JEDDAH | Kingdom Tower | 3,303 FT / 1007 M | ON HOLD

[kiwi4life]

Originally Posted by SD_Phil

I don't get the criticisms of the height or isolation of the tower. All of these things were true of great supertalls in the past and I don't see any reason why those factors, alone, should mean anything in terms of the design or height of the tower.

Fiscal questions are also a bit strange. It might be fiscally irresponsible to build this tower, it was fiscally irresponsible to build the Empire State (as we all know) and yet that doesn't stop it from being an important and interesting piece of skyscraper history.

If we're going to critique this tower why not criticize the design or safety or relative integration with present or future development...you know, things we discuss with most other highrise developments. This tower seems like it's one of many recent supertalls (or whatever it is we're calling towers greater than 400 or so meters) that are pyramidal (the London Shard, the Gazprom skyscraper in St. Petersburgh). I'm not crazy about this architectural trend in general but think that with the right materials this could be interesting.

I totally agree with you SD Phil, totally, you know if they also have the money to build this thing I say go for it, give it a shot, it will give our engineers Architects etc to further their and explore this type of technology a little bit more, so who knows, if this were able to pull through, mayby years down the road there will be more magnificant skyscrapers of this, and they will be tourist attractions, icons. This all relates to what you had said about the Empire State building, its an icon, its famous, and I'm pretty sure its occupied, also pretty sure when it was first built, it wasn't. I believe that this now proposed superstructure will allow us to look further in unimaginable engineering feats, that will become possible in the later decades. I don't neseccarily agree with having no density and just one tall building, but however I think these guys should push for it, let's see what they can come up with and let's see if they can do such a challenging task, probably the most challenging engineering feat in the world, let's see if they can put a superstucture of this size on the ground without sinking, resistant to high winds and hot summer days etc. So as in saying all this, I support this project if it ever is to go forward. If anyone can post pictures of updates, who live down there, that would be much appreciated, thanks guys for reading, enjoy your day.

[kiwi4life]

I apologize for any spelling mistakes and for the loss of full stops

[SkyscrapersOfNewYork]

Originally Posted by kiwi4life

I totally agree with you SD Phil, totally, you know if they also have the money to build this thing I say go for it, give it a shot, it will give our engineers Architects etc to further their and explore this type of technology a little bit more, so who knows, if this were able to pull through, mayby years down the road there will be more magnificant skyscrapers of this, and they will be tourist attractions, icons. This all relates to what you had said about the Empire State building, its an icon, its famous, and I'm pretty sure its occupied, also pretty sure when it was first built, it wasn't. I believe that this now proposed superstructure will allow us to look further in unimaginable engineering feats, that will become possible in the later decades. I don't neseccarily agree with having no density and just one tall building, but however I think these guys should push for it, let's see what they can come up with and let's see if they can do such a challenging task, probably the most challenging engineering feat in the world, let's see if they can put a superstucture of this size on the ground without sinking, resistant to high winds and hot summer days etc. So as in saying all this, I support this project if it ever is to go forward. If anyone can post pictures of updates, who live down there, that would be much appreciated, thanks guys for reading, enjoy your day.

as for the whole using the Empire State Building as an argument for these mile high towers, lest we forget that the Empire Stare Building wasn't 1000 M. high....if these towers were to pop up in ever ergonomically successful metropolis on Earth there would be a financial calamity due to the unimaginably impractical amount of space on the market.i love tall but theres a point when we have to put our foot down and say this is just silly. im all for healthy competition and a good pissing game once in a while but not for towers with sheerly undesirable heights. like some fourmers have pointed out...whose going to live or work at 3,280 feet in the air? i really cant see J.P Morgan Stanley or Bank of China saying "hey lets lease space on the 280th floor." short and sweet...towers of these heights are nowhere near being needed in this day and age and should not be built until there needed...

[kiwi4life]

I agree with you and understand what your saying there SkyscrapersOfNewYork, good point, well if they downgrade this thing, it may be worth, I don't know, but I still stay give a go, it'll be an inspiring project for anyone working on it I gues, hell I'd love to help do the formwork for concrete on a structure this size.... I gues we will have to wait and see what happens with this whole ordeal

[Troubadour]

Originally Posted by futuresooner

I just have a bad feeling something will go seriously wrong if/when this gets built.

