Construction of the world's tallest skyscraper in Jeddah is going ahead, the head of the consortium behind the $1.5 billion project said, despite the detention of some businessmen backing the plan in Saudi Arabia's crackdown on corruption. [...]
Construction has reached the 63rd floor and the superstructure - the concrete shell and the cladding - is to be completed next year, Jomah said, adding that delays in some areas were inevitable because of technical challenges.
— Arabian Business
Progress on the soon-to-be tallest structure on earth has been troubled for a while, with the main contractor (and partial owner) Saudi Binladin Group going through a financial rough patch and, more recently, several project officials and royal family members being targeted by the country's anti-corruption crackdown.
Despite the challenges, work is going ahead on the 1,000 m/3,281 ft Jeddah Tower (formerly Kingdom Tower) designed by Chicago-based Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, and construction recently reached the 63rd floor.
5 Comments
With each floor built, they should also keep a tally of dead workers.
you beat me to it. I was going to write the same thing
"Technical challenges"
LOL
I'm predicting massive failure and abandonment.
You are wrong Miles! How will it get abandoned when no one will even move in?
I really hope they finish it. I'm looking forward to the first mile-high building in the next 20-50 years, but do hope that it is in the US, Europe, or the more advanced SE Asian countries where construction technology and worker safety are taken seriously....
Heard a story from a friend who worked on the Burj and he said the carpenters were using flat-head screwdrivers to plane the doors down, because why not? and proper tools are expensive. I'm much more interested in building meaningful and technically precise architecture that engages in a dialogue with the fabrication methods responsible for producing it - moreso than just tall for tall's sake.
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