Wednesday, August 03, 2011 5:04:19 AM
Chicago architecture firm to design world's tallest tower
[above images from http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-110802-kingdom-tower-pictures,0,2908125.photogallery ]
By Ryan Haggerty
Tribune reporter
9:58 a.m. CDT, August 2, 2011
A tower designed by Chicago architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill and to be built in Saudi Arabia will be the world's tallest building if completed, according to plans unveiled today.
Kingdom Tower will be built in Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea, according to Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. The building will be more than 3,280 feet tall and at least 568 feet taller than the world's current tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
Smith was with the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill when he designed the 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa, which opened in January 2010.
Construction of Kingdom Tower will start "imminently" and is expected to last about five years, according to Smith and Gill's firm. The building will house a luxury hotel, apartments, condos, office space and the world's highest observatory and is expected to cost $1.2 billion to construct. The tower is part of Kingdom City, a development project in Jeddah expected to cost $20 billion.
The building's exact height has not been revealed. Some previous reports had said the building was expected to be one mile high, but those reports were quickly discredited by Smith and Gill's firm.
The plans were announced today by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi King Abdullah and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company. The skyscraper, which would be at least 1,500 feet taller than Chicago's Willis Tower [tallest building in the U.S., originally the Sears Tower], represents the latest example of Chicago-based architecture firms taking on high-profile overseas work as the American commercial real estate market struggles to recover from the building bust of the 1990s and the recession.
rhaggerty@tribune.com
Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-chicago-architecture-firm-to-design-worlds-tallest-tower-20110802,0,2531792.story [with comments]
===
Bin Laden Group to build world's tallest tower
Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud shows a model of the Jeddah Tower on Tuesday.
August 2nd, 2011
10:46 AM ET
Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding has hired Saudi Bin Laden Group [ http://www.sbg.com.sa/ ] to build the world's tallest skyscraper [ http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/kingdom-holding-signs-contract-for-world-s-tallest-tower-1.846325 ] in Jeddah, Gulfnews.com reports.
Jeddah Tower will be 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) tall and will contain a Four Seasons luxury hotel, apartments, condominiums and offices that overlook the Red Sea, Financial Times [ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71eef532-bcf6-11e0-bdb1-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1TscMQPiU ] reported.
Kingdom Holding is paying Bin Laden Group, one of the world's largest construction companies, about $1.2 billion to take on the five-year project, according to Financial Times.
Saudi Bin Laden Group was founded in 1931 by Muhammad Awad bin Laden, the billionaire father of terrorist Osama bin Laden. It built much of Saudi Arabia's highways and infrastructure, as well as entire districts and cities.
The company constructed additions to the Muslim nation's two holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina. It operates throughout the Middle East and was chosen in 1964 to reclad the golden Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem.
Over the years, Saudi Bin Laden Group has expanded into a conglomerate that includes engineering, manufacturing and telecommunications, according to business analysis site Hoovers.com.
Osama bin Laden, the 17th of 52 children, inherited part of his father's fortune, but his radical activities led the family to disown him in 1994.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, announced the tower building contract Tuesday. He owns 95% of Kingdom Holding, according to Financial Times.
When completed, Jeddah Tower will easily surpass Dubai's 828-meter (2,717-foot) Burj Khalifa [ http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/01/04/dubai.skyscraper/index.html?iref=allsearch ] as the world's tallest building.
The Chicago firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture [ http://smithgill.com/ ] designed the project and will oversee its development, Gulfnews.com reported. Adrian Smith was one of Burj Khalifa's designers when he was with Skidmore Owings and Merrill.
© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/02/bin-laden-group-to-build-tower/ [with comments]
===
Sitting On The Worlds Tallest Building: Burj Khalifa in Dubai
[from http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-100102-burj-dubai-pictures,0,2824063.photogallery ]
*
On the top of Burj Khalifa's spire
===
Tower Climbers working
[above images from http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-110802-kingdom-tower-pictures,0,2908125.photogallery ]
By Ryan Haggerty
Tribune reporter
9:58 a.m. CDT, August 2, 2011
A tower designed by Chicago architects Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill and to be built in Saudi Arabia will be the world's tallest building if completed, according to plans unveiled today.
