| Kingdom Tower | |
|---|---|
| برج المملكة | |
Computer rendering released on 2 August 2011 |
|
| Former names | Mile-High Tower |
| General information | |
| Status | Approved |
| Type | Mixed-use; office, hotel, residential, apartments, observation, retail |
| Architectural style | Supertall skyscraper |
| Location | Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
| Construction started | January 2012[1] |
| Estimated completion | 2016–2017[C] |
| Cost | SR 4.6 billion (US$1.23 billion)[2] (preliminary) |
| Height | |
| Antenna spire | ≥1,000 m (3,280.84 ft)[A] |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Reinforced concrete and steel, all glass façade |
| Floor count |
>200 total ≥160 habitable[E] |
| Floor area | 530,000 m2 (5,704,873 sq ft)[B] |
| Elevator count | 59 |
| Design and construction | |
| Owner | Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, Kingdom Holding Company |
| Management | CBRE Group |
| Main contractor | Saudi Binladin Group |
| Architect | Adrian D. Smith, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Chicago, USA |
| Developer | Emaar Properties Jeddah Economic Company (JEC)[3] |
| Engineer | Langan International (sub-grade and transportation planning)[4] |
| Structural engineer | Thornton Tomasetti |
| References | |
| [5] | |
Kingdom Tower (Arabic: برج المملكة Burjul Mamlakah), previously known as Mile-High Tower (Arabic: برج الميل), is a supertall skyscraper approved for construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia at a preliminary cost of SR4.6 billion (US$1.23 billion).[6] It will be the centerpiece and first phase of a SR75 billion (US$20 billion)[7] proposed development known as Kingdom City that will be located along the Red Sea on the north side of Jeddah. If completed as planned, the tower will reach unprecedented heights, becoming the tallest building in the world, as well as the first structure to reach the one-kilometer mark. The tower was initially planned to be 1.6-kilometre (1 mi) high; however, the geography of the area proved unsuitable for a tower of that height. The design, created by architect Adrian Smith, incorporates many unique structural and aesthetic features. The creator and leader of the project is Saudi Arabian Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the wealthiest Arab in the Middle East,[8] and nephew of King Abdullah. Talal is the chairman of Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), the largest company in Saudi Arabia,[9] which owns the project, and a partner in Jeddah Economic Company (JEC), which was formed in 2009 for the development of Kingdom Tower and City.[9] Reception of the proposal has been highly polarized, receiving high praise from some as a culturally significant icon that will symbolize the nation's wealth and power, while others question its socioeconomic motives, and forecast that it will actually have negative financial consequences. In May 2011 German newspaper Bild featured a report on the building stating that it had contacted the office of archtitectural firm of Adrian D. Smith and Gordon Gill asking about the project, receiving an answer that the circulating renderings were definitely not by AS+GG and that they were unaware of any such project at all.[10]
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The building has been scaled down from its initial 1.6 km (about one mile) proposal, which was never fully designed, to a height of at least 1,000 metres (3,280.84 ft) (the exact height is being kept private while in development, similar to the Burj Khalifa),[A][11] which, at about one kilometre,[12] would still make it by far the tallest building or structure in the world to date,[13] standing at least 173 m (568 ft) taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.[14]
The tower and its 50-hectare plot, which will include other buildings, will be the first phase of the Kingdom City development, a three-phase project proposed for a large area of undeveloped waterfront land with an area of 5,202,570 square metres (56,000,000 sq ft) (2 square miles).[15] It was originally planned to cover 23,000,000 square metres (247,569,940 sq ft) (8.9 square miles) and cost SR100 billion.[16] The area is located roughly 20 km (12 mi) north of the port city of Jeddah. Kingdom City was designed by HOK Architects,[17] and it is estimated that it will cost at least US$20 billion (SR75 billion) and take around 10 years to build.[7] It will essentially become a new district of Jeddah.[18] The second phase of the project will be all the infrastructure development needed to support the city, and the third phase has not yet been disclosed.[19] The focal point of the development, Kingdom Tower's primary purpose will be to house a Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, Class A office space, and luxury condominiums; it will also have the world’s highest observatory.[20] Although the Kingdom City plot is nearly isolated from the current urban core of Jeddah, northward is generally considered the direction in which the fast growing city will spread in the future. Regardless of this, no land tracts of such size were available closer to the city, anyway.[19]
