Chicago-based architecture practice Smith+Gill has confirmed it is to design Saudi Arabia’s Kingdom Tower; planned to stand 173m higher than Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
Designed by the same team as current record holder Burj Khalifa, the Kingdom Tower will be located in Jeddah, near the Red Sea.
It will stand at more than 1000 metres and occupy a total construction area of 530,000 square meters (5.7 million square feet), Kingdom 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.
“Our vision for Kingdom Tower is one that represents the new spirit of Saudi Arabia,” said partner Adrian Smith, whose experience in supertall tower design with previous firm SOM included Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, Nanjing Greenland Financial Center in Nanjing, China, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago and Pearl River Tower, now in the late stages of construction in Guangzhou, China.
“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.”
The project was announced today by His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, which is a partner in Jeddah Economic Company along with prominent Jeddah businessmen Samaual Bakhsh and Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly and Saudi Binladin Group (SBG).
SBG is also the contractor for Kingdom Tower.
“Prince Alwaleed, Mr. Bakhsh, Mr. Sharbatly and I were impressed by the boldness and simplicity of the AS+GG design,” said Talal Al Maiman, Executive Director, Development and Domestic Investments, a Board member of Kingdom Holding Company and a board member of JEC.
“Kingdom Tower’s height is remarkable, obviously, but the building’s iconic status will not depend solely on that aspect. Its form is brilliantly sculpted, making it quite simply one of the most beautiful buildings in the world of any height.”
September issue of The Big Project will feature full analysis and interviews with the team from
Burj Khalifa giving their thoughts on the new record breaker