Saudi Arabia Constructing World's Tallest Building

kkleiner writes "1,000 meters, or 3,280 feet. That's two-thirds of a mile. When the Kingdom Tower is built on the outskirts of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia it will not only become the tallest building in the world, it will shatter the old record. The total cost for the tower is approximately $1.2 billion. It features a Four Seasons hotel, Four Seasons serviced apartments, luxury condominiums, top class office space and the world's highest observatory."

Comments

Re:observatory

[LoP_XTC]

The most prominent ruin-to-be from the height of the empire, the days of peak oil. Give it 50 years and the few rag-clad scavengers populating the lower levels will wonder what the fuck anyone thought when they built this....

Brings to mind the Aztechnology building from Shadowrun. C*O's and filthy rich at the top, and the just plain filthy at the bottom.

Re:HOOOOLY SHIT

[wagnerrp]

Yes. It's a closely guarded secret, lest someone else design and construct another tower from scratch, in less time than it takes them to construct, and makes it one foot taller, stealing their thunder. That should eliminate any doubt as to whether this is anything more than a giant architectural penis.

Re:observatory

[TheRaven64]

The US economy is like someone who goes to work every day, and maxes his credit card with shiny toys, and uses a big chunk of his paycheck to make the minimum interest payment. The Saudi economy is like someone who finds a chest full of gold in their garden and lives by spending it on the most expensive things they can find until it runs out. Neither is particularly healthy, but the former has better long-term prospects.

Re:Our Engineers and Architects

[catchblue22]

I think a lot of what we attribute to our superior economic system, or work ethic, or diversity (or maybe we don't attribute it to anything, and simply take for granted that we are #1 and always will be) is actually very predictable based on the discovery of the world's largest stockpile of undeveloped natural resources in 1492. A new resource is discovered or developed, it is exploited resulting in growth, then it peters out. Look at how population growth within the US has shifted from California to Texas in the last decade. Some say it is mostly superior governance, I say it is mostly cheap land.

I guess that explains Japan's economic success. Or Hong Kong's. Or Switzerland's. Or Taiwan's. Or Korea's. Yep. Land. I'm not sure I am fully able to explain America's economic success. But I think an hypothesis is forming for me about America's economic decline, that it is associated with an intellectual decline exemplified by half-baked economic ideologies indirectly referred to in the above comment.