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Jeddah Tower ( ar, برج جدة), previously known as Kingdom Tower (), is a skyscraper construction project currently on hold. Located on the north side of
Jeddah Jeddah ( ), also spelled Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; ar, , Jidda, ), is a city in the Hejaz region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the country's commercial center. Established in the 6th century BC as a fishing village, Jeddah's pro ...
,
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...
, it is planned to be the first tall building, and the centrepiece and first phase of a development and tourist attraction known as Jeddah Economic City. There was steady progress, but in January 2018, building owner JEC halted structural concrete work with the tower about one-third completed due to labor issues with a contractor following the
2017–2019 Saudi Arabian purge The 2017–19 Saudi Arabian purge was the mass arrest of a number of prominent Saudi Arabian princes, government ministers, and business people in Saudi Arabia on 4 November 2017 and the following few weeks after the creation of an anti-corrupt ...
. The design, created by American architect
Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio. Smith grew up in London ...
, who also designed the
Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (; ar, برج خليفة, , Khalifa Tower), known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the world’s tallest building. With a total height ...
, incorporates many unique structural and aesthetic features. The creator and leader of the project is Saudi Arabian prince
Al-Waleed bin Talal Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud ( ar, الوليد بن طلال آل سعود; born 7 March 1955) is a Saudi Arabian billionaire businessman, investor, philanthropist and royal. He was listed on '' Time'' magazine's Time 100, an annual list of the ...
, a grandson of
Ibn Saud Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الرحمن آل سعود, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbd ar Raḥman Āl Suʿūd; 15 January 1875Ibn Saud's birth year has been a source of debate. It is generally accepted ...
, and nephew of the
Kings of Saudi Arabia The king of Saudi Arabia is the monarchial head of state and ruler of Saudi Arabia who holds absolute power. He is the head of the Saudi Arabian royal family, the House of Saud. The king is called the "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques" (), a ...
after Ibn Saud. Al-Waleed is the chairman of
Kingdom Holding Company The Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) ( ar, شركة المملكة القابضة) is a Saudi conglomerate holding company, based in Riyadh. The KHC is a publicly listed company on the Tadawul (Saudi stock exchange). The KHC consists of a select ...
(KHC), which is a partner in the Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), which was formed in 2009 for the development of Jeddah Tower and City.