The tower is being designed primarily by Chicago-based architect Adrian Smith of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS + GG),[14] the same architect who designed the Burj Khalifa while he was working for Skidmore, Owings & Merill (SOM),[21] for which he worked almost 40 years.[22] AS + GG was formed in 2006 by Adrian Smith, Gordon Gill, and Robert Forest.[23] The development of the tower is being managed by Emaar Properties PJSC.[24] Thornton Tomasetti has been selected as the structural engineering firm,[25] and Environmental Systems Design, Inc. (ESD)[26] is a part of the AS + GG design team that serves as the building services engineering consultants.[27]
On 2 August 2011, it was publicly announced by Kingdom Holding, the investment company, that a contract had been signed by Saudi Binladin Group (SBG), construction was going to start soon, and that the tower was expected to take 63 months (5 years, 3 months) to complete.[28] Besix Group (Belgian Six Construct), which constructed the Burj Khalifa, was previously considered for the contract, but did not win, partially because SBG invested in Jeddah Economic Company (JEC),[29] contributing SR1.5 billion (US$400 million) towards the development of the project,[30] and holding a 16.6 percent stake in Jeddah Economic Company.[31] Besix admitted in 2010 that they expected Binladin Group to win the contract.[32] Jeddah Economic Company is a closed joint stock company (PJSC) formed in 2009 as a financial entity for Kingdom Tower and City. It is made up primarily of financiers (stakeholders) Kingdom Holding Company (33.35%), Abrar Holding Company (33.35%), which is owned by Samaual Bakhsh, and businessman Abdulrahman Hassan Sharbatly (16.67%), as well as the tower's own contractor, Saudi Binladin Group (16.63%).[33] JEC's assets have a book value of nearly SR9 billion, broken down between a land bank of over 5,300,000 m2 (57,048,725 sq ft) (the Kingdom City plot) with a value of SR7.3 billion that will be used as collateral to attain bank loans, and SR1.5 billion in cash.[19] Kingdom Holding is an investment company founded in 1980 and 95% owned by Prince Talal[34] that has assets valued at over $25 billion, with interests in many major companies such as Walt Disney, Pepsico, Kodak, Apple, Hewlett Packard, Motorola, Time Warner, Newscorp, and Citigroup, as well as real estate in London through its Songbird Estates division.[35]
In May 2008, soil testing in the area cast doubt over whether the proposed location could support a skyscraper of the proposed one mile height, and MEED reported that the project had been scaled back, making it "up to 500 metres (1,640 ft) shorter."[36]
Reports in 2009 suggested that the project had been put on hold due to the global economic crisis and that Bechtel (the former engineering firm) was "in the process of ending its involvement with the project."[37][38] Kingdom Holding Company quickly criticized the news reports, insisting that the project had not been shelved.[39]
In March 2010, Adrian Smith of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS + GG) was selected as the preliminary architect (though they deny involvement in the earlier, mile-high designs).[40] Later, when the proposal was more serious, they won a design competition between eight leading architectural firms including Kohn Pedersen Fox, Pickard Chilton, Pelli Clarke Pelli, and Foster + Partners, as well as the firm Smith formerly worked for, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill,[41] which was the final competitor in the competition before AS + GG was chosen.[42] In addition to Burj Khalifa, Adrian Smith has designed several other recent supertall towers; the Nanjing Greenland Financial Center in Nanjing, China, the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago, Illinois, and the Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai,[43] as well as the Pearl River Tower, which is still under construction in Guangzhou, China.[44] The four buildings are all among the top eleven tallest in the world, and the Pearl River Tower is a unique tower that uses zero net energy as it gets all its power from wind, sunlight, and geothermal mass.[22]
In October 2010, the owners (Kingdom Holding Company) signed a development agreement with Emaar Properties PJSC. The final height of the building was questionable, but it was still listed to be over 1 kilometer.[45] Kingdom Holding said construction was progressing.[21][46]
