The rich Middle Eastern country is building the most modern super city on earth with buildings with 1-no-2 architecture in the world.
For more than 50 years, Saudi Arabia has relied on oil to increase its economic power. However, in the last few years, the country is looking for another direction outside the mining sector to create jobs and bring more great benefits.
The country’s government has worked for years to transform thousands of square kilometers into new cities. One of them is under construction called “King Abdullah Financial District”.
Let’s take a look at the sketch images of this massive building to see how large it is!
Saudi Arabia is building the King Abdullah Financial District, located north of the capital Riyadh
Designed by Henning Larsen, the whole project has an area of about 1.6 million m2 for more than 60 buildings serving houses, apartments, offices, retail, some schools and garages, medical clinics, public buildings, hotels
The project will provide accommodation for about 50,000 people when completed
One of the squares will include a mosque
To cope with the heat and heat, the whole super project will be designed with bridges that have the effect of cooling by solar energy, connecting 30 buildings in the District together.
According to the architects, part of the District will have a metro rail system
Construction has started since 2006, so far 70% progress has been achieved. However, the government did not set a specific timeline for the completion of this project
Construction cost was estimated at about 10 billion USD, now about 8 billion USD has been spent
The King Abdullah Financial District is seen as a business hub attracting Saudi financial firms, lawyers, banks and investment firms.
There is also a tower called “Crystal Towers” (crystal towers) scheduled to open next summer, which includes offices and retail space. The 2 towers will be connected by a bridge
However, construction has stalled due to capital problems. The Saudi government will open 15 offices, residences and commercial towers by the end of this year
Photos of buildings under construction, taken in March 2017
The Arab Public Pensions Authority owns the district, which the government hopes will attract banks with a variety of economic incentives, including tax breaks for a decade.
And here is a part of the completed project with a very unique architecture
Authorities also said they are having a hard time attracting companies and people to stay here, but they still hope the project will become a success in the near future.