Overview

The building has been designed to a height of at least (the exact height is being kept private while in development, similar to the
Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (; ar, برج خليفة, , Khalifa Tower), known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the world’s tallest building. With a total height ...
). At about one kilometre, Jeddah Tower would be the tallest building or structure in the world to date, standing taller than the Burj Khalifa in
Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...
, United Arab Emirates. Jeddah Tower's plot, along with surrounding buildings, will be the first of a three-phase Jeddah Economic City development. The three-phase project was proposed for a large area of undeveloped waterfront land with an area of . The area is located roughly north of the port city of Jeddah. Jeddah Economic City was designed by
HOK Architects HOK, formerly Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum and legally HOK Group, Inc., is an American design, architecture, engineering, and urban planning firm, founded in 1955. As of 2018, HOK is the largest U.S.-based architecture-engineering f ...
, and is estimated to cost at least SR75 billion (US$20 billion) and take around ten years to build. The development is envisioned to grow into a new district of Jeddah. The second phase of the project will be the infrastructure development needed to support the city, and the third phase has not yet been revealed. The focal point of the development and Jeddah Tower's primary use will be to house a
Four Seasons hotel Four Seasons Hotels Limited, trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is an international luxury hotel and resort company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Four Seasons currently operates more than 100 hotels and resorts worldwide.D ...
, Four Seasons
serviced apartment Short-term rental describes furnished self-contained apartments that are rented for short periods of time, usually by the month as opposed to annual rentals in the unfurnished apartment rental market. They are seen as an alternative to hotels. "Sh ...
s, Class A office space, and luxury condominiums. The tower will also have the world's highest
observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. ...
. Although the Jeddah Economic City plot is nearly isolated from the current urban core of Jeddah, no land tracts of such size were available closer to the city. Northward is generally considered the direction in which the city will spread in the future. The primary designer of Jeddah Tower is Chicago based architect
Adrian Smith Adrian Frederick "H" Smith (born 27 February 1957) is an English guitarist best known as a member of heavy metal band Iron Maiden, for whom he also writes songs and performs backing vocals both live and in the studio. Smith grew up in London ...
of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS + GG), the same architect who designed the Burj Khalifa while he was working for
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...
(SOM), for which he worked almost 40 years. AS + GG was formed in 2006 by Adrian Smith, Gordon Gill, and Robert Forest. The development of the tower is being managed by Emaar Properties PJSC.
Thornton Tomasetti Thornton Tomasetti (formerly the Thornton-Tomasetti Group, Thornton Tomasetti Engineers, Lev Zetlin & Associates, LZA Technology and Weidlinger Associates) is a global, 1,500-plus person scientific and engineering consulting firm. Services Tho ...
has been selected as the structural engineering firm, and Environmental Systems Design, Inc. (ESD) is a part of the AS + GG design team that serves as the building services engineering consultants. On 2 August 2011, it was publicly announced by Kingdom Holding, the investment company, that a contract had been signed by
Saudi Binladin Group Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) is a Saudi construction company headquartered in Jeddah, Hejaz. It is the largest construction company of the Middle East. The company is owned primarily by the Bin Laden family. Founded by Muhammad Binladin in 1931, ...
(SBG), that construction was going to start soon, and that the tower was expected to take 63 months to complete. While the official construction estimate is five years and three months (63 months), others calculate that it will take significantly longer, over seven years, based on the duration of Burj Khalifa's construction, which was over six years (with the help of CQC Department).
Besix BESIX Group is a construction group based in Brussels, one of the world's leading international contractors according to the ENR ranking. Active since 1909, BESIX operates in Europe, the Middle East, Oceania, Africa, North America and Asia. Its a ...
Group (Belgian Six Construct), which constructed the Burj Khalifa, was previously considered for the contract, but did not win, partially because SBG invested in Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) contributing SR1.5 billion (US$400 million) towards the development of the project. Besix admitted in 2010 that they expected Binladin Group to win the contract. Jeddah Economic Company is a
closed joint stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are ...
(PJSC) formed in 2009 as a financial entity for Jeddah Tower and Jeddah Economic City. It is made up primarily of financiers (stakeholders) Kingdom Holding Company (33.35%), Abrar Holding Company (33.35%), which is owned by Samaual Bakhsh and businessman Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbately (16.67%), as well as the tower's own contractor, Saudi Binladin Group (16.63%). JEC's assets have a book value of nearly SR9 billion, broken down between a land bank of over (the Jeddah Economic City plot) with a value of SR7.3 billion that will be used as
collateral Collateral may refer to: Business and finance * Collateral (finance), a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan * Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Collate ...
to attain bank loans, and SR1.5 billion in cash. Kingdom Holding is an
investment company An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under t ...
founded in 1980 and 95% owned by
Al-Waleed bin Talal Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud ( ar, الوليد بن طلال آل سعود; born 7 March 1955) is a Saudi Arabian billionaire businessman, investor, philanthropist and royal. He was listed on '' Time'' magazine's Time 100, an annual list of the ...
that has assets valued at over $25 billion, with interests in many major companies such as
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
,
PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manufa ...
,
Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
,
Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
,
Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
,
Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
,
Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...
,
Newscorp News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in N ...
, Pinnacle Infotech Solutions and
Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi ( stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomera ...
, as well as real estate in London through its Songbird Estates division.


Construction history

In May 2008,
soil testing Soil test may refer to one or more of a wide variety of soil analysis conducted for one of several possible reasons. Possibly the most widely conducted soil tests are those done to estimate the plant-available concentrations of plant nutrients, i ...
in the area cast doubt over whether the proposed location could support a skyscraper of the proposed one-kilometer height, and
MEED MEED, formerly ''Middle East Economic Digest'', is a media publishing company founded in 1957 focused on economic and business news related to the Middle East. MEED also provides advertising and marketing services. History The first issue o ...
reported that the project had been scaled back, making it "up to shorter." Work on the foundation was scheduled to begin towards the end of 2012. Statements that construction would soon begin were made starting in 2008. In August 2011, the start of construction was slated as "no later than December." This meant the tower was expected to be completed in 2017, though at that time it was also possible that it could still have been completed by the date the media continued to publish, which was the prior estimate of late 2016. Only if construction had begun promptly and gone smoothly could a late 2016 completion have been achieved. Reports in 2009 suggested that the project had been put on hold due to the
Global financial crisis of 2008–2009 Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...
and that
Bechtel Bechtel Corporation () is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company founded in San Francisco, California, and headquartered in Reston, Virginia. , the '' Engineering News-Record'' ranked Bechtel as the se ...
(the former engineering firm) was "in the process of ending its involvement with the project." Kingdom Holding Company quickly criticized the news reports, insisting that the project had not been shelved.