I'm glad someone is taking risks like this. They will have to be pretty careful about security though - al Qaeda hates the Saudi monarchy with a passion.

[SD_Phil]

Originally Posted by GulfArabia

makkah in hajj season alone gets 4 million pilgrims (many stay in saudi and start a life), in 10 years time the number will jump to 10 million (hajj season is only 2 weeks) (AT THE SAME TIME) JEDDAH has the airport which welcomes them ALL, not to mention the current population of jeddah, makkah and the new city KAEC which is now under-construction and will be finished in 10 years to be a new home for 2 million people, i think the area will not have population problems (thanks for caring) but can you now please stop comparing it with new york ? each city has its own identity and culture which is better to ppl who live there to explain it for you

PEACE

The only reason it was worth comparing it to NY was because others seemed to be complaining about this building for some really strange reasons. I didn't compare this tower or makkah to New York by the way. I compared the complaints against this building to those complaints over the empire state building. It was a building to building (not city to city) comparison. The complaints seem to be similar (it's TOO tall, it's out of context, etc) and equally baseless. Believe it or not the comparison to the empire state was meant to convince people to stop using those arguments against the Jeddah tower.

Originally Posted by JDRCRASH

New York was a MUCH larger city at that time than Jeddah is today:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._Schorzman.png

A couple of things:

1. The diagram is useless without a legend to help me understand what it's about. I can tell it has something to do with the population of NY City over time but there are a lot of colored lines..

2. I'm not sure why New York's population in the 1920s is relevant to this discussion. The empire state was an economic gamble, a big one, and one that didn't pay off for quite some time. The Jeddah tower is also an economic gamble. It may or may not pay off. What's the difference? Both were/are grounding breaking for their height when proposed and both are being constructed in an area without any other structures of remotely similar heights.

Originally Posted by skyscrapersofnewyork

as for the whole using the Empire State Building as an argument for these mile high towers, lest we forget that the Empire Stare Building wasn't 1000 M. high....if these towers were to pop up in ever ergonomically successful metropolis on Earth there would be a financial calamity due to the unimaginably impractical amount of space on the market.i love tall but theres a point when we have to put our foot down and say this is just silly. im all for healthy competition and a good pissing game once in a while but not for towers with sheerly undesirable heights. like some fourmers have pointed out...whose going to live or work at 3,280 feet in the air? i really cant see J.P Morgan Stanley or Bank of China saying "hey lets lease space on the 280th floor." short and sweet...towers of these heights are nowhere near being needed in this day and age and should not be built until there needed...

You seem to misunderstand the point of the comparison and are making some really gross generalizations not only about where people are or are not willing to live and work but also about the mechanisms underlying global commerce and corporate decision making...why? Is it really such a threat that this tower gets built? If it succeeds then it sets an interesting precedent in terms of commercially viable skyscraper height. If it fails then it fails.

The point of the comparison (note above) isn't that the buildings are the same height (that is of course silly) but that there are similar complaints being leveled against the Jeddah tower as were leveled against the empire state building. Your new crop of complaints doesn't make that comparison any less apt. In fact it seems to reinforce my point. But maybe a comparison to the still very new Burj Dubai strike your fancy better?

The point is: this building is unprecedented in its height ONLY. Now...if that's enough to complain about then I think the tides are a changing on this forum for the worse. I sincerely hope this tower is a success.

[Tom In Chicago]

Let's keep this on topic please. . . no need to rehash the obvious. . . those forumers who are still playing in the kiddie pool of skyscraper envy can take their comments elsewhere. . .

. . .

[GulfArabia]

ITS OFFICIAL !! CONSTRUCTION WILL START IN 3 WEEKS !!!!!

