I don't care what anyone thinks. The clock tower is beautiful.

I hear ya :tup:

I must say, this building is growing on me. I hated it at first. Now, I get it. I don't love it yet, but I understand its place.

+1000000000000

10000% Agreed:tup:

[QUOTE=BStyles;4951489]I don't care what anyone thinks. The clock tower is beautiful.[/QUOTE

I agree with you in the day time. Now at night................:no:

Count the cranes (30?)



http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/2606/39376908.jpg

Looks like someone planted seeds on this ch-ch-ch-chia pet.:haha:

Such a large complex, surprised it hasn't taken longer to built.

It's not the clock itself i have a problem with. It's the green night-lighting.

Credit where credit is due. This is a super-supertall, and many credits to the engineers and workers who made it happen.
As it nears the final stages, pictures are appreciated! :)
Thanks everyone!

Does anyone know what is being built on the opposite side of this tower? In the past few photos you can see a bunch of cranes and it looks like a big base is being constructed. Anyone know?

New pics by ashiqulhuur, one of the side domes is placed now :)

I can't help but see the resemblance to this building.

http://www.middle-earth.be/Fotos/F28.jpg

Minas Morgul. Yup, that about covers it. :yes:

taken from the SCC forum

check this !

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/...b50d9f85ba.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/...0576435d6f.jpg


http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/...d82b9d931a.jpg

Maybe the other faces of the clock tower are supposed to tell international time.:haha:

i think blue lighting would have served this atrocity well...

The country's flag is green. Makes perfect sense for the clock to match the flag for such an icon.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...udi_Arabia.png
http://images.allrefer.com/reference...rabia-flag.gif

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2581539_n.jpg

last friday:
1.5 Million prayed in Makkah (Holy Mosque)
1 Million prayed in Madina (Prophet's Mosque)
1/4 Million prayed in Occupied Palestine (Al-Aqsa Mosque)

:)

we need more skyscrapers:

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/1963/65473169.jpg

this will be built right behind the current towers, Abraj al-Bait will have 27 towers, part of a plan to accommodate 10 million pilgrims instead of 4 million. thats a huge ENDOWMENT project which all profits goes to the maintenance of the 2 holy mosques.

If I recall, the green color was the color of Muhammad's tribe (the Quraysh), and that's why it's such a ubiquitous thing in Muslim cultures.

Green has no meaning in Islam.

:previous: Green is the colour of Saudi Arabia's flagg.

How tall is this tower actually now? At German Wikipedia someone told me that it is 508m (1,667ft), same height as Taipei 101.

Right, there's no official meaning or importance, but because of its origin green ended up being something of an ancillary symbol (much like the star and crescent).

yeah the "star and crescent" came from the Ottoman Empire, not the religion.

Please change thread name to:

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

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/...ff869021f8.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/...87ef00c879.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/...16133abd48.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4128/...9c238bc47f.jpg

what the? so they just rebuilt a tall, islam inspired version cleveland's terminal tower complex? :shrug:

http://buzzardbook.files.wordpress.c...inal-tower.jpg

can you for once stop comparing ?

Yes, they do look alike, amusing.

There are millions and millions of buildings on Earth and there are not millions and millions of possible building shapes; every one is bound to resemble something else. A spired tower with smaller buildings around it is not horribly outlandish, is it?

^Which itself is modeled after St.Mark's in Venice, built in 1514... So what's your point?

My point is: Practically every design riffs on some other design, that's just the way the world is.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...x-Venice02.jpg
(Courtesy Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark%27s_Campanile )

You can find endless amounts of buildings that look like the Abraj Al-Bait or seem to be the inspiration of it...

What does the writing in arabic above and below the clock say?

huh? umm, whats the point? on ssp? really? :haha: wait, was something deleted here or were you really asking me in particular what my point is???

ok my point is i was born in cleveland and so of course it immediately resembles the terminal tower complex to me. and yes the tower part was inspired by st marks in venice. and every other similar tower in italy. lets go back to shinbum too. maybe nepal? yadda. but much much more than all of that pedantic other backtracking -- it resembles the terminal tower complex.

it was surprizing thats all. thats my point. sheesh.

otoh if i you didnt mean me in particular then i apologize :cheers:

actually Cleveland Tower is inspired by Seville Cathedral in Spain, the biggest gothic cathedral in the world. Ironically enough it was originally constructed as a Moorish mosque - just look at the main minaret/tower:

http://www.kieron.org/pics/stu_stag/...al%20tower.jpg http://www.hicker-stock-photography....hedral-542.jpg
www.kieron.org/pics, www.hicker-stock-photography.com

http://www.chss.iup.edu/kpatrick/Gre...May%202005.jpg
www.chss.iup.edu/kpatrick

that building in ohio doesn't even look like this building. You're taking the broadest similarity and applying it to this. Do you understand how many buildings in the world look the same just because of their general shape? stupid post.