In March and April 2011, several news agencies reported that the Mile-High Tower design had been approved at that height and that the building would cost almost US$30 billion (SR112.5 billion).[6] This design was going to be drastically larger than the current design, with a floor area of 3,530,316 m2 (38,000,000 sq ft) and would have utilized futuristic wind aversion and energy producing technology for sustainability. It and the surrrounding City would have had the ability to accommodate 80,000 residents and one million visitors,[47] according to RIA Novosti.[6] Many things were rumored about the mile-high designs, such as that it would be so high the top would freeze at night, helicopters would be used for construction, parachutes would be part of the fire escape plan, and that an elevator ride to the top would take 12 minutes (multiple transfers would be required)[48] in a typical elevator and five minutes in a high-speed elevator.[47] Adrian Smith denied that he was a part of any of the earlier designs, which had been purported in the media.[49] One source even corrected its article and clarified the misunderstanding.[50]
In early August 2011, the Binladin Group was chosen as the main construction contractor with the signing of a SR4.6 billion (US$1.23 billion) contract,[2] which is less than it cost to build the Burj Khalifa (US$1.5 billion).[51] New renderings were revealed and on 2 August it was widely reported that the project was a go at the 1,000 m (3,281 ft) height[A] with a building area of 530,000 square metres (5,704,873 sq ft),[B][52][53] and will take 63 months to complete.[11] Construction is expected to start no later than December 2011.[54] The foundation for the tower has already been designed and the contract for the piling is being tendered.[55] Announcement of the main construction contract signing caused Kingdom Holding Company's stock to jump 3.2% in one day,[56] in addition to KHC already having reported a 21% rise in second quarter net profit.[57] Also, for the first time, architects Gordon Gill and Adrian Smith officially announced their involvement in the project.[58]
The triangular footprint and sloped exterior of Kingdom Tower is designed to reduce wind loads; its high surface area also makes it ideal for residential units.[55] The overall design of the tower, which will be located near both the Red Sea and the mouth of the Obhur Creek (Sharm Ob'hur) where it widens as it meets the Red Sea,[41] as well as having frontage on a man-made waterway and harbor that will be built around it,[59] is intended to look like a desert plant shooting upwards as a symbol of Saudi Arabia's growth and future, as well as to add prominence to Jeddah's status as the gateway into the holy city of Mecca.[60] The designer's vision was “one that represents the new spirit in Saudi Arabia" (Smith).[61] The 23 hectare (57 acre) area around Kingdom Tower will contain public space and a shopping mall, as well as other residential and commercial developments, and be known as the Kingdom Tower Water Front District,[41] of which, the tower's site alone will take up 500,000 m2 (5,381,955 sq ft).[62] As with many other very tall skyscrapers, including the Kingdom Centre in nearby Riyadh, which is generally considered to have sparked the recent significant commercial developments around it in the district of Olaya,[19] much of the intention of Kingdom Tower is to be symbolic as well as to raise the surrounding land value rather than its own profitability.[54] To that effect, the tower's architect, Adrian Smith, said that the tower "evokes a bundle of leaves shooting up from the ground–a burst of new life that heralds more growth all around it".[61] Smith states that the tower will create a landmark in which it and the surrounding Kingdom City are interdependent.[42] Talal Al Maiman, a board member of Jeddah Economic Company, said, “Kingdom Tower will be a landmark structure that will greatly increase the value of the hundreds of other properties around it in Kingdom City and indeed throughout North Jeddah.”[62] The concept of profitability derived from building high density developments and malls around such a landmark was taken from the Burj Khalifa, where it has proven successful, as its surrounding malls, hotels and condominiums in the area known as Downtown Dubai[63] have generated the most considerable revenue out of that project as a whole,[62] while the Burj Khalifa itself made little or no profit.[64]
The building will have a total of 59 elevators, five of which will be double-deck elevators, as well as 12 escalators. It will also have the highest observation deck in the world, to which high speed elevators will travel at up to 10 meters (33 feet) per second (slightly over 35 km/h (22 mph)) in both directions.[65] The elevators cannot go faster because the rapid change in air pressure over that much distance would be nauseating; at 914 m (3,000 ft), the air pressure is over 10 kPa (1.5 psi) lower than at ground level (about 10% less air pressure).[66] They must also be efficient so the cables are not unbearably heavy.[67] Even as such, the elevator distance limit is about 570 metres (1,870 ft) before the cables become inevitably too heavy and the motor size impractical; Kingdom Tower will have three sky lobbies where elevator transfers can be made, no elevator will go from the bottom to the highest occupied floor.