[GulfArabia]

http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=6&issueno=11650&article=591815&feature=



الخميـس 13 ذو القعـدة 1431 هـ 21 اكتوبر 2010 العدد 11650










«المملكة القابضة» تعلن البدء رسميا في بناء أطول ناطحة سحاب في العالم خلال 3 أسابيع

الأمير الوليد بن طلال لـ «الشرق الأوسط»: جميع محركات النمو في الشركة تسير بدفعة قوية


الأمير الوليد بن طلال
الرياض: مساعد الزياني
كشف رجل الأعمال السعودي الملياردير الأمير الوليد بن طلال بن عبد العزيز رئيس مجلس إدارة شركة «المملكة القابضة»، عن قرب الإعلان بالبدء رسميا في مشروع عقاري بمحافظة جدة (غرب السعودية)، يتضمن أطول ناطحة سحاب في العالم، كما أعلن في وقت سابق. وقال الأمير الوليد بن طلال لـ«الشرق الأوسط» إن الإعلان عن البدء رسميا في بناء المشروع العقاري الذي يتضمن الناطحة الأعلى في العالم سيكون خلال 3 أسابيع، ولم يعط تفاصيل أكثر حيال الموضوع، حيث أشار إلى أنه سيتم الإعلان عن ذلك في مؤتمر صحافي قريبا.
وكانت شركة «المملكة القابضة» أعلنت عن إنشاء مشروعين عقاريين في السعودية، الأول في محافظة جدة، وهو عبارة عن مشروع متعدد الاستخدامات، تتوسطه ناطحة سحاب وصفها الأمير الوليد بأنها الأطول في العالم، وسيبلغ حجم الاستثمار فيه نحو 75 مليار ريال (20 مليار دولار)، ويقع في شمال شرم أبحر، على مساحة 3.5 مليون متر مربع.

في حين يقع المشروع الثاني في العاصمة السعودية الرياض ويصل حجم الاستثمار فيه نحو 25 مليار ريال (6.6 مليار دولار)، وسيكون عبارة عن مشروع ضخم يتكون من متنزه وفندق وجميع وسائل الترفية الأخرى، بالإضافة إلى أكثر من 10 آلاف وحدة سكنية مصممة وفق أحدث التصاميم والمتطلبات العصرية. ويأتي حديث الأمير الوليد بن طلال في وقت أعلنت فيه شركة «المملكة القابضة» عن تحقيق صافي الدخل الموحد للربع الثالث من هذا العام ارتفاعا من خلال 160 مليون ريال (42.6 مليون دولار)، بزيادة تصل إلى 52.6 في المائة، في حين بلغ إجمالي صافي الدخل في البيت خلال الأشهر التسعة الماضية، نحو 370.7 مليون ريال (98.8 مليون دولار) زيادة بنسبة 50 في المائة. وعلق الأمير الوليد بن طلال على النتائج بقوله «شركة (المملكة القابضة) تتميز باستثماراتها المتنوعة محليا وعالميا، وبالتالي خروج العالم من الأزمة الاقتصادية سيسهم في تسجيل (المملكة القابضة) أرباحا، في ظل ما تعيشيه قطاعات العقار والفنادق وقطاع البنوك، إضافة إلى قطاعي السياحة والإعلام، من نهضة ونمو مستمر».

وتستثمر شركة «المملكة القابضة» والمدرجة في سوق الأسهم السعودية في مختلف القطاعات التجارية، وتتوزع استثماراتها في مختلف دول العالم، في الوقت الذي تستثمر فيه بشكل كبير في السوق المحلية بالسعودية. وعن أكثر القطاعات التي ستسهم في تسجيل شركة «المملكة القابضة» أرباحا، قال رئيس مجلس إدارتها الأمير الوليد «كل القطاعات ستسهم في تعزيز أرباح شركة المملكة القابضة، القطاع البنكي والسياحي والفندقي والعقاري والإعلامي، بالإضافة إلى القطاع الصناعي وقطاع الطيران وقطاعي الترفيه والتجزئة وأخيرا الزراعة». وتابع «واحد من الأمثلة هو شركة التصنيع الوطنية، التي حققت أرباحا تاريخية في 9 شهور من العام الجاري، في الوقت الذي يشهد فيه قطاع الطيران نموا جيدا وهو ما يثبت من خلال نتائج شركة طيران «ناس» وهي التي تملك الرغبة القوية لتحقيق نتائج قوية وحققت أرباحا لأول مرة، بالإضافة إلى قطاع البتروكيماويات».

