Kingdom Tower to begin construction, eclipse Burj Khalifa, 1 kilometer mark.

[Tyche]

The First Image of the World’s New Tallest Building

This is the first image of what's going to become the tallest building in the world by the end of the decade: The 3,280-foot (one kilometer!) Kingdom Tower. It will dwarf the 2,717-foot (828-meter) Burj Khalifa. Take a look.
Until now, there was only one blurry generic sketch. This image is an actual rendering of the finished tower. According to Chicago's Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the building's designers, construction will begin imminently. The foundation plans are now complete and "the piling for the tower is currently being tendered" in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, near the Red Sea.
Mindblowing statistics

The Kingdom Tower's numbers are impressive. The building itself will take a staggering $1.2 billion to build, "while the cost of the entire Kingdom City project is anticipated to be $20 billion," said AS+GG. The massive 3,280-foot spire will house a 5.7 million square feet (530,000 square meters) space and will beat the Burj by "at least 568 feet" (173 meter). It will have a Four Seasons hotel, a Four Seasons apartment area, office space, luxury condos and the world's highest observatory.


There will be 59 elevators, 54 single-deck and five double-deck, along with 12 escalator distributed through the Kingdom Tower. The elevators going up to the observatory deck will travel at 10 meters per second. That's 22.3 miles per hour. It will take you one minute and forty seconds to reach the top of the tower.There's even an outdoor space at the top of the spire which will be used by the penthouse floor at level 157. You can see it sticking out in the rendering, 98 feet (30 meters) in diameter.

While it will still not reach Frank Lloyd Wright's never-built dream of the Mile High Illinois, its hard-edged, sightly asymmetrical design reminds me more of Wright's sketches than the rounded Burj Khalifa ever did.

[Kerberoz]

looks familiar

[Kuya]

If i were Freud, i'd say there's some major overcompensating going on here.

[Chips]

If i were Freud, i'd say there's some major overcompensating going on here.

I was thinking the same thing...

[Niiro]

Thing looks hideous, and I totally consider it cheating for buildings to get narrowed to a point at the top just to be the tallest.

[Hyan]

Such a goddamn waste.

How about using that money improve the life of your citizens instead? Although I'm sure they will appreciate this thing.

[ronin sparthos]

If i were Freud, i'd say there's some major overcompensating going on here.

Haha, exactly what I thought.

[Ishido]

ITT jealousy because America wastes money on things other than gigantic skyscrapers.

[Ksandra]

That thing looks terrifying.....


<-Afraid of heights.

[Tyche]

I just can't wait to see the video of someone dress up like a worker and BASE jump off it mid-construction.

[Correction]

I for one welcome our new Combine overlords

[Mrbeansman]

How many buildings on that chart have been completed? I asked cause they have the freedom tower which I know isn't finished.

[Tyche]

They all are except Freedom Tower afaik

[shepardG]

inb4 they build one so big that it connects to one that's equally as tall THAT'S BUILT FROM THE MOON!!!!

also the moon will no longer orbit ....

inb4 haha we landed on the moon, and we got there and were like "well fuck...."

[Overburn]

The Dubai Towers and Freedom Towers are the only ones that don't exist in that list. The Dubai ones are supposed to open in the next few years, but I don't think they've even started on them with all the trouble Dubai is supposed to be having with building.

[Tyche]

Looks like Dubai towers will be completed this year, that's the only other.

[Mrbeansman]

inb4 they build one so big that it connects to one that's equally as tall THAT'S BUILT FROM THE MOON!!!!

also the moon will no longer orbit ....

inb4 haha we landed on the moon, and we got there and were like "well fuck...."

Or we could just build an amusement park and a western town their and call it a day.

[SephYuyX]

Hey lets see who can build the biggest building with the most unusable space on it.

[Correction]

Hey lets see who can build the biggest building with the most unusable space on it.

China will win this one very quickly. Most of their new construction projects end up rotting unoccupied.

[richardd]

That thing looks terrifying.....


<-Afraid of heights.