[42] No official floor count has been given, however Smith stated in a television interview that it will be about 50 floors over the Burj Khalifa, which has 163 occupied floors,[68] leading to the inference that Kingdom Tower will have well over 200 floors.[E][42] The tower will also feature a large, roughly 30 m (98 ft) diameter outdoor balcony, known as the sky terrace, on one side of the building for private use by the penthouse floor at level 157;[65][69] it is not the observation deck.[70] It was originally intended to be a helipad, but it was revealed to be an unsuitable landing environment by helicopter pilots.[42] The building's large notches will also serve as shaded terraces for other areas of the tower and the exterior of the building will use low-condusive glass to save on cooling costs by reducing thermal loads.[71] In addition, the lower air density, exacerbated by the thin desert atmosphere, will cause the outdoor air temperature towards the top of the tower to be lower than the ground level air, which will provide natural cooling. There is also significantly more air flow (wind) at heights, which is very strong at one kilometer and had a large impact on the structural design of the tower.[42] The Burj Khalifa actually takes in the cooler, cleaner air from the top floors and uses it to air condition the building.[72] Kingdom Tower will be oriented such that no façade directly faces the sun; it will also use the condensate water from the air conditioning system for irrigation and other purposes throughout the building.[73]
Chicago based[74] Environmental Systems Design, Inc. will provide mechanical, plumbing, electrical and fire protection engineering,[9] as well as teledata, audio/visual, security systems and acoustics.[75] Langan International, together with structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti, will be responsible for geotechnical engineering as well as some ground level site work such as transportation engineering and parking,[4] including the design of the proposed 3,000–4,700 car underground parking garage[76] that will be located near, but not under the tower for terrorism reasons.[42] Langan also designed the tower's foundation, which has to be able to support the tower despite the less than optimal subsurface conditions, such as soft rock and permeable coral, which could cause the piles to settle.[77] Thornton Tomasetti has provided the structural engineering for two of the previous world's tallest building title holders, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, and the Taipei 101 in Taiwan, as well as the under construction Pingan International Finance Center in Shenzhen, which will be the tallest building in China after completion.[25] Saudi Binladin Group is the largest construction firm in the Middle East, with over 35,000 workers and hundreds of projects. They recently constructed the topped-out 601 m (1,972 ft) Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower in Mecca, which is the tallest building in Saudi Arabia and second tallest in the world, as well as the largest skyscraper in the world by floor area and volume. Aside from buildings, the firm has also constructed many major infrastructure projects, such as the King Abdulaziz (Jeddah) International Airport expansion and the 775 km (775,000 m) six lane Al Qassim Expressway through Saudi Arabia.[35] Saudi Binladin Group is owned by the family of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin,[78] whom the family disavowed long before his death. Nonetheless, it has sparked some minor media buzz.[79] When asked his thoughts about this in an interview, Adrian Smith simply stated that they are the largest construction firm in the Middle East, most significant work in Saudi Arabia was done by them, and that it is a very large family that shouldn't be stereotyped by one of its members.[42]
“An elegant, cost-efficient and highly constructible design.”
In addition to its primary functions, the building is slated to include a significant amount of retail as well as a wide variety of other unique ammentities with the intention that it functions as a nearly self-sustaining entity, approaching the concept of a "vertical city".[59] The building's design has been applauded as simplistic and buildable, yet bold, brilliantly sculpted, and high-tech,[69] with AS + GG describing it as "an elegant, cost-efficient and highly constructible design."[55] The estimated construction cost of US$1.23 billion, which is less than that of the Burj Khalifa (US$1.5 billion), can be attributed to cheap labor in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia, and that three shifts will work around the clock to expedite the process.[51] Construction costs have also declined since the global financial crisis.[80]
“At extreme heights, the main challenges are along practical and architectural lines, not material or structural.”
