Beirut (APD) - If British architecture firm Eric Kuwait has its way, Kuwait will host the world's tallest building in a project called Madinat al Hareer, or City of Silk.
The London-based company has drawn up blueprints for a 250-floor skyscraper of 1001 meters that would dwarf the current tallest building, Taiwan's 509-meters Taipei 101 tower that cost $1.7 billion.
The project is being considered by the Kuwaiti government, the New Scientist Magazine reported last Friday.
It would even be taller the under-construction Burj Dubai Tower, the UAE skyscraper that will stand between 700 and 800 meters tall and is due for completion in 2008.
According to other media reports, the tower would be the centerpiece of a city that would house 700,000 people and set a monument to Arab culture. Construction of the project and its infrastructure - including four ports - would cost $150 billion and require 25 years.
Kuhne and Associates is an architecture firm with projects in Europe, North America, Australasia and the Middle East. The company was responsible for the design of the BurJuman Centre in Dubai which comprises 800,000 square feet of retail space. [TS]
By Nadim Issa, APD Staff Writer in Beirut
APD (Arab Press Digest) 2005
