There are only a few ways this picture could have been taken:

Helicopter
Blimp/Balloon
Camera hanging from cable raised by one of the cranes.

Whatever they did... It is amazing!

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/7...7588097584.jpg

for how tacky the rest of the building is, that is one beautiful clock

well .. I have a question for them ..

in about 100 years or what ever .. this enormous building is going to be demolished

and the standard procedure for that is by series of explosives
how will they do such violent action that near to the holy Haram of Ka'aba ??

Brick by brick. Invite each holy pilgrim to take a piece home.

Oh please. This building will last a good 200-400 years. There are buildings across the globe that are 200, 300, almost a thousand years old, and people still live and work in some of them.

It isn't even finished construction and you are already worried about how in the future they will have to demolish it with out damaging it's surroundings......wow, talk about the ultimate in "Glass half empty" kind of attitude.

I don't believe they even design buildings with the concept of how they will be demolished in the future.

They're going to pull it down because it's ugly as sin, not because it's in bad shape.

And yet they continue to build it.....

I like it more everyday.

Could they make this thing look any more tacky if they tried. :yuck:

Same. And I also don't think it's tacky... A lot of middle-eastern architecture is a little over the top by western standards. I think the design (particularly after seeing the newer nighttime renderings with the lights) is beautiful. Not sure I'd want it right outside the most important holy site in the world for my religion, but...

I must admit, I thought that it was tacky and ugly and absolutely hypocritical for this tower to be built. But it has by and large grown on me and I quite like it. I think it will age well also. Imagine how this building will be perceived in, say, 200 years from now. I think it will go hand-in-hand with the Kaaba.

looks like crap

what is it for?

You can find that info very easily by looking at the first entry on the first page of this thread.

well .. Ka'ba is the holiest place for muslims in the past 1400 years,
and muslims believe it has been the holiest place in earth since many many thousands of years .. even before the prophet Abraham himself

so .. I am pretty sure nothing will be "hand-in-hand" with the Ka'ba .. any where in the future :)

I think the renderings look terrible.

The buildings in reality though look great, in detail and in scale.

really?i think massing is my problem with it...

That last rendering was absolutely terrible.

:lmao: Barad-dur meets Caesar's Palace.

shot by loooty

(10 Aug 2010)


http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/7...ac24b5a28b.jpg

Nice. How are the other three clock faces progressing?

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3450/mct01.jpg

they'v just announced today that the one in front will tick tomorrow (first day of ramadan)

That is one ugly building
 

Wow is that gaudy!

my god looks fake as hell and it has the eye of mordor at the top

I find it funny that there are so many haters of this building. All the comments of "gaudy", "hideous", "tacky" and so on, are all subjective opinions and rather arbitrary when you think that the same could be said of Notre Dame de Paris or any other cathedral you can think of.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_de_Paris.jpg
(Courtesy Wikipedia found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris )

Or even the famous Big Ben... It's pretty tacky and overly ornamented in comparison with today's predilection for sleek glass boxes.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ber_2006-2.jpg
(courtesy Wikipedia found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_ben )

Didn't you get the memo? Apparently we're not supposed to like it because it's in the Middle East :koko:

I completely agree with you.

So, it's always 10 after 2?

Will the clock be giving an official time for things like the start of Ramadan?

This is one big-ass clock!!!
It's impressive how huge this project is, I hope to see more projects for
Saudi Arabia.:upload_71700:

Yes, but that is the stucture that was needed for those buildings at the time to make them stand up.....and the extreme ornamentation was a reflection of the design at the times and was usually associated with wealth and power. This was all happening in a time of dispair for many people in europe. I see some parallels here. This thing appears, as many educated people have dubbed it: tacky, ticky tacky, tack on, gawdy architecture. It was produced by a client with eyes on profit who is obviously trying to prove something to someone, somewhere. Im just saying this building does not really seem pure at all and may be representing something negative to the people who live there.

While I see all your points of view, I have to side somewhat with the non-haters. To be honest, it doesn't look as gaudy in reality as the renderings might have you believe.

Aside from what these towers symbolize to some (obnoxious wealth & power), one must remember, firstly, that clock towers have always been know to be symbolic and monumental in modern civilization, and secondly, massive and rapid development is a universal symbol for a nation on the rise (Dubai, anyone?) ...Saudi Arabia is most definitely a nation on the rise, and Mecca being one of its most sacred cities, the place is severly lacking in an image to those outside the muslim world. It needs an icon people will notice.

While the underlying styles and subtle architectural notes may not impress every architecture critic, all these towers say to me are "Saudi Arabia is on the rise. World, take notice!"

