16 August 2011
Twenty facts about the Kingdom Tower that you may or may not have known Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud, the charismatic chairman of Kingdom Holdings, has set his sights on developing the world's tallest tower, eclipsing the Burj Khalifa.
Not only is it set to be the first tower in the world to reach 1000 metres - the Burj Khalifa is a mere 868 metres - the Prince also wants it to be a statement of modern Saudi Arabia.
Here are some of the facts on the tower that you may or may not have known:
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture will be designing Kingdom Tower, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, near the Red Sea.
Smith is no stranger to super tall towers having been involved in the design of Burj Khalifa in Dubai (as part of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, Nanjing Greenland Financial Center in Nanjing, China, the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago and Pearl River Tower, now in the late stages of construction in Guangzhou, China.
The Kingdom Tower will be built on a total construction area of 530,000 square meters (5.7 million square feet).
Kingdom Tower will cost approximately $1.2-billion to construct, while the cost of the entire Kingdom City project is anticipated to be $20-billion.
The final height is a secret, but it is expected to be at least 1 kilometre, or 1,000 metre long.
The tower will be the centerpiece and first construction phase of the Kingdom City development on a 5.3 million-square-meter site in north Jeddah.
Kingdom Tower will feature a Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, Class A office space, luxury condominiums and the world's highest observatory.
Design development of the tower is under way, with construction to begin shortly, according to the architects.
Foundation drawings are complete and the piling for the tower is currently being tendered.
AS+GG is leading an interdisciplinary design team that also includes building services engineering consultants Environmental Systems Design, Inc. (ESD) and structural engineering consultants Thornton Tomasetti.
Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), the developer of Kingdom City, selected the scheme after a lengthy competition process in which SOM, Pickard Chilton, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Pelli Clarke Pelli and Foster + Partners also participated.
Prince Al Waleed reportedly dreamt up the idea of the 1-kilometre tower and brought in other Jeddah businessmen Samaual Bakhsh and Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly and Saudi Binladin Group (SBG). SBG is also the contractor for Kingdom Tower.
The developers intend to make the new building a "gateway to the holy city of Makkah." Incidentally, the southeast leg of Kingdom Tower's tripedal base is on a direct line with the Ka'ba in Makkah.
AS+GG's tower design evokes a bundle of leaves shooting up from the ground -- a burst of new life that heralds more growth all around it, according to the architects.
"The way the fronds sprout upward from the ground as a single form, then start separating from each other at the top, is an analogy of new growth fused with technology," notes Gordon Gill.
The three-petal footprint is suitable for residential units, and the tapering wings produce an aerodynamic shape that helps reduce structural loading due to wind vortex shedding.
Each of Kingdom Tower's three sides features a series of notches that create pockets of shadow that shield areas of the building from the sun and provide outdoor terraces with stunning views of Jeddah and the Red Sea.
The Kingdom Tower complex will contain 59 elevators, including 54 single-deck and five double-deck elevators, along with 12 escalators. Elevators serving the observatory will travel at a rate of 10 meters per second in both directions.
A sky terrace, roughly 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter, will be built on level 157.
AS+GG also designed the master plan for the 23-hectare Kingdom Tower Waterfront District, which surrounds the tower and which will include residential and commercial buildings, a shopping mall, outdoor spaces and other amenities.
The district will include a high-end shopping mall designed by AS+GG, plus additional development parcels that accommodate commercial and high-density residential uses, offices, two luxury hotels and high-quality open spaces, including the central Tower Plaza. A waterfront promenade connects Kingdom Tower, the various development parcels, the open space areas and the mall together.
The architects other major projects in the region include the Masdar Headquarters in Abu Dhabi and a clutch of towers in Dubai. © alifarabia.com 2011
Twenty facts about the Kingdom Tower that you may or may not have known Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Al Saud, the charismatic chairman of Kingdom Holdings, has set his sights on developing the world's tallest tower, eclipsing the Burj Khalifa.
Not only is it set to be the first tower in the world to reach 1000 metres - the Burj Khalifa is a mere 868 metres - the Prince also wants it to be a statement of modern Saudi Arabia.
Here are some of the facts on the tower that you may or may not have known:
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture will be designing Kingdom Tower, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, near the Red Sea.
Smith is no stranger to super tall towers having been involved in the design of Burj Khalifa in Dubai (as part of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, Nanjing Greenland Financial Center in Nanjing, China, the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago and Pearl River Tower, now in the late stages of construction in Guangzhou, China.
