MECCA | Abraj Al-Bait | 601m | 1972ft | 95 fl | T/O

[Crush_Buds]

Wow. Great shot.

[M.K.]

actually, why the clock so high? what's the reason for having this clock in that horizon pic view? airplanes reference to worry?
what time would be in clock, local or west/east somewhere?

[Pavlov]

I need to see this building with my own eyes somehow. Its convenient because I need to see the great mosque with my own eyes too. Now I just need to find a way to get to Mecca.

[whiteford]

Originally Posted by GulfArabia

well now i am convinced of the building's awe inspiring beauty. that photo just shoots the hell out of any argument against this building being beautiful.

[View2saintmartin]

You could put a lego tower on an ant hill at sunrise and have the same effect. It also does not change the fact that Mecca is being destroyed by greed and hubris.

[GulfArabia]

Originally Posted by ibib

Thanks to Asyqulhuur, the new addition is clear hear.





Finally ....

from ssc forums

[Aleks]

i really dislike the chocolate-colored top. it should've been the same shade of beige as the rest of the building.

[woodrow]

Originally Posted by View2saintmartin

You could put a lego tower on an ant hill at sunrise and have the same effect. It also does not change the fact that Mecca is being destroyed by greed and hubris.

This!

That's my question. Is Mecca being destroyed?

Now, I think the building has an epic quality. Against my better aesthetic judgment, I like it, but . . .

It just seems weird to have the tower loom over the Grand Mosque like that. It would be as if a giant tower were to be built right next to St. Peters in Rome.

I guess it is ignorance on my part. Has there been any disagreement among prominent (or not) Muslims regarding the siting of the tower?

GulfArabia - any insights?

[GulfArabia]

i was there last month, the building is really tall but being next to the grand mosque you will not understand how huge the mosque is unless you see it your self, i guess its because all made of marble it makes abraj al bait less attractive. we do not worship buildings as muslims. and as a saudi my self i know that my country is very wealthy, so when how how old the city looked i thought there should be more buildings like abraj al bait. seeing that int he next few years pilgrims will jump from 4 million to 10 million, the whole central area needs to change, all buildings in 1km radius will be demolished, 60% of buildings have been demolished so far, most of them were built in the 80's, for thousands of years this area of makkah have always changed. this time there are trains and a push to make makkah the first smart city int eh world by 2020. there are 21 skyscrapers under construction behind the complex and many more to come, and in 40 years they will most likley be demolished and rebuilt again. this is not a typical city.

this is not St. Peters in Rome. because muslims who go there actually practice their religion and they don't go there to look at pretty buildings

[Infernal_Elf]

amazing shot gulf arabia thanks alot for sharing really shows the height of this awesome development.

and as Gulf arabia partly mentiones Saudi arabia builds such tall towers right by the Grand mosque and elsewhere in Mecca out of necessity rather than other reasons

as for the brown color of top although i am a fan of this project i must say that makes it rather ugly and the color change is too abrupt.

on the other side tho the clock looks way better with the sides now up makes the proportions much better

[GulfArabia]

You can see how dark the buildings are at night leaving the WHITE mosque illuminated

[GulfArabia]

Originally Posted by Infernal_Elf

as for the brown color of top although i am a fan of this project i must say that makes it rather ugly and the color change is too abrupt.

yeah i agree, but at the same time if it was kept beige it will still look bad... its because the sudden change in hight, because they weren't planning on a clock or a 600 meter tower when construction started, it used to be 400+ meters only

[brian.odonnell20]

Originally Posted by whiteford

well now i am convinced of the building's awe inspiring beauty. that photo just shoots the hell out of any argument against this building being beautiful.

It actually looks ugly in that pic with nothing else around it and its odd shape... maybe not in a few years as gulf arabia crows 20 times daily, but for now it looks epicly out of place and awkward...

[GulfArabia]

Originally Posted by brian.odonnell20

20 times daily

its just what happends when you get asked "20 times daily"

[whiteford]

Originally Posted by View2saintmartin

You could put a lego tower on an ant hill at sunrise and have the same effect. It also does not change the fact that Mecca is being destroyed by greed and hubris.

what ever.

[whiteford]

Originally Posted by brian.odonnell20

It actually looks ugly in that pic with nothing else around it and its odd shape... maybe not in a few years as gulf arabia crows 20 times daily, but for now it looks epicly out of place and awkward...

no it dose not.