Architect selected

In March 2010, Adrian Smith of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS + GG) was selected as the preliminary architect (though they deny involvement in the earlier, mile-high designs). Later, when the proposal was more serious, they won a design competition between eight leading architectural firms including
Kohn Pedersen Fox Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is an American architecture firm that provides architecture, interior, programming and master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors. KPF is one of the largest architecture firms in ...
, Pickard Chilton, Pelli Clarke Pelli, and
Foster + Partners Foster + Partners is a British architectural, engineering, and integrated design practice founded in 1967 as Foster Associates by Norman Foster. It is the largest architectural firm in the UK with over 1,500 employees in 13 studios worldwide. ...
, as well as the firm Smith formerly worked for
Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The fir ...
, which was the final competitor in the competition before AS + GG was chosen. In addition to Burj Khalifa, Adrian Smith has designed several other recent towers; the
Zifeng Tower Zifeng Tower (Greenland Center-Zifeng Tower or Greenland Square Zifeng Tower, formerly Nanjing Greenland Financial Center) is a supertall skyscraper (special class of skyscraper) in Nanjing, Jiangsu. The 89-story building completed in 2010 co ...
in
Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...
, China, the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, and the
Jin Mao Tower The Jin Mao Tower (; Shanghainese:'' Cinmeu Dagho''; lit. ‘Golden Prosperity Building’), also known as the or , is a , 88-story (93 if counting the floors in the spire) landmark skyscraper in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai, China. It contains a s ...
in Shanghai, as well as the Pearl River Tower in
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...
, China. The four buildings are all among the top eleven tallest in the world. Furthermore, the Pearl River Tower is a unique tower that was originally designed to use zero net energy by drawing all its needed power from
wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few ...
,
sunlight Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when ...
, and geothermal mass, though this design goal was not fully achieved. In October 2010, the owners (Kingdom Holding Company) signed a development agreement with
Emaar Properties Emaar Properties (Emaar Developments or simply Emaar) is an Emirati multinational real estate development company located in the United Arab Emirates. It is a public joint-stock company, listed on the Dubai Financial Market, and has a valuatio ...
PJSC. The final height of the building was questionable, but it was still listed to be over 1 kilometre. Kingdom Holding said construction was progressing. Designs for the foundation were in place by early August 2011 and the contract for the
piling A deep foundation is a type of foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a vertical structural elemen ...
was tendered. On 16 August 2011, Langan International officially announced their involvement and that the foundation and piling had to be uniquely designed to overcome subsurface issues such as soft
bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of be ...
and
porous Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void (i.e. "empty") spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. Strictly speaking, some tests measure ...
coral rock, which normally could not support a skyscraper without settling. The foundation is similar to that of the Burj Khalifa, but larger; it is expected to average around deep with a concrete pad of area around . The concrete must have low permeability to keep out corrosive
salt water Saline water (more commonly known as salt water) is water that contains a high concentration of dissolved salts (mainly sodium chloride). On the United States Geological Survey (USGS) salinity scale, saline water is saltier than brackish w ...
from the Red Sea. Its depth and size are also considered to be an indicator of what the tower's final height will be. The piles will be up to deep and the pad over across, yet the building, which will weigh over , is expected to settle. The idea is that it settles evenly enough so that the building doesn't tip or put undue stress on the
superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...
. Computer modelling programmes performed tests at the site to confirm that the foundation design would work. A later design for the foundation, to be constructed by Bauer in 2013, calls for 270 bored piles up to deep which have to be installed into the difficult ground conditions. Some materials needed for the structure are of concrete and of steel.


Approvals

In March and April 2011, several news agencies reported that the Mile-High Tower design had been approved at that height and that the building would cost almost US$30 billion (SR112.5 billion). This design was going to be drastically larger than the current design, with a floor area of and would have used futuristic wind aversion and energy producing technology for sustainability. It and the surrounding City would have had the ability to accommodate 80,000 residents and one million visitors, according to
RIA Novosti RIA Novosti (russian: РИА Новости), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (russian: РИА, label=none) is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013 by a decree of Vladimir Putin it was liquidated and its asset ...
. Adrian Smith denied that he was a part of any of the earlier designs, which had been purported in the media. One source even corrected its article and clarified the misunderstanding.


