Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to stand at a height of 1 kilometer from the ground? By now we all know by now that the tallest skyscraper in the world is the Burj Khalifa which stands at 828 meters. Now that’s tall! However what if we told you that the Dubai Burj Khalifa is soon lost its title as the tallest building on our planet, to the upcoming massive skyscraper the Jeddah Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? It’s true. The yet-to-be-completed Jeddah Tower will supersede the incredible Burj Khalifa in a short while from now. We cannot wait to see the glory of the Jeddah Tower, but since there’s a bit of waiting involved, let’s get to know everything about the structure now.
Jeddah Tower Saudi Arabia – All You Need to Know
1) Whose Genius Hand Is Building the Jeddah Tower?
The Jeddah Tower of Saudi Arabia is owned by the Jeddah Economic Company, who are behind the conception of this ginormous project. The structure is being developed by Kingdom Real Estate Development, which built the Kingdom Centre Riyadh Tower, which stands at a height of 302.3 meters, and has 41 floors. The Jeddah Tower will eventually be 1000 meters tall with 167 floors. The man behind this stupendous tower is Saudi Arabian Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of Ibn Saud’s grandsons. Al-Waleed holds the title of chairman of the Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) which is a partner of the Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), which is constructing the tower.
The architects behind building this enormous project are none other than Adrian Smith (who designed the Burj Khalifa) and Gordon Gill Architecture, who have a reputation for their excellence in building tower structures. They have constructed towers across the world. Some of their pristine work includes some of them include the Shenzhen Zhongzhou Holdings Financial Center in Shenzhen and the Burj Vista Tower in Dubai. Their upcoming projects, apart from the Jeddah Tower, include the Uptown Dubai Tower 2, and several more across the globe. However, none of their completed or upcoming projects can touch the Jeddah Tower in height or magnificence.
2) Some Other Things To Know About the Jeddah Tower
A lot of the technical details of the Jeddah Tower are being kept away from prying eyes; however, the few details that we have are enough to send goosebumps down your spine. Here’s everything you wanted to know about the Jeddah Tower.
- The Jeddah Tower will be the centerpiece of a grand tourist attraction known as Jeddah Economic City.
- The Jeddah Tower project was first proposed in 2011 and is estimated to be completed by 2019, or definitely by 2021.
- The tower is meant to represent the image of the bud of a palm about to spread its fronds.
- The building’s design is also meant to be very aerodynamically suited for high wind speeds as you get nearer to the top.
- The Jeddah Tower is estimated to achieve a height of 3,280 feet, which is 1000 meters high. We’re not sure of the exact Jeddah Tower height at this point, so we’ll let that be a pleasant surprise for later. The exact height of the Jeddah Tower will not be public until it’s completed said by the official.
- The ground floor area is a whopping 2.6 million square feet!
- The tower has over 252 stories out of which 167 are for residential purposes
- The Jeddah Tower will have an observatory deck at 2175 feet, which will be the highest observatory deck the world has ever experienced.
- The initial plans for the tower indicated that a mile-high structure would be needed, but the area’s geology proved unsuitable for a tower of that height.
- Architect Adrian Smith created the design that was finally approved, which incorporates several unique structural and aesthetic features.
- This tower will be the crown piece of Jeddah city and once completed it will be a landmark achievement for Saudi Arabia as well as for the field of architecture.
- The Jeddah Tower is situated on a 50-hectare (120-acre) plot. Other buildings will surround the tower, but these will be constructed as part of the three-phase Jeddah Economic City development. The entire development is estimated to cost at least SR75 billion (US$20 billion). It will take ten years to build the development through all its phases.
3) What’s The Purpose of the Jeddah Tower?
The Jeddah Tower is meant to be a crown jewel of SA, an objective it will serve admirably. That said, the focal point of the development will be to house a Four Seasons hotel along with with Four Seasons serviced apartments, luxury condominiums, and Class A office spaces. The tower will be an enviable address for corporate firms and billionaire residents. The tower will also be a tourist draw to Jeddah, as it will have the highest observatory deck in the world.
Challenges Faced During the Construction of the Jeddah Tower
Building and sustaining such a tall tower will definitely bring its own issues to the board. There are vertical transportation limitations, given that elevators can only go so far up. There are issues dealing with wind pressure at that height, and super-column settling, which happens to owe to the concrete’s tendency to shrink as it hydrates, which makes the floors an uneven.
Apart from that, such a tall building would require a very large core size to support its structure. A large core is also needed to house the many elevators that the building needs. The Jeddah Tower’s architect has planned to overcome this challenge by incorporating a smooth, sloped-exterior design, which might be more expensive to build. However, this answer might offer superior aerodynamic performance, over and above the stepped design adopted by the Burj Khalifa.
Jeddah Tower vs. Burj Khalifa
- The Burj Khalifa stands at 829 meters while the Jeddah Tower will reach a height of 1000 plus meters.
- The Jeddah Tower will employ a Y-shaped, triangular footprint which is similar to the Burj Khalifa.
- The Jeddah Tower will not adopt the Burj Khalifa’s stepped design. Rather, the architect will be going with a smooth, sloped design, which will increase window views.
- The dynamic façade of Jeddah Tower makes it more stable than the Burj Khalifa, when it comes to dealing with air pressure exertion, as a smooth structure is more aerodynamically relevant.
- The Jeddah Tower will have 167 floors, while the Burj Khalifa has 163 floors. Check out our future blog posts for more info on the incredible comparisons between the Jeddah Tower and the Burj Khalifa.
Conclusion
The world is agog with curiosity about the Jeddah Tower, and soon its curiosity will be whetted. We cannot wait for the Jeddah Tower to be completed and get to see the first pictures of the incredible views from this smooth, sloped structure. Given the smooth sloping structure of the building, the views from the windows will be intensely panoramic as well. We cannot wait for the tower to be finished. Can you?
