based architecture practice Smith+Gill has confirmed it is to design Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, planned to stand 173m higher than Dubai's Burj Khalifa. Designed by the same team as current record holder Burj Khalifa in Dubai, it will stand at more than 1,000 meters and occupy a total construction area of 530,000 square meters (5.7 million square feet), Kingdom Tower will be the centerpiece and first construction phase of the Kingdom City development on a 5.3 million-square-meter site in north Jeddah. “Our vision for Kingdom Tower is one that represents the new spirit of Saudi Arabia,” said partner Adrian Smith, whose experience in supertall tower design with previous firm SOM included Jin Mao Tower in Shanghai, Nanjing Greenland Financial Center in Nanjing, China, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago and Pearl River Tower, now in the late stages of construction in Guangzhou, China. “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.” “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 one of the most beautiful buildings in the world of any height,” said Talal Al Maiman, executive director, Development and Domestic Investments, a Board member of KHC.