Contractors selected

In early August 2011, the Binladin Group was chosen as the main construction contractor with the signing of an SR4.6 billion () contract, which is less than it cost to build the Burj Khalifa (US$1.5 billion). New renderings were revealed, and on 2 August it was widely reported that the project was a go at the height with a building area of , and will take 63 months to complete. The announcement of the main construction contract signing caused Kingdom Holding Company's stock to jump 3.2% in one day, in addition to KHC already having reported a 21% rise in second-quarter net profit. Also, for the first time, architects Gordon Gill and Adrian Smith officially announced their involvement in the project. On 13 August 2012, it was announced that the landscaping contract for the Jeddah Tower was to be awarded to Landtech Designs, a US-based company, who will be responsible for irrigating of green space by using the latest technology in sustainable irrigation. The supply of water to irrigate the green space would be collected through rainwater. On 21 September 2012, it was announced that financing for the Jeddah Tower was complete. Talal Al Maiman, chief executive officer and managing director of Kingdom Real Estate Development Co. said in an interview "We have all the investors, all the finance, all the money we need," Al Maiman said. "It took us beyond 20 months to convince investors, working every detail and aspect of financing." On 10 October 2012, Kingdom Holding awarded contracts totalling $98 million. Kingdom Holding Co. has signed a deal with Subul Development Company for the sale of land in the Kingdom Riyadh Land project for $66.5 million. The Kingdom Riyadh Land project, a mixed-use commercial and residential development, will generate more than $5.33 billion of total investment and will house up to 75,000 people. The final master plan contract was awarded to Omrania & Associates and Barton Willmore. Bauer, a German Foundations equipment manufacturer and contractor was awarded a US$32 million contract to support the initial phases of construction of the Jeddah Tower. This includes the installation of 270 bored piles with diameters of 1.5 metres and 1.8 metres. The enabling works are expected to begin before the end of 2012 and take about 10 months to complete. On 21 February 2013, the Jeddah Economic Company (JEC) announced that it had appointed an EC Harris/ Mace joint venture team to project manage the iconic Jeddah Tower project. The team will be providing project, commercial and design management for the Jeddah Tower development. CEO of JEC, Waleed Abduljaleel Batterjee said that the reason Mace was hired is to use the same team that worked for
The Shard The Shard, also referred to as the Shard of Glass, Shard London Bridge, and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 72-storey skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that forms part of The Shard Quarter dev ...
in London. On the other hand, EC Harris also has a long list of projects in the region including the Grand Millenium Al-Wahda Hotel,
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dha ...
's largest hotel complex. On 29 April 2013, news was reported that the Saudi Water Company had signed a 2.2 billion-riyal ($587 million) supply deal with Jeddah Economic Co. for the Jeddah tower project. The 25-year agreement to supply 156,000 cubic metres of treated and drinking water a day, enough for 62 Olympic-size pools, was signed by the chief executive of the Jeddah-based developer, Waleed Batraji, and Loay al-Musallam, head of National Water Company.


Construction begins

Construction started on 1 April 2013. Piling was completed in December 2013. Above ground construction commenced in September 2014. In late 2017, the owner of Kingdom Holding Co, which owns 33% of the tower, and the chairman of the Saudi Binladen Group, which owns 17% and is the primary contractor, were arrested as part of the
2017 Saudi Arabian purge Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...
. Construction of the tower continued, although some senior managers at Kingdom Holding were redirected to other projects. In February 2018, Mounib Hammoud, CEO of Jeddah Economic City, said that construction is continuing and that they hoped to open the tower by 2020. In October 2017 the central core of the tower was at 60 floors and the walls were high, as of end of 2017 a reported height was . In March 2018, Kingdom Holding Company signed a deal with Orange Business Services to provide information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to Jeddah Tower. On March 12 construction of the tower moved forward after the delay.


Delay

There was steady progress, but in January 2018, building owner JEC halted structural concrete work with the tower about one-third completed due to labour issues with a contractor following the 2017–19 Saudi Arabian purge. Since then construction work has been stalled, partially due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, and as of January 2023, it is uncertain if or when the tower will be finished.


Design


Challenges

Sustainability of such a tall building would include issues such as vertical transportation limitations, with elevators only being able to go so far; building sway, caused by wind; and super column settling, which occurs because concrete tends to shrink as it hydrates and settles under load, whereas steel is dimensionally stable, thereby causing the floors to become uneven. Additionally, a very large core size is required in very tall buildings to support the structure as well as to house the large number of elevators needed. The core size consumes a significant amount of the space on the lower and middle floors. One of the ways Jeddah Tower attempts to overcome these issues is with its smooth, sloped-exterior design, which, although more expensive to build, offers superior aerodynamic performance over "stepped" designs such as the Burj Khalifa, allowing it to have a more conservative core overall. This was determined by wind tunnel tests performed at Burj Khalifa. Jeddah Tower will also use copious stiffening materials to prevent the excessive sway that would otherwise make the occupants of upper floors nauseated on windy days, including very high strength concrete that will be up to several metres thick in certain parts of the core. This, along with the highly integrated steel frame and
shear wall In structural engineering, a shear wall is a vertical element of a system that is designed to resist in-plane lateral forces, typically wind and seismic loads. In many jurisdictions, the International Building Code and International Residential Co ...
s, is also intended to prevent catastrophic failure of the structure in the event of a terrorist attack. Traditionally, the space consumed by elevators was considered to make a building become increasingly less profitable past 80 floors or so. More recently, it has been the advent of truly mixed-use design such as
Shanghai Tower Shanghai Tower () is a 128-story, megatall skyscraper in Lujiazui, Pudong, Shanghai.
and Burj Khalifa, as well as improved building technology, that have outdated this rule of thumb, which generally applied to single use buildings. Like Burj Khalifa, Jeddah employs a similar Y-shaped, triangular footprint which promotes stability and increases window views, as well as a tapering form, with the sheer height and wind being the biggest structural design challenge. The smooth, sloped façade of Jeddah Tower particularly induces a beneficial phenomenon known as "wind vortex shedding." Normally when wind swirls around the
leeward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...
side of a building, rushing in from both sides to fill the low pressure zone, it would create tornado like vortices, which would rock the building from side to side due to variations in pressure, direction and velocity. The dynamic façade of Jeddah Tower, however, creates an infinite timing differential (whereas Burj Khalifa is limited by the number of steps) in air pressure exertion in any one particular direction, thus creating a more stable structure, as there is no broad area of outstanding pressure or depression at any given time. Put simply, a smooth taper is more aerodynamic than an irregular or jagged taper, while both are advantageous over rectangular geometries. At Jeddah Tower's height, it is considered essentially unfeasible to use a traditional square design.