Kingdom Tower will be built in Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea, according to Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. The building will be more than 3,280 feet tall and at least 568 feet taller than the world's current tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa.
Smith was with the Chicago office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill when he designed the 2,717-foot Burj Khalifa, which opened in January 2010.
Construction of Kingdom Tower will start "imminently" and is expected to last about five years, according to Smith and Gill's firm. The building will house a luxury hotel, apartments, condos, office space and the world's highest observatory and is expected to cost $1.2 billion to construct. The tower is part of Kingdom City, a development project in Jeddah expected to cost $20 billion.
The building's exact height has not been revealed. Some previous reports had said the building was expected to be one mile high, but those reports were quickly discredited by Smith and Gill's firm.
The plans were announced today by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi King Abdullah and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company. The skyscraper, which would be at least 1,500 feet taller than Chicago's Willis Tower [tallest building in the U.S., originally the Sears Tower], represents the latest example of Chicago-based architecture firms taking on high-profile overseas work as the American commercial real estate market struggles to recover from the building bust of the 1990s and the recession.
rhaggerty@tribune.com
Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-chicago-architecture-firm-to-design-worlds-tallest-tower-20110802,0,2531792.story [with comments]
===
Bin Laden Group to build world's tallest tower
Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud shows a model of the Jeddah Tower on Tuesday.
August 2nd, 2011
10:46 AM ET
Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding has hired Saudi Bin Laden Group [ http://www.sbg.com.sa/ ] to build the world's tallest skyscraper [ http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/kingdom-holding-signs-contract-for-world-s-tallest-tower-1.846325 ] in Jeddah, Gulfnews.com reports.
Jeddah Tower will be 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) tall and will contain a Four Seasons luxury hotel, apartments, condominiums and offices that overlook the Red Sea, Financial Times [ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71eef532-bcf6-11e0-bdb1-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1TscMQPiU ] reported.
Kingdom Holding is paying Bin Laden Group, one of the world's largest construction companies, about $1.2 billion to take on the five-year project, according to Financial Times.
Saudi Bin Laden Group was founded in 1931 by Muhammad Awad bin Laden, the billionaire father of terrorist Osama bin Laden. It built much of Saudi Arabia's highways and infrastructure, as well as entire districts and cities.
The company constructed additions to the Muslim nation's two holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina. It operates throughout the Middle East and was chosen in 1964 to reclad the golden Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem.
Over the years, Saudi Bin Laden Group has expanded into a conglomerate that includes engineering, manufacturing and telecommunications, according to business analysis site Hoovers.com.
Osama bin Laden, the 17th of 52 children, inherited part of his father's fortune, but his radical activities led the family to disown him in 1994.
Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, a nephew of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, announced the tower building contract Tuesday. He owns 95% of Kingdom Holding, according to Financial Times.
When completed, Jeddah Tower will easily surpass Dubai's 828-meter (2,717-foot) Burj Khalifa [ http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/01/04/dubai.skyscraper/index.html?iref=allsearch ] as the world's tallest building.
The Chicago firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture [ http://smithgill.com/ ] designed the project and will oversee its development, Gulfnews.com reported. Adrian Smith was one of Burj Khalifa's designers when he was with Skidmore Owings and Merrill.
© 2011 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/02/bin-laden-group-to-build-tower/ [with comments]
===
Sitting On The Worlds Tallest Building: Burj Khalifa in Dubai
[from http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-100102-burj-dubai-pictures,0,2824063.photogallery ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPRjkTnTZIs
*
On the top of Burj Khalifa's spire
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWVLzVhnYE0
===
Tower Climbers working
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A_h2AjJaMw [a currently-available YouTube of the video which is the subject of the two posts preceding this one]
Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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