The Seville Cathedral minaret is one of the most copied forms in architecture, you will find nineteenth century versions all over Europe and NA

Manhattan Life Insurance Building
http://www.essential-architecture.co...alda_tower.jpg http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GON/...e_Building.jpg
www.essential-architecture.com, www.nyc-architecture.com


Kelvingrove Art Gallery

http://www.essential-architecture.co...alda_tower.jpg http://www.yourlocalweb.co.uk/images...eum-204676.jpg
www.yourlocalweb.co.uk

Glasgow City Hall

http://www.essential-architecture.co...alda_tower.jpg http://www.clas.wayne.edu/multimedia..._City_Hall.jpg
www.clas.wayne.edu


Warsaw Palace of Culture

http://www.essential-architecture.co...alda_tower.jpg http://www.destination360.com/europe...of-culture.jpg
www.destination360.com


Electric Tower, NYC

http://www.essential-architecture.co...alda_tower.jpg http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issu...a_IH155142.jpg
www.saudiaramcoworld.com

bravo, that was an awesome conversation. i'm glad we haven't had this discussion before. comparisons are fine, but stupid fighting which completely derails the thread is not allowed. Go chat on fb or PM for that.

now quit trolling or people will start getting suspensions.

While unfortunately still relatively symmetrical, I really like the clustering of the Abraj Al-Bait complex, and with these additional buildings it will be even better. It's keeping in theme with the organic nature of the city's development, and the irregular lines of the holy site itself. Some of the other renderings with commie block buildings and grids look horrendous and sterile when contrasted with the rest of the city.

I'm very surprised though that after 911 a supertall would be built right on top of a Muslim holy site. Balls.

Update. This thing is really huge!

new pictures at night :cool:

Mystical ! Mashallah

The more I visit this thread the more I want to visit Mecca. So cool!

Can anyone who is familiar enough with this project tell me which names match with which towers? Obviously I know the name of the tallest tower, but I can't match up the names for six other towers.

1. Safa Tower
2. Marwah Tower

3. Qibla Tower
4. Maqam Tower

5. ZamZam Tower
6. Hajar Tower

Each pair in the list have the same height and number of floors, so I can figure out which groups of towers they are by looking at the rendering, but I don't know which one is on the left and which is on the right.

I have also seen the Maqam Tower refered to as the Sarah Tower. Which is the correct name?

To correctly mark each tower on a map I need to know which one is which.

i just came back from there with "iPhone" photos :) i will upload them later today

Photos from Article: http://www.compositesworld.com/artic...-makkah%282%29

http://www.compositesworld.com/cdn/cms/1010_CT_EI3.jpg

http://www.compositesworld.com/cdn/cms/1010_CT_EI2.jpg

a closeup of the clock face indicates the huge scale of the project (note the workman in the lower right-hand corner). Source: Premier Composite Technologies



http://www.compositesworld.com/cdn/cms/1010_CT_EI4.jpg

To test the design, a quarter clock face was built near Premier Composite Technologies’ facility. Erection of its nearly 50 parts, took six days and a crew of 12 and was the means to train installers. The section later was shipped to Makkah for incorporation into a clock face. Source: Premier Composite Tecchnologies



http://www.compositesworld.com/cdn/cms/1010_CT_EI5.jpg

Drilling and LED insertion in the quarter clock face took eight people more than eight days, using injection molded 30 percent glass polybutylene terephthalate tubes bonded with Gurit’s Spabond 340 LV epoxy adhesive. Source: Premier Composite Technologies



Besting Big Ben: A Marvel in Makkah


Rising above Islam’s holiest city, the 610m/2001-ft tall Makkah Clock Royal Tower is the focal point for the nearly complete Abraj Al-Bait hotel complex opposite the Grand Mosque of Makkah (Mecca) in Saudi Arabia. A key part of the Development of King Abdul Aziz Endowment (DOKAAE) project, devised to upgrade the mosque environs, the clock tower is the world’s largest — almost five times the size of London’s Big Ben.

read more : http://www.compositesworld.com/artic...-makkah%282%29

So any date set when it'll top out?

that pic says the final height will be 610m, of 2001 ft.... is this another height increase?

Yeah I was wondering about that different height as well.

I'm sorry but that's hilarious LOL