External form

The triangular footprint and sloped exterior of Jeddah Tower is designed to reduce
wind load Wind engineering is a subset of mechanical engineering, structural engineering, meteorology, and applied physics that analyzes the effects of wind in the natural and the built environment and studies the possible damage, inconvenience or benefits w ...
s; its high surface area also makes it ideal for residential use. The overall design of the tower, which will be located near both the
Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...
and the mouth of the Obhur Creek (Sharm Ob'hur) where it widens as it meets the Red Sea, as well as having frontage on a man-made waterway and harbour that will be built around it, is intended to look like a desert plant shooting upwards as a symbol of Saudi Arabia's growth and future, as well as to add prominence to Jeddah's status as the gateway into the holy city of
Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow v ...
. The designer's vision was "one that represents the new spirit in Saudi Arabia" (Smith). The 23 hectare (57 acre) area around Jeddah Tower will contain public space and a shopping mall, as well as other residential and commercial developments, and be known as the Jeddah Tower Water Front District, of which, the tower's site alone will take up . As with many other very tall skyscrapers, including the
Kingdom Centre Kingdom Centre (Arabic: مركز المملكة) is a 41- story, skyscraper in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When completed in 2002, it overtook the Faisaliyah Tower as the tallest tower in Saudi Arabia. It has since been surpassed and, , is the fift ...
in
Riyadh Riyadh (, ar, الرياض, 'ar-Riyāḍ, lit.: 'The Gardens' Najdi pronunciation: ), formerly known as Hajr al-Yamamah, is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the ...
, which is generally considered to have sparked the recent significant commercial developments around it in the district of Olaya, much of the intention of Jeddah Tower is to be symbolic as well as to raise the surrounding land value rather than its own profitability. To that effect, the tower's architect, Adrian Smith, said that the tower "evokes a bundle of leaves shooting up from the ground; a burst of new life that heralds more growth all around it". Smith states that the tower will create a landmark in which it and the surrounding Jeddah Economic City are interdependent. Talal Al Maiman, a board member of Jeddah Economic Company, said, "Jeddah Tower will be a landmark structure that will greatly increase the value of the hundreds of other properties around it in Jeddah Economic City and indeed throughout North Jeddah." The concept of profitability derived from building high density developments and malls around such a landmark was taken from the Burj Khalifa, where it has proven successful, as its surrounding malls, hotels and condominiums in the area known as
Downtown Dubai Downtown Dubai or The Dubai Downtown, is a large-scale, mixed-use complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Dubai Downtown was created by the Emaar Real Estate Development Company. Before 2000, the place was called Umm Al Tarif. It is home to so ...
have generated the most considerable revenue out of that project as a whole, while the Burj Khalifa itself made little or no profit.