وحول مساهمة نتائج بنك «سيتي غروب» التي حققت نتائج تاريخية فاقت كل توقعات المحللين من خلال بلوغها 2.2 مليار دولار في الربع الثالث وأكثر من 9 مليارات دولار خلال التسعة أشهر الماضية، ومدى تأثيرها على نتائج شركة «المملكة القابضة»، دعا الملياردير السعودي الأمير الوليد بن طلال المستثمر السعودي إلى أهمية إدراك ما حققه بنك «سيتي غروب» من نتائج، وهو ما يجعل شركة «المملكة» في وضع استثماري قوي جدا، وسينعكس على سعر السهم. وأكد أن القطاع الاستثماري حول العالم يواجه التحديات بشكل مستمر، مؤكدا على ضرورة أن يكون المستثمر في وضع مستنفر لجميع طاقاته.

وشدد على أن جميع محركات النمو في شركة «المملكة القابضة» تسير بدفعة قوية متتالية، مؤكدا أن تحقيق 50 في المائة أرباحا تعتبر عملية عظيمة، ولكن للأسف لم يستوعب المستثمر المحلي تلك النتائج حتى الآن، ومتمنيا في الوقت ذاته أن يستوعبها عاجلا أم آجلا، مبديا تفاؤلا كبيرا حول النتائج المالية لما تبقى من العام الجاري، إضافة إلى تفاؤله للنتائج المالية للعام المقبل 2011.

وكانت مجلة «فوربس» العالمية قد صنفت الملياردير السعودي الأمير الوليد بن طلال بن عبد العزيز آل سعود، رئيس مجلس إدارة شركة «المملكة القابضة»، في الترتيب الـ19 بين أغنياء العالم لعام 2010، للعام الحادي عشر على التوالي والأول على مستوى العالم العربي، بثروة بلغت قيمتها 19.4 مليار دولار، في استطلاعها السنوي للعام الرابع والعشرين.

GOOGLE


Arabic to English translation


Thursday, 13 Zul 1431 October 21, 2010 number 11 650










«Kingdom Holding Company» announces the official launch in building the tallest skyscraper in the world within 3 weeks

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told «Middle East»: All engines of growth in the company's momentum going strong


Prince Alwaleed bin Talal
Riyadh: Assistant Zayani
Revealed billionaire Saudi businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz, President of the Board of Directors «Kingdom Holding Company», for the formal launch of the ad in real estate project in Jeddah (western Arabia), which includes the tallest skyscraper in the world, as announced earlier. Said Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told «Middle East» The announcement of the official launch in building real estate project that includes a skyscraper highest in the world will be in 3 weeks, did not give more details about the subject, which noted that this will be announced at a press conference soon.
The company «Kingdom Holding Company» announced the creation of two real estate projects in Saudi Arabia, the first in the province of Jeddah, which is a mixed-use project, in the middle skyscraper, and described by Prince Alwaleed as the longest in the world, and would amount to invest about 75 billion riyals ($ 20 billion) , is located in the north of Sharm el-sailed, on an area of 3.5 million square meters.

While the second project lies in the Saudi capital Riyadh and the volume of investment about 25 billion riyals ($ 6.6 billion), and will be a huge project consists of a park, hotel and all other entertainment facilities, in addition to more than 10 thousand housing units are designed according to the latest designs and requirements modern. The interview Prince Alwaleed bin Talal at the time of declaring the company «Kingdom Holding Company» a net consolidated income for the third quarter of this year, up through 160 million riyals ($ 42.6 million), up to 52.6 per cent, while total net income at home during the past nine months, to 370.7 million riyals ($ 98.8 million) increased by 50 per cent. And Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the results by saying «Company (KHC) is characterized by its investments diversified locally and globally, and therefore out of the world economic crisis will contribute to the recording (Kingdom Holding) profit, in light of what Taechih real estate, hotels and banking sector, in addition to the tourism sector and the media , from the Renaissance and continues to grow ».

