3,280 feet. Tall? The tallest.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architects have designed the world’s next tallest building, Kingdom Tower, planned and approved for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  What is there to say about a tower which plans to exceed Burj Khalifa’s (currently the world’s tallest building, located in Dubai) height by approximately 568 feet?  Everyone wants to know about the stats, so let’s get that out of the way.  Kingdom Tower will be comprised of 5.7 million square feet, consisting of a luxury hotel, office space, serviced apartment units, luxury condominium suites, and the world’s highest observatory station, located on the 157th floor, and spanning 98 feet in diameter.  A series of strategically placed elevators are needed for a tower of this height.  59 high-speed elevators, five of them being double-deckers, are designed to deliver passengers to various floors at 10 metres per second.  The estimated cost of the project is $1.2 billion.

The design of the tower, according to AS+GG, “evokes a bundle of leaves shooting up from the ground – a burst of new life that heralds more growth all around it.”  It goes without saying, that its design is aerodynamic, and designed to cut down tension from powerful winds at high altitudes.  There are also a series of strategically placed notches in the building’s facades to create shade for the interiors and to accommodate a series of comfortable outdoor terraces and balconies.   Its sharp edges, sleek lines, and tapering peak, resemble more of a stalagmite or an inverted icicle, but the statement about it heralding more growth around it is certainly true.

Although Kingdom Tower is a major part of this master-planned development, the price to construct it only occupies a fraction of the project’s total cost.  Another $19 billion will be spent developing the Kingdom Tower Waterfront District, a 56-acre community consisting of high-end shopping complexes, commercial, residential, and office buildings, two luxury hotels, and Tower Plaza, an open public space, specially designed to be pedestrian friendly, perfect for socializing, relaxing strolls, and getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  Kingdom Tower is the centrepiece of this magnificent community development, so it is situated amidst many shorter building, that way,  the taller buildings on the outskirts of the area still have a view of it.

Construction on Kingdom Tower is planned to commence in January 2012, and is estimated to be complete by early 2017.  What do you think about a building of this size?  Is there such a thing as too tall? Or should we continue to build higher and higher into the sky as long as technology allows us to push the limits?

Please comment below…