Elevators

The building will have a total of 59 elevators, five of which will be
double-deck elevator A double-deck elevator or double-deck lift is an elevator where one cab is stacked on top of another. This allows passengers on two consecutive floors to be able to use the elevator simultaneously, significantly increasing the passenger capaci ...
s, as well as 12 escalators. The elevators are made by the Finnish company
Kone Kone Oyj (; officially stylized as KONE and trading as KONE Corporation) is an elevator engineering company employing over 60,000 personnel across 60 countries worldwide. It was founded in 1910 and is now headquartered in Espoo near Helsinki, ...
. It will also have the highest observation deck in the world, to which high speed elevators will travel at up to 10 metres (33 feet) per second (36 km/h or 22 mph) in both directions. The elevators cannot go faster because the change in air pressure at such a rapid speed could cause
nausea Nausea is a diffuse sensation of unease and discomfort, sometimes perceived as an urge to vomit. While not painful, it can be a debilitating symptom if prolonged and has been described as placing discomfort on the chest, abdomen, or back of th ...
; at , the air pressure is over 10 kPa (1.5 psi) lower than at ground level (a 10% reduction in air pressure). They must also be efficient so the cables are not unbearably heavy. Jeddah Tower will have three sky lobbies where elevator transfers can be made, and no elevator will go from the bottom to the highest occupied floor. No official floor count has been given; however, Smith stated in a television interview that it will be about 50 floors more than the Burj Khalifa, which has 163 occupied floors, leading to the inference that Jeddah Tower will have over 200 floors. The tower will also feature a large, roughly diameter outdoor balcony, known as the sky terrace, on one side of the building for private use by the penthouse floor at level 157; it is not the observation deck. It was originally intended to be a
helipad A helipad is a landing area or platform for helicopters and powered lift aircraft. While helicopters and powered lift aircraft are able to operate on a variety of relatively flat surfaces, a fabricated helipad provides a clearly marked hard ...
, but it was revealed to be an unsuitable landing environment by helicopter pilots. The lower air density, exacerbated by the thin desert atmosphere, will cause the outdoor air temperature towards the top of the tower to be lower than the ground level air, which will provide natural cooling. There is also significantly more air flow (wind) at heights, which is very strong at one kilometre and had a large impact on the structural design of the tower. The Burj Khalifa actually takes in the cooler, cleaner air from the top floors and uses it to air condition the building. Jeddah Tower will be oriented such that no façade directly faces the sun; it will also use the condensate water from the air conditioning system for
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...
and other purposes throughout the building. To overcome elevator issues, the tower will use its large number of efficient elevators as well as its three sky lobbies, which allows transfers to be made between elevators serving a specific area with no elevator being overburdened. Much was learned from Burj Khalifa that helped with the design of Jeddah Tower not only structurally, but in methods for designing practical mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems, as well as adhering to local regulations and international
building code A building code (also building control or building regulations) is a set of rules that specify the standards for constructed objects such as buildings and non-building structures. Buildings must conform to the code to obtain planning permissi ...
s. Despite all the physical challenges, Adrian Smith states that practicality is still the greater challenge over structural durability, even in such super-tall designs, and that as with all buildings, Jeddah Tower's form was primarily derived respective of what the building's uses would be, then in accordance with the structural factors that would have to be considered to deliver it. Orange S.A. are designing the information and communications infrastructure of the building.


Internal systems

Chicago-based Environmental Systems Design, Inc. will provide mechanical, plumbing, electrical and fire protection engineering, as well as teledata, audio/visual, security systems, and acoustics. Langan International will be responsible for
geotechnical engineering Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering concerned with the engineering behavior of earth materials. It uses the principles of soil mechanics and rock mechanics for the solution of its respective engineering problems. It ...
as well as some ground level site work such as
transportation engineering Transportation engineering or transport engineering is the application of technology and scientific principles to the planning, functional design, operation and management of facilities for any mode of transportation in order to provide for t ...
and parking, including the design of the proposed 3,000–4,700 car underground parking garage that will be located near, but not under the tower to prevent terrorism. Langan also designed the tower's foundation, which has to be able to support the tower despite the less than optimal subsurface conditions, such as soft rock and permeable coral, which could cause the piles to settle. Thornton Tomasetti has provided the structural engineering for two of the previous world's tallest building title holders, the
Petronas Towers The Petronas Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers or KLCC Twin Towers, ( Malay: ''Menara Berkembar Petronas'') are 88-storey supertall skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, standing at . From 1998 to 2003, they were officially desig ...
in Kuala Lumpur, and the
Taipei 101 Taipei 101 (; stylized as TAIPEI 101), formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a supertall skyscraper in Taipei, Taiwan. This building was officially classified as the world's tallest from its opening in 2004 until the 2009 ...
in Taiwan, as well as the under construction
Ping An Finance Centre The Ping An Finance Center () is a 115-story, supertall skyscraper in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The building was commissioned by Ping An Insurance and designed by the American architectural firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. It was completed ...
in
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern provi ...
, which will be the second tallest building in China after completion.
Saudi Binladin Group Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) is a Saudi construction company headquartered in Jeddah, Hejaz. It is the largest construction company of the Middle East. The company is owned primarily by the Bin Laden family. Founded by Muhammad Binladin in 1931, ...
is the largest construction firm in the Middle East, with over 35,000 workers and hundreds of projects. They recently constructed the topped-out
Abraj Al-Bait The Clock Towers ( ar, أبراج الساعة, ʾAbrāǧ alsaa'a "Towers of the Clock") is a government-owned complex of seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. These towers are a part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project that ai ...
Clock Tower in Mecca, which is the tallest building in Saudi Arabia and third tallest in the world, as well as the largest skyscraper in the world by floor area and volume. Aside from buildings, the firm has also constructed many major infrastructure projects, such as the King Abdulaziz (Jeddah) International Airport expansion and the six lane Al Qassim Expressway through Saudi Arabia. Saudi Binladin Group is owned by the family of the late al-Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...
. As a result, it has sparked some minor media buzz. When asked his thoughts about this in an interview, Adrian Smith simply stated that they are the largest construction firm in the Middle East, most significant work in Saudi Arabia was done by them, and that it is a very large family that shouldn't be stereotyped by one of its members. Furthermore, in January 2012, New York City judge
George B. Daniels George Benjamin Daniels (born May 13, 1953) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Background and education Daniels was born in Allendale, South Carolina. He graduate ...
ruled that no charges could be filed against SBG to repay the victims of 9/11 as there is no evidence of the construction firm financially supporting bin Laden after he was removed as a shareholder following the
1993 World Trade Center bombing The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, U.S., carried out on February 26, 1993, when a van bomb detonated below the North Tower of the complex. The urea nitrate–hydrogen gas en ...
.


