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Saudi Arabia adds Morphosis to project team for its NEOM smart city megaproject

2022-06-14T18:08:00-04:00

The Line, as the car-free linear city that will form the backbone of Neom is known, could cost up to $200 billion to build, the prince said last year, though that was before the plan changed to include gigantic horizontal buildings. The buildings would be “different heights as you go,” adapting to the landscape, with their final size determined by engineering considerations and the terrain, Al-Nasr said.

The OPEC nation has thus far been mum as to the new plan’s details but says it will be funded in part through an increase in surplus revenues overseen by the Public Investment Fund, which is managed by NEOM’s CEO Al-Nasr. It is yet unclear whether Bechtel, who previously signed on their servicesfor the then-estimated $500 billion venture’s light rail and utility systems, will remain on for the project’s updated version, wherein Morphosis and designer Thom Mayne will deliver two parallel 1,640-foot-tall structures said to stretch from the Red Sea into the desert ar lengths of up to half a mile.

Rendering of the proposed mega-city. Image courtesy of Neom. Previously on Archinect: Bechtel to lay groundwork for Saudi smart mega-city Neom

The mixed-use designs featured by the scheme could count as the world’s largest when all is said and done for the still highly-theoretical autonomous city, which may eventually be the same size as Massachusetts. Concerns over Al-Nasr’s toxic management s...

Bechtel to lay groundwork for Saudi smart mega-city Neom

2020-08-12T15:51:00-04:00

American engineering firm Bechtel has inked a contract with Neom, a forthcoming $500 billion "smart city-region" that is slated for what is currently mostly open mountain and desert landscape along Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast.

According to a press release issued by Bechtel, the firm was selected to "oversee and create resource-efficient utilities and a highly advanced transport system to connect NEOM's cognitive cities," among other projects. The scope of work for the contract will involve "integrating sustainable land use, intelligent urban design and multi-modal mobility" as well "simultaneous construction in multiple locations requiring extraordinary engineering solutions in challenging terrain."

Bechtel Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Brendan Bechtel said via a statement, "NEOM is one of the most complex projects in living memory and we are proud to be part of it. The vision for a futuristic, innovative and sustainable ecosystem is unique and bold, and we believe NEOM will...

Beijing's challenges to become the center of Jing-Jin-Ji — a supercity of 130 million people

2015-07-21T08:00:00-04:00

For decades, China’s government has tried to limit the size of Beijing, the capital, through draconian residency permits. Now, the government has embarked on an ambitious plan to make Beijing the center of a new supercity of 130 million people. The planned megalopolis, a metropolitan area that would be about six times the size of New York’s, is meant to revamp northern China’s economy and become a laboratory for modern urban growth.

China's Pearl River Delta: Tying 11 Cities into a Megaregion

2014-09-22T14:18:00-04:00

Today, on China’s southern coast, the integration of the Greater Pearl River Delta (PRD) is turning fiction into fact (sans the harsh lawman), with 11 cities linking to create an urban area of 21,100 square miles (55,000 sq km) and a population of up to 80 million. The nine cities of the PRD, plus the special administrative zones of Hong Kong and Macau, are becoming increasingly linked by a series of bridges, tunnels, roads, and high-speed rail networks.