In July, 2011, a report by consultancy EC Harris found that Saudi Arabia is the cheapest country in the Middle East to build in, half as expensive as Bahrain, and 34% cheaper than the United Arab Emirates, where Burj Khalifa is located.[82] The future towers' site is located in very close proximity to King Abdulaziz (Jeddah) International Airport, whose runways nearly align with the towers' site, which will have an effect on the airspace.[59] While skyscraper experts have stated that towers well over one kilometer, even two kilometers (6,562 feet) high, are technically buildable, physical sustainability and practicality issues come into play in towers of this height.[83] From a real estate perspective, it is considered virtually impossible to create enough demand to justify such a tower, but that at some point someone with a great excess of money will likely do it anyway. As for physical restraints, Bart Leclercq, head of structures for WSP Middle East recently said, “I truly believe that 1 mile—1.6 kilometres—is within range. Over that, it may be possible if there are improvements in concrete quality. But 2km is too big a figure –it’s just a step too far at the moment.”[84]
“Kingdom Tower’s height is remarkable, obviously, but the building’s iconic status will not depend solely on that aspect. Its form is brilliantly sculpted, making it quite simply the most beautiful building in the world of any height.”
Sustainability of such a tall building would include issues such as vertical transportation limitations, with elevators only being able to go so far, building sway, caused by wind, and supercolumn settling, which is where the steel columns settle more than the concrete core and cause the floors to be unlevel.[84] Additionally, a very large core size is required in very tall buildings to support the structure as well as to house the large number of elevators needed. The core size consumes a significant amount of the space on the lower and middle floors.[67] One of the ways Kingdom Tower attempts to overcome these issues is with its smooth, sloped-exterior design, which, although more expensive to build, offers superior aerodynamic performance over "stepped" designs such as the Burj Khalifa, allowing it to have a more conservative core overall. This was determined by wind tunnel tests performed at Burj Khalifa. Kingdom Tower will also utilize copious stiffening materials to prevent the excessive sway that would otherwise make the occupants of upper floors nauseous on windy days,[84] including very high strength concrete that will be up to several feet thick in certain parts of the core. This, along with the highly integrated steel frame and shear walls, is also intended to prevent catastrophic failure of the structure in the event of a terrorist attack.[42] Traditionally, these physical constraints, namely the space consumed by elevators, were considered to make a building become increasingly less profitable past 80 floors or so. More recently, it has been the advent of truly mixed-use design such as Shanghai Tower and Burj Khalifa, as well as improved building technology, that have outdated this rule of thumb, which generally applied to single use buildings.[85]
“Is there such as thing as too high? I think mankind is always going to be challenged by finding the next frontier. I think there’s also a market -people will always want to be in the world’s tallest tower.”
Both towers share a similar three-petal triangular footprint for stability[42] and a tapering form,[86] with sheer height and wind being the biggest structural design challenge.[29] The smooth, sloped façade of Kingdom Tower particularly induces a beneficial phenomenon known as "wind vortex shedding,"[62] whereas normally when wind swirls around the leeward side of a building, rushing in from both sides to fill the low pressure zone, it would create tornado-like vorticies, which would rock the building from side to side due to the variances in pressure, direction, and velocity, the dynamic façade of Kingdom Tower creates an infinite timing differential (whereas Burj Khalifa is limited by the number of steps) in air pressure exertion in any one particular direction, thus creating a more stable structure, as there is no broad area of outstanding pressure or depression at any given time.[42] Put simply, a smooth taper is more aerodynamic than an irregular or jagged taper, while both are advantageous over rectangular geometries. At Kingdom Tower's height, it is considered essentially unfeasible to use a traditional square design.[84]
To overcome elevator issues, the tower will use its large number of efficient elevators as well as its three sky lobbies, which allows transfers to be made between elevators serving a specific area with no elevator being overburdened. Much was learned from Burj Khalifa that helped with the design of Kingdom Tower[86] not only structurally, but in methods for designing practical mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems, as well as adhering to local regulations and international building codes.[87] Despite all the physical challenges, Adrian Smith states that practicality is still the greater challenge over structural durability, even in such supertall designs, and that as with all buildings, Kingdom Tower's form and was primarily derived respective of what the building's uses would be, then in accordance with the structural factors that would have to be considered to deliver it.[42]
The recent announcement of the tower has provoked widespread and highly divided reaction throughout the media. Those who support the project see it as an investment that, although visionary, will have positive social and economic effects on the area as well as the country in the long term, while others see it as nothing more than the result of self-centered and attention seeking competition between oil-rich gulf nations that will serve no purpose other than as a white elephant, costing more and generating less than expected, if it even gets built.