Economic viability

In addition to its primary functions, the building is slated to include a significant amount of retail as well as a wide variety of other unique amenities with the intention that it functions as a nearly self-sustaining entity, approaching the concept of a "
vertical city Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting ...
". The building's design has been applauded as simple and feasible, yet bold, brilliantly sculpted, and high-tech, with AS + GG describing it as "an elegant, cost-efficient and highly constructible design." The estimated construction cost of US$1.23 billion, which is less than that of the Burj Khalifa (US$1.5 billion), can be attributed to cheap labour in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, and that three shifts will work around the clock to expedite the process. Construction costs have also declined since the global financial crisis. In July 2011, a report by consultancy EC Harris found that Saudi Arabia is the cheapest country in the Middle East to build in, half as expensive as
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and a ...
, and 34% cheaper than the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...
, where Burj Khalifa is located. The future towers' site is located in very close proximity to King Abdulaziz (Jeddah) International Airport, whose runways nearly align with the towers' site, which will have an effect on the airspace. While skyscraper experts have stated that towers well over one kilometre, even two kilometres (6,562 feet) high, are technically feasible, physical sustainability and practicality issues come into play in towers of this height. As for physical restraints, Bart Leclercq, head of structures for WSP Middle East recently said, "I truly believe that 1 mile, 1.6 kilometres, is within range. Over that, it may be possible if there are improvements in concrete quality. But 2 km is too big a figure; it's just a step too far at the moment."


Impact

There is an impending
real estate bubble A real-estate bubble or property bubble (or housing bubble for residential markets) is a type of economic bubble that occurs periodically in local or global real-estate markets, and typically follow a land boom. A land boom is the rapid increa ...
in Saudi Arabia, with increasing demand and rising prices due to high population growth and a short supply of housing, which may include a demand for high-end luxury units, such as those in Jeddah Tower. To boost growth, the Saudi Arabian government is going to invest US$67 billion (SR251 billion) in building 500,000 homes throughout the country. According to Saudi officials, about 900 new homes are needed a day to meet the demand of the rapidly growing population, which has nearly quadrupled in the past four decades. Just as the Jeddah Tower will complement the Jeddah Economic City development that will be built around it, there are many infrastructure and revitalisation projects underway and planned throughout Saudi Arabia, such as the US$7.2 billion (SR27.1 billion) new airport terminal under construction at King Abdulaziz (Jeddah) International Airport, that will complement the Jeddah Economic City as well as develop Saudi Arabia, which has been likened to a Third World country with crumbling infrastructure and widespread disasters, including severe flooding, such as the flash floods in early 2011 that damaged 90% of the roads and over 27,000 buildings in Jeddah. According to a representative of
Standard Chartered Standard Chartered plc is a multinational bank with operations in consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in the UK, and around 9 ...
, which invested US$75 million in Saudi Binladin Group, Saudi Arabia is going to spend over US$400 billion (SR1.5 trillion) on infrastructure over the next few years. According to reports by Citi Investment Research & Analysis, $220 billion worth of development, accounting for 36% of all construction spending in the
MENA MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or ...
region, will be directly or indirectly beneficial to Jeddah Tower. Jeddah Tower and City themselves are intended to set an example of green development, using modern technology and having a low
carbon footprint A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...
relative to the number of people they will support. However, there is also an increasing problem of poor education levels in Arab countries due to a lack of spending in research and education, which it is argued should be invested in rather than building skyscrapers, and that the tower is nothing more than a symbol of
hubris Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. The term ''arrogance'' comes from the Latin ', mean ...
. It has even been likened to the
Tower of Babel The Tower of Babel ( he, , ''Mīgdal Bāḇel'') narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages. According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and mi ...
. Furthermore, economists have found large new skyscrapers to be a negative economic indicator, with several instances of new tallest buildings being finished and opening into a bad economy, as they generally start during a financial boom when money is easy and investment is strong, but do not finish until the bubble has burst. Examples include the
Singer Building The Singer Building (also known as the Singer Tower) was an office building and early skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City. The headquarters of the Singer Manufacturing Company, it was at the northwestern corner of Liberty Street and Broad ...
and Metropolitan Life Insurance Building after the
Panic of 1907 The Panic of 1907, also known as the 1907 Bankers' Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis, was a financial crisis that took place in the United States over a three-week period starting in mid-October, when the New York Stock Exchange fell almost 50% fro ...
,
40 Wall Street 40 Wall Street, also known as the Trump Building, is a Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic skyscraper on Wall Street between Nassau Street (Manhattan), Nassau and William Street (Manhattan), William streets in the Financial District, Manh ...
, the
Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel fra ...
and the
Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from " Empire State", the nickname of the ...
built during the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, the World Trade Center and
Sears Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...
built during the 1970s economic downturn, the
Petronas Towers The Petronas Towers, also known as the Petronas Twin Towers or KLCC Twin Towers, ( Malay: ''Menara Berkembar Petronas'') are 88-storey supertall skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, standing at . From 1998 to 2003, they were officially desig ...
built during the Asian Crisis of the late 1990s and the Burj Khalifa built during the
Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...
. Much of the study on this phenomenon was done in 1999 by Andrew Lawrence, a research director at
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...
who created the "skyscraper index," originally as a joke; however, it illustrated the observation that many of the world's tallest buildings have been built on the eve of financial collapse.