Invests «Kingdom Holding Company» and listed in Saudi stock market in various commercial sectors, and spread their investments in various countries around the world, while investing heavily in the local market in Saudi Arabia. And more sectors that will contribute to the recording company «Kingdom Holding Company» a profit, said its chairman, Prince Alwaleed «all sectors will contribute to enhancing profits Kingdom Holding Company, the banking sector and the tourism and hotel and real estate and media, in addition to the industrial sector and the aviation sector and sectors entertainment, retail and finally agriculture» . He said «One of the examples is the National Manufacturing Company, which posted a profit historical in 9 months of this year, at a time when the aviation industry developed well, which proved by the results of airline« people »a, which has a strong desire to achieve strong results and achieved profit for the first time, in addition to the petrochemical sector ».

And on the contribution of the results of the Bank «Citigroup» that have achieved historic results exceeded all expectations of analysts through reached $ 2.2 billion in the third quarter and more than 9 billion dollars during the past nine months, and their impact on the results of the company «Kingdom Holding Company», called by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, the Saudi investor to realize the importance of what we achieved Bank «Citigroup» outcome, which makes the company «Kingdom» in the development of an investment is very strong, and will impact on the share price. He stressed that the investment sector around the world face challenges on an ongoing basis, stressing the need to be invested in the development of Mstnfr for all energies.

He stressed that all the engines of growth in the company «Kingdom Holding Company» go push a strong streak, stressing that the achievement of 50 per cent profit is considered a great, but unfortunately did not understand the local investors that the results so far, and wishing at the same time to absorb, sooner or later, showing great optimism about the financial results for the remainder of this year, adding to the optimism of the financial results for the year 2011.

The magazine «Forbes» World has ranked Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Chairman of the Board of Directors of «Kingdom Holding Company», in the order of 19 between the rich world in 2010, for the year atheist in a row and the first in the Arab world, a wealth valued at $ 19.4 billion, in the annual poll for the fourth century.

[GulfArabia]

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE69K04T20101021

REUTERS

Saudi Kingdom to build world's tallest tower- report
Thu Oct 21, 2010 2:25am EDT


* World's tallest tower part of $20 bln project in Jeddah

* Plans another project in Riyadh valued at $6.67 billion

DUBAI, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Saudi-based Kingdom Holding Co 4280.SE plans to build the world's tallest tower as part of a project worth 75 billion riyals in the city of Jeddah, a newspaper report said on Thursday.

Alsharq Al-Awsat newspaper, citing Kingdom's Chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said the company will officially announce the project at a press conference in three weeks.

The skyscraper will be at the centre of the mixed-use project, which will stretch over 3.5 million square metres of land, the newspaper added.

It also said Kingdom Holding plans another development in the capital city of Riyadh with an estimated investment value of 25 billion riyals. It will include a park, a hotel and other entertainment elements, as well as 10,000 residential units.

Kingdom Holding, the investment firm of the Saudi billionaire prince, posted a 52.6 percent rise in third-quarter earnings on Monday, driven by higher investment returns. [ID:nLDE69H1MA]

Kingdom, 95-percent owned by the nephew of Saudi ruler King Abdullah, has minority stakes in some of the world's top companies the most valuable of which is Citigroup (C.N).

The world's tallest building at present is Dubai's 828-metre Burj Khalifa, developed by Emaar Properties (EMAR.DU). (Reporting by Tamara Walid; Editing by Dinesh Nair)







http://business.maktoob.com/20090000...r_/Article.htm

YAHOO

Saudi Kingdom to build world's tallest tower
Oct 21, 2010 at 09:42



Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal speaks during a press conference in Riyadh. Photograph: AFP


DUBAI - Saudi-based Kingdom Holding Co plans to build the world's tallest tower as part of a project worth 75 billion riyals in the city of Jeddah, a newspaper report said on Thursday.

Alsharq Al-Awsat newspaper, citing Kingdom's Chairman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, said the company will officially announce the project at a press conference in three weeks.

The skyscraper will be at the centre of the mixed-use project, which will stretch over 3.5 million square metres of land, the newspaper added.