“The race to build the highest skyscraper is quite futile –where do you stop? These buildings are a symbol of an old-fashioned way of thinking.”
There is an impending real estate boom in Saudi Arabia, with increasing demand and rising prices due to high population growth and a short supply of housing, which may include a demand for high-end luxury units, such as those in Kingdom Tower. To boost growth, the Saudi Arabian government is going to invest US$67 billion (SR251 billion) in building 500,000 homes throughout the country.[88] According to Saudi officials, about 900 new homes are needed a day to meet the demand of the rapidly growing population, which has nearly quadrupled in the past four decades.[89] Kingdom Tower is also an attempt to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy, which, holding a quarter of the world's oil reserves and being one of the founding OPEC nations, is currently largely dependent on its crude oil exportation,[71] which accounts for nearly 75% of government revenues and 90% of exports. This generates enough income to support Saudi Arabia as a welfare state,[90] which spends billions of dollars on job creation and housing for its lower income residents.[31]
“...this tower symbolizes the Kingdom as an important global business and cultural leader, and demonstrates the strength and creative vision of its people. It represents new growth and high-performance technology fused into one powerful iconic form.”
Just as the Kingdom Tower will complement the Kingdom City development that will be built around it, there are many infrastructure and revitalization projects underway and planned throughout Saudi Arabia, such as the US$7.2 billion (SR27.1 billion) new airport terminal under construction at King Abdulaziz (Jeddah) International Airport,[91] that will complement the Kingdom City as well as develop Saudi Arabia, which has been likened to a Third World country with crumbling infrastructure and widespread disasters, including severe flooding,[92] such as the flash floods in early 2011 that damaged 90% of the roads and over 27,000 buildings in Jeddah.[93] According to a representative of Standard Chartered, which invested US$75 million in Saudi Binladin Group, Saudi Arabia is going to spend over US$400 billion (SR1.5 trillion) on infrastructure over the next few years.[94] According to reports by Citi Investment Research & Analysis, $220 billion worth of development, accounting for 36% of all construction spending in the MENA region, will be directly or indirectly beneficial to Kingdom Tower.[63] Kingdom Tower and City themselves are intended to set an example of green development, using modern technology and having a low carbon footprint relative to the number of people they will support.[64] However, there is also an increasing problem of poor education levels in Arab countries due to a lack of spending in research and education, which it is argued should be invested in rather than building skyscrapers,[95] and that the tower is nothing more than a symbol of hubris.[85] It has even been likened to the Tower of Babel.[96]
“Building this tower in Jeddah sends a financial and economic message that should not be ignored. It has a political depth to it to tell the world that we Saudis invest in our country.”
Furthermore, economists have found large new skyscrapers to be a negative economic indicator,[97] with several incidences of new tallest buildings being finished and opening into a bad economy,[98] as they generally start during a financial boom when money is easy and investment is strong, but do not finish until the bubble has burst. Examples include the Singer Building and Metropolitan Life Insurance Building after the Panic of 1907, 40 Wall Street, the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building built during the Great Depression, the World Trade Center and Sears Tower built during the 1970s economic downturn, the Petronas Towers built during the Asian Crisis and Contagion of the late 1990s, and the Burj Khalifa built during the late-2000s recession.[99] Much of the study on this phenomenon was done in 1999 by Andrew Lawrence, a research director at Deutsche Bank who created the "skyscraper index," originally as a joke, but that illustrated the very real fact that many of the world's tallest buildings have been built on the eve of financial collapse.[100]
“Of course, until it’s built, the Burj Khalifa’s record remains intact. That hasn’t, however, stopped architects and developers from producing concept drawings of mega-monolithic spires and gleaming shards of steel and glass to drum up publicity. It’s cheating, of course, but it does get you bragging rights. Until a project breaks ground and construction starts, nothing has been achieved other than a nice set of drawings and a lot of internet forum comments. It’s a clever ploy, but it robs genuine projects of their rightful claims with little more effort than a few hours in front of a computer.”