Reception

The developers' theory is that the international attention gained through large developments and having the world's tallest building will incur
gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ...
of the country and even be a financial success in the long run. Architect Adrian Smith, the designer of the tower, states, "...this tower symbolizes the Kingdom as an important global business and cultural leader, and demonstrates the strength and creative vision of its people. It represents new growth and high-performance technology fused into one powerful iconic form." However, Bob Sinn, principal engineer at Thornton Tomasetti, stated that the practical challenges of building very tall buildings are greater than the structural challenges. "We intend eddahTower to become both an economic engine and a proud symbol of the kingdom's economic and cultural stature in the world community," said Talal Al Maiman, a board member of both Kingdom Holding Company and Jeddah Economic Company. The project's primary proponent, Prince Al-Waleed said, "Building this tower in Jeddah sends a financial and economic message that should not be ignored. It has a political depth to it to tell the world that we Saudis invest in our country."


Gallery

File:KT Building Progress 10-JAN-2015 04.png, 12th floor (10 January 2015) File:KT Building Progress 07-Jun-2015 01.jpg, 23rd floor (7 June 2015) File:Jeddah Tower Building Progress as of 07-Jul-2016.jpg, 44th floor (7 July 2016) (42+2) at night File:Jeddah Tower Building Progress as of 13-Jul-2016 002.jpg, 44th floor (13 July 2016) (42+2) File:Jeddah Tower Building Progress as of 02-Dec-2016 001 (cropped).jpg, 47th floor (2 December 2016) (45+2) File:Jeddah tower (cropped).jpg, As of June 2017 File:Jeddah Tower August 2019 S.Nitzold.jpg, As of August 2019


Floor directory

It is estimated that the Jeddah Tower will have just over 200 floors.


See also

*
List of tallest buildings This list of tallest buildings includes skyscrapers with continuously occupiable floors and a height of at least . Non-building structures, such as towers, are not included in this list (for these, see '' List of tallest buildings and structu ...
* List of future tallest buildings *
The Illinois The Mile-High Illinois, Illinois Sky City, or simply The Illinois is a visionary skyscraper that is proposed to be over high, conceived and described by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in his 1957 book, ''A Testament''. The design, intend ...


Notes

: A. ^ The actual height of the Burj Khalifa was not revealed until the opening ceremony. The developers of Jeddah Tower are similarly keeping the final height secret, stating only that it will be at least high. In a television interview for WTTW in Chicago, architect Adrian Smith stated that the tower will be a little over twice the height of the
Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (; ar, برج خليفة, , Khalifa Tower), known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the world’s tallest building. With a total height ...
, which is high counting the antennas, suggesting that Jeddah Tower may be closer to ; one mile high. Some sources have suggested that Jeddah Tower will break Burj Khalifa's record by over . In 2014, online sources were using the number . : B. ^ This figure has been referred to as the "total building area" in publications, which is probably another term for
gross floor area In architecture, construction, and real estate, floor area, floor space, or floorspace is the area (measured as square feet or square metres) taken up by a building or part of it. The ways of defining "floor area" depend on what factors of the buil ...
; the actual usable floor space, which is what buildings are typically measured by, will presumably be less. This area has also been reported as . : C. ^ This assumes a 2012 start date and the estimated completion time of 63 months. : D. ^ Figure attained using the formula for the area of a circle (π''r''2) and the given value of as the diameter. : E. ^ No official floor count has been given; however, Adrian Smith said it will be about 50 floors taller than the (163-floor)
Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (; ar, برج خليفة, , Khalifa Tower), known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the world’s tallest building. With a total height ...
. In November 2010, an older kilometre-high design was said to contain over 200 floors.


References


External links


Kingdom Holding Company website

Jeddah Tower
on the
CTBUH The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings and sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States ...
Skyscraper Center
Slideshow image gallery of renderings
by
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is o ...

Jeddah Tower on Twitter

Construction Timelapse
on YouTube {{Supertall skyscrapers , under-construction Skyscrapers in Jeddah Buildings and structures under construction in Saudi Arabia Neo-futurism architecture 2020 in Saudi Arabia