Construction work on the $1.2 billion Kingdom Tower, the 1,000m super skyscraper that is set to exceed Dubai's Burj Khalifa, currently the world's tallest building, “is scheduled to begin in January,” a spokesperson from Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, designers of the superscraper, said. Saudi Binladin Group in August won the deal to construct the tower. Founding partner Adrian Smith was also the architect behind the 828m-tall Burj Khalifa. The giant structure will include a Four Seasons hotel, apartments, offices, three lobbies on the upper floors and the world's highest observation deck on the 157th level. It will be located in the first phase of Kingdom City, a 5.3m mixed-use development north of Jeddah, which overlooks the Red Sea and Obhur Creek. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company - the investment firm behind the project - told Arabian Business in August that the super skyscraper would be “transformational. These are the kind of projects l like to do… these big projects need vision, strength and guts to do.” Smith said the main lessons learned from designing the Burj Khalifa centered on the stepped or tapered tower design.