[whiteford]

this tower is too nice for you guys. you are just against it for no other reason other than you don't like something about who built it or where it was built. or some dumb shit. you sure are not judging it by its own merits. instead some of you have chosen to dislike the project far before construction even had begun. I find your arguments against this skyscraper weak. i mean come on. its a monster skyscraper and you are trying to convince everyone that it sucks.

[STR]

^It's completely possible to dislike this building on its own merits. I, personally, like big buildings. This, however, is unforgivably bad architecture. It's like a cartoon drawing of a building, rather than real architecture. There is no proportion, the colors are random, and I see some kind of box structure jutting out the side of the main tower for no apparent reason about 5 or 6 stories below the base of the clock. That box in no way matches the parts of the building around it. There is no need for that to be there, unless someone thought it looked good.

I think, the main problem with this building is that the architect took small buildings and just blew them up to a huge size. That can work at 5-10 stories, but does not work at all at 100 stories. You can't take the Grand Mosque, which I think we can agree is a fairly nice building, and just stack it and expect it to look good too. The result of trying to stretch lowrise architecture is a ugly mess that reeks of a Las Vegas theme hotel (which are supposed to be cartoonish) or some of the worse buildings in Dubai, which have the exact same problem as this one, but are fortunately smaller.

Yet, even Dubai hired good people for their larger projects. These people aren't good because they're western, but because they have experience building this big. They know what does and does not work. The people that designed this are inexperienced with large building design. I'd wager that the Royal Family (or whoever financed this) hired someone local, who only had experience building small scale. I can understand, politically, religiously, nationalistically, why it would be difficult to hire a foreigner to design this, but you could at least have someone who knows how to build something this big look over the plans.

But don't worry too much, the biggest issue with this building is the facade. That can always be replaced in 20 or 30 years, so there's hope yet.

[whiteford]

Originally Posted by GulfArabia

i was there last month, the building is really tall but being next to the grand mosque you will not understand how huge the mosque is unless you see it your self, i guess its because all made of marble it makes abraj al bait less attractive. we do not worship buildings as muslims. and as a saudi my self i know that my country is very wealthy, so when how how old the city looked i thought there should be more buildings like abraj al bait. seeing that int he next few years pilgrims will jump from 4 million to 10 million, the whole central area needs to change, all buildings in 1km radius will be demolished, 60% of buildings have been demolished so far, most of them were built in the 80's, for thousands of years this area of makkah have always changed. this time there are trains and a push to make makkah the first smart city int eh world by 2020. there are 21 skyscrapers under construction behind the complex and many more to come, and in 40 years they will most likley be demolished and rebuilt again. this is not a typical city.

this is not St. Peters in Rome. because muslims who go there actually practice their religion and they don't go there to look at pretty buildings

it is a functional place of worship for them. i think it looks wonderful and like i said, "epic".

[whiteford]

Originally Posted by STR

^It's completely possible to dislike this building on its own merits. I, personally, like big buildings. This, however, is unforgivably bad architecture. It's like a cartoon drawing of a building, rather than real architecture. There is no proportion, the colors are random, and I see some kind of box structure jutting out the side of the main tower for no apparent reason about 5 or 6 stories below the base of the clock. That box in no way matches the parts of the building around it. There is no need for that to be there, unless someone thought it looked good.

I think, the main problem with this building is that the architect took small buildings and just blew them up to a huge size. That can work at 5-10 stories, but does not work at all at 100 stories. You can't take the Grand Mosque, which I think we can agree is a fairly nice building, and just stack it and expect it to look good too. The result of trying to stretch lowrise architecture is a ugly mess that reeks of a Las Vegas theme hotel (which are supposed to be cartoonish) or some of the worse buildings in Dubai, which have the exact same problem as this one, but are fortunately smaller.

Yet, even Dubai hired good people for their larger projects. These people aren't good because they're western, but because they have experience building this big. They know what does and does not work. The people that designed this are inexperienced with large building design. I'd wager that the Royal Family (or whoever financed this) hired someone local, who only had experience building small scale. I can understand, politically, religiously, nationalistically, why it would be difficult to hire a foreigner to design this, but you could at least have someone who knows how to build something this big look over the plans.

But don't worry too much, the biggest issue with this building is the facade. That can always be replaced in 20 or 30 years, so there's hope yet.

i myself respectivly dissagree with you on all parts. and on the otherhand, do respect your well thought-out, reason's for shooting the building's design full of holes.