The developers' theory is that the international attention gained through large developments and having the world's tallest building will incur gentrification of the country[102] and even be a financial success in the long run. Rory Olcayto, deputy editor of The Architects’ Journal, said “The race to build the highest skyscraper is quite futile –where do you stop? These buildings are a symbol of an old-fashioned way of thinking,”[71] while architect Adrian Smith states, "...this tower symbolizes the Kingdom as an important global business and cultural leader, and demonstrates the strength and creative vision of its people. It represents new growth and high-performance technology fused into one powerful iconic form”.[61] However, Bob Sinn, principal engineer at Thornton Tomasetti, stated that the practical challenges of building supertall buildings are greater than the structural challenges.[81]
“We intend Kingdom Tower to become both an economic engine and a proud symbol of the Kingdom’s economic and cultural stature in the world community,” said Talal Al Maiman, a board member of both Kingdom Holding Company and Jeddah Economic Company.[93] He continued, "We envision Kingdom Tower as a new iconic marker of Jeddah’s historic importance as the traditional gateway to the holy city of Mecca."[71] The project's primary proponent, Prince Al-Waleed said, "Building this tower in Jeddah sends a financial and economic message that should not be ignored. It has a political depth to it to tell the world that we Saudis invest in our country."[2]
When Alain Robert, also known as the French Spiderman, was expressing his willingness to climb Kingdom Tower after it is complete if he is given official approval, despite the fact that he will be well into his fifties, heard that it may be up to 1,600 meters, he said, "That doesn’t make much sense,” but that if the height is 1,000 meters that it will be achievable.[103]
Aside from the geotechnical investigation (soil testing) that took place in 2008, and minor site preparation evidenced by pictures of the site, work on the foundation has not yet begun. While the official construction estimate is five years and three months (63 months), others calculate that it will take significantly longer, over seven years, based on the duration of Burj Khalifa's construction,[104] which was over six years. Statements that construction will begin soon have been made since 2008, but have been postponed each time. As of August 2011, the construction schedule has been slated as "no later than December,"[54] with some saying "immediately," and that construction is imminent.[71] This means the tower is expected to be completed during the year 2017, though it is possible that it could be completed by the date the media continues to publish, which is the prior estimate of late 2016.[89] Only if construction does begin promptly and go smoothly can a late 2016 completion be expected.[17] Designs for the foundation were in place by early August and the contract for the piling with Langan International was being tendered.[55] On 16 August 2011, Langan officially announced their involvement and that the foundation and piling had to be uniquely designed to overcome subsurface issues such as soft bedrock and porous coral rock, which normally could not support a skyscraper without settling.[77] The foundation will be similar to that of the Burj Khalifa, but larger. It is expected to be around 60 metres (197 ft) deep with a concrete pad of around 7,500 m2 (80,729 sq ft). The concrete will have to have low permeability to keep out corrosive salt water from the Red Sea, its depth and size is also considered to be an indicator of what the tower's final height will be.[101] The piles will be up to 200 metres (656 ft) deep and the pad over 300 feet (91 m) across, yet even still the building, which will weigh over 900,000 tons, is expected to settle. The idea is that it settles evenly enough so that the building doesn't tip or put undue stress on the superstructure. Computer modeling programs performed tests at the site to confirm that the foundation design would work.[105]
Construction of the building will rely on cutting edge technology, including the high-strength reinforced concrete and the pumps used to elevate it to record heights, similar to what was used during Burj Khalifa's construction.[106] Bob Sinn, principal of Thornton Tomasetti states, “Concrete quality is getting better and better, as is pumping technology. There have been very strong advances in reinforced concrete over the last 20 years." He continued, “Kingdom Tower is certainly feasible. It’s not a structural challenge. Technically I think a 2 km (6,562 ft)-tall tower could be done, but I don’t think it will be done anytime soon.”[81] Kingdom Tower is not only the only approved structure over 1,000 metres (3,281 ft), it is also the only proposal higher than the 828 metres (2,717 ft) Burj Khalifa to be given the green light for construction.[101]