With Their Skyscrapers
By Ken Hare
Chicago Defender Staff Writer
As if the Burj Khalifa wasn’t high enough, the Saudi government is now in the process of building the Jeddah Tower, also known as the Kingdom Tower. Designed by the Chicago firm Adrian Smith & Gordon Gill architects; Kingdom Tower will be the first building in the world to reach a full kilometer into the air at 3,280 feet. This new tower will make the Burj Khalifa the second tallest building on Earth, standing at 2,722 feet tall at its spire.
Iraq is also planning to build a tower to shatter the Jeddah Tower’s record. The Bride will reportedly reach 3,780 feet into the sky and it’ll be erected in Iraq’s Basra Province by 2025.
Until then, the Kingdom will have a Four Seasons hotel, business space and apartments for a combined total of 200 floors! In an amazing quest to one-up each other, the small kingdoms with lots of money appear to be dueling with the idea of who can come up with the most daring engineering feats. Kingdom Tower is scheduled to be completed in 2018.
Next up: 300 stories anyone?