CONSTRUCTION & TECHNOLOGY

Strategically located off Sheikh Zayed Road, with easy access to the Burj Khalifa district and the DIFC metro station, this project includes a 45-storey, 877,000 sq ft commercial tower, and a 47-storey, 558,000 sq ft residential tower, the company said in a statement.

Chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, who initiated and has been the driving force behind the decision to build the world's tallest building in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is pleased to announce on 2nd August 2011, that the contract for construction has been signed and Kingdom Tower, with a height of over 1,000 meters, will begin construction imminently in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

A star of the exhibition is the Burj Khalifa, which opened early last year in Dubai as the tallest building in the world. Designed by the Chicago architect Adrian Smith, it rises a staggering 2,717 feet, or higher than the twin towers stacked one atop the other.

The American architect has the right resume for the job. He already grappled with effects like horizontal wind divergence and negative pressure high above the Arabian Gulf desert when he designed Dubai's Burj Khalifa, today's highest tower.

The American architect has the right resume for the job. He already grappled with effects like horizontal wind divergence and negative pressure high above the Persian Gulf desert when he designed Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, today’s highest tower.

The company has been involved in some of the most challenging construction projects in the region, including the Armani hotel in Burj Khalifa, Qasr El Sarab resort, Atlantis Hotel on Palm Jumeirah, the Emirates Palace Hotel, Burj Al Arab, and Dubai International Airport's Terminals 1, 2 and 3.

How exactly are we supposed to greet this news? Does the world need a 3280-foot tower? Did it need the 2717-foot Burj Khalifa in Dubai, designed by Smith and Gill while at SOM? Of course not: super tall buildings aren’t shaped by profit—upturned boxes and their attached casinos are created for that—they’re shaped by hubris, pride, and aggressive symbolism.

Blair Kamin has an update on the Kingdom Tower, the proposed 3,280-ish-foot skyscraper designed by local starchitect Adrian Gill and planned for completion in 2017 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at an estimated cost of $1.23 billion dollars (cheaper than the Burj Khalifa, a Gill project at SOM, thanks to low labor costs).

Man is never satisfied with his progress and achievements. There is always a struggle to achieve more. Only recently the architectural plans and designs of the1 km tall Kingdom Tower were released. This tower would make the Burj Khalifa (828 m tall) look like a dwarf.

ESD (Environmental Systems Design, Inc.), an international leader in the design of high performance building systems, has been awarded a contract to design the building systems for the new Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.