What horrifies me far more is the thought of 40 more identical towers going up right next to this one. :sly:

the building is an endowment, all the money earned from this project goes to the maintenance of the 2 holy mosques in saudi arabia.

that (book shelf) render was not approved

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/...e5782a0f_z.jpg

testing started yesterday

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/...a9e16c96_z.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/...c2197f0e_z.jpg

Where is the proof in that statement? I find that kind of hard to believe.

the project's full name is "abraj al bait endowment" google it

Saudi Arabia Ministry of Endowment - Abraj Al Bait
http://www.zawya.com/projects/projec...pid60000001480

Makkah Time a new alternative for GMT - Arab News
10 Aug 2010 ... The King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project, which overlooks the Holy ... of the Abraj Al-Bait complex, part of the King Abdul Aziz Endowment ...
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article99369.ece


Abraj Al Bait, comprising seven elegant towers, is part of the King AbdulAziz Endowment of The Two Holy Mosques, and is an architectural landmark created to ...


its also written in arabic on the building at the entrance, right under the clock (white large) and on the cock face (small writing).....:

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/5...7590406669.jpg

I know this picture has been shown before but I just wanted to say WOW - stunningly beautiful IMO. And it looks just as good in the real pictures. Can't wait to see this finished.

I know a lot of you disagree, but I can't help but like this project.

one of the reasons for the ornamentation in your photos was listed above. The flying buttresses were necessary to keep the structures standing, for exmaple. Western art and architecture has moved away from overdone aesthetics though, which is why you're getting a backlash from certain people.

I think that many people on these boards tend to believe that worldwide art follows a certain linear pattern. Obviously, that's not the case. Different places have retained a regional art and this building offers us a case study to how ornament rich the Middle East can be in terms of art and design.

For those of us who think that more is more, we might not like this building's aesthetic and that should be okay. Conversely, we should also understand and appreciate why the building is so richly decorated.

It's not really the ornamentation that is a concern. It's that the base of the tower looks like a Vegas hotel mixed with any number of stuco cladded cheapy high rise condos.

I think the scale of the clock is off compared to the rest of the building as well, but it certainly isn't the ornamentation on top that is at issue for me, it's the general blandnes and scale of the rest of it.

Were this building about half it's size and the clock tower better proportioned it might look fine.. but when you compare it to the rest of the "worlds tallest" it just looks clunky.

vegas stole our islamic and arabian architecture, NOT the other way around (we were here first). think about it.

unlike vegas this building is just a hotel for PILGRIMS. and not gamblers (alcohol and gambling is illegal in the kingdom, thank god)

We have different concerns then. I think the proportions are quite effective (as brutalized as they seem). This building's goal wasn't to look light and airy, that much is obvious. i more or less like to stay away from debates on what the right balance might have been, as that's a subjective and arbitrary topic, but what I can tell is that the designers of this thing wanted to create a monumental and imposing building. They were successful in doing that.

I guess I don't get the Vegas thing either. Yeah, a Vegas hotel might have a similar expression (that looks "cheap"), but many hotels there are rarely a true expression of place (instead a shallow visual reproduction of elsewhere). The building in Mecca is at least true to regional and religious motifs/aesthetics.

I only wish they adapted existing Islamic art/architectural motifs in a fresh way. Also, they could have pushed a more inspiring site plan, one that did less damage to the existing street scape, which seems so intimate and functional.

The central tower looks great. The side towers are quite tacky, especially in their midsections.

I kinda like it, but it looks like it belongs on Klingon or Arrakkis.

by othman:
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9...2c750e536b.jpg

Ugggh. What an eyesore this entire project is.

I've been periodically checking in on this project but only because of the height. The design itself is lacking any really interesting features and felt, from the beginning, like a resort hotel in Las Vegas or Macau. Now that it's nearing completion...it looks even more so.

many off-topic posts deleted!

please stick to the topic, which is, the construction of the Abraj Al-Bait. I understand the occasional question/examples about projects in the area but come on people. some of these posts don't even relate to the project at all. also, if your post is something we've heard 4 times per page for the last 6 pages then try saying something a little different to start a good conversation. or if it's meant to instigate then please don't post at all.

also, a reminder, please properly credit photo sources. A link to the website or name of the photographer, please credit them.

can you change the thread's name to:

MECCA | Abraj Al-Bait | 601m | 1972ft | 95 fl | U/C
:)

Shot by Othman:

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/9...e60b6b745b.jpg

I agree!

They made sigificant progress here.

looks really great :cool: