Jeddah Economic Company and Saudi Arabia's Alinma Investment had signed a financial deal worth 8.4 billion Saudi reals ($2.2 billion), formalizing their plans to build in in the city of Jeddah the tallest tower in the world, called the Royal Tower.

The building is currently built up to the 26th floor, but its total height will be one kilometer. The skyscraper is planned to be completed by 2020. In contrast to this project, the Burj Khalifa reaches "only" 827 meters.

With this deal, the government plans to achieve unprecedented real estate development and also create a world-class urban center that will offer a cutting-edge lifestyle. The city will receive a new attraction that will attract tourists from all walks of life with its comprehensive services.

Architectural breakthrough

Called the Royal Tower, the building will have 200 floors. It will have views of the Red Sea. To construct a building of this scale would require 5.7 million square feet of concrete and 80,000 tons of steel, according to Saudi Arabian publications.

Building such a tall building on the coast, where it can be damaged by sea water, is no small feat. The foundation, which is 60 meters deep, will have to withstand the influence of salt water from the nearby sea. Therefore, careful testing of the strength of different types of concrete is carried out.

Wind loading is another hazard for a building of this size. To combat this problem, the tower will have to constantly change its shape. Since this will happen every few floors, gusts of wind will go around the skyscraper on both sides, so the load will not be as dangerous.

Another problem may be the delivery of concrete to the upper floors. Perhaps the engineers could use the same technologies used to create the Burja Kharifa tower. Then 6 million cubic meters of concrete were pumped upward using a simple pump. Typically, this was done at night, when the temperature was low enough to prevent the successful delivery and installation of materials.

Project prospects

Despite the complexity and ambition of the project, it has every chance of successful completion, according to the council's director of tall buildings. He claims that at the moment they can build a tower one kilometer high. It is possible that a two-kilometer building can also be done by engineers. For structures whose height will exceed two kilometers, it will be necessary to carry out a lot of preliminary work.