It also said Kingdom Holding plans another development in the capital city of Riyadh with an estimated investment value of 25 billion riyals. It will include a park, a hotel and other entertainment elements, as well as 10,000 residential units.

Kingdom Holding, the investment firm of the Saudi billionaire prince, posted a 52.6 percent rise in third-quarter earnings on Monday, driven by higher investment returns.

Kingdom, 95-percent owned by the nephew of Saudi ruler King Abdullah, has minority stakes in some of the world's top companies the most valuable of which is Citigroup.

The world's tallest building at present is Dubai's 828-metre Burj Khalifa, developed by Emaar Properties.

[SD_Phil]

This is EXCITING!

[whiteford]

i drew that exact building when i was 10.

[whiteford]

Originally Posted by BigDan35

That is so stupid. A 5,000 foot tall tower? Seems like everyone is trying to build a taller tower than the next person.

By the year 2050 the norm will be skyscrapers proposed at a "miniscule" 3,000 feet tall. No one will even bat an eye.

boy would that suck hey?!!?

[Infernal_Elf]

Wicked

it was bound to happen sooner or later.

but i am amazed that the building of the next worlds tallest building started only 10 months after
Burj Khalifah opened.

considering that the Burj Khalifah pushed it up 300 meters from Taipei 101 and many of the world economies aint exactly up and running like they should yet.

we do indeed live in crazy times

[GulfArabia]

this tower will be +1100m atleast

[Troubadour]

I'm really conflicted about this. On the one hand, it's a really f***ing huge tower, and I love that. On the other, it's just a damn spike, totally boring apart from its height. And then there's the fact of who's building it - plutocratic gangster/thugs who are only rich because we're addicted to their oil, and can only build things like this because they're not accountable to their people. But I suppose there is some intrinsic benefit in pushing the envelope, so it might as well be these guys who put in the initial risk.

[Innsertnamehere]

+1


i honestly can't believe this is getting built.... when will it be finished? 2020?

[Spocket]

I've hated this tower from the beginning .
I don't care whose tower it is , what country it's in , or how insanely silly it is in financial terms (it will almost certainly never be more than a disastrous drain of funds for as long as it stands) It's simply too big . It doesn't fit in any context .

About the only way you could get something like this to work aesthetically would be to put it somewhere where it is %100 isolated from other buildings . The contrast with the human landscape is what destroys this tower . Put it next to a mountain or even just simply in the middle of the desert and it could work . In any urban setting though ... it's just a disaster .

[SD_Phil]

Originally Posted by Spocket

I've hated this tower from the beginning .
I don't care whose tower it is , what country it's in , or how insanely silly it is in financial terms (it will almost certainly never be more than a disastrous drain of funds for as long as it stands) It's simply too big . It doesn't fit in any context .

About the only way you could get something like this to work aesthetically would be to put it somewhere where it is %100 isolated from other buildings . The contrast with the human landscape is what destroys this tower . Put it next to a mountain or even just simply in the middle of the desert and it could work . In any urban setting though ... it's just a disaster .

I agree with you to a point. The only thing is though is that just because it doesn't fit any context right now doesn't mean that it won't fit in context in 20 or 30 years.

The Burj Dubai wouldn't fit in most contexts and yet, I think, it's going to fit in really well in 5-6 years as the city grows around it. Plunk this down in the middle of Paris and of course it'll be out of context, any building greater than 30 floors will but it isn't being built in Paris.

There's something to be said for truly forward thinking construction though. The economic conditions of the future (as in...the next 20 years or so) may or may not sustain this building. They may or may not prove it a worthwhile gamble. I admire that especially if it pays off and it develops a brand new kind of hyper-tall highrise urban fabric in which it really does fit contextually.

[Aleks]

wow, those were some of the most full-of-shit posts i've ever deleted.

if you wanna say something about the tower make sure you got something to back you up other than pure penis-envy and stereotypes... if it doesn't have to do with the tower, don't say it. if you want t talk about oil rich nations, start a thread in the discussions section.

next one to troll in this thread will get a week suspension.