Kingdom Centre (), formerly Kingdom Tower, is a 41- story,

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

in the al-Olaya district of

Riyadh Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of the Riyadh Province and the centre of the Riyadh Governorate. Located on the eastern bank of Wadi Hanifa, the current form of the metropolis largely emerged in th ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. When completed in 2002, it overtook the Faisaliah Tower as the tallest tower in Saudi Arabia. It has since been surpassed and, , is the fifth-tallest skyscraper in the country, whose tallest two buildings are The Clock Towers and the Capital Market Authority Tower. It is the world's third-tallest building with a hole after the Shanghai World Financial Center and the 85 Sky Tower in Taiwan. It contains the King Abdullah Mosque, which is the world's most elevated mosque from ground level. The tower was developed by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, and designed by the team of Ellerbe Becket and Omrania, who were selected through an international design competition. It is situated on a 100,000–square-metre site and houses the 57,000-square-meter Al-Mamlaka

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

, offices, the Four Seasons Hotel Riyadh, and luxury apartments. There is a 65m skybridge atop the skyscraper. The upper third of the tower features an inverted parabolic arch topped by a public sky bridge. The sky bridge is a 300-ton steel structure, taking the form of an enclosed corridor with windows on both sides. After paying the admission fees, visitors take two elevators to reach that level.

Design

The Kingdom Centre was designed by the US-based architecture firm Ellerbe Becket in a joint venture with the Riyadh-based architecture and engineering firm Omrania and Associates. The building is composed of a tower and a podium comprising two symmetrical wings. The tower's almond-shaped plan and curving forms gives the building a distinctive shape that helps keep it cool, with the narrow ends facing the east and west where heat gain is greatest. A high-performance curtain wall, made from silver, butt-jointed reflective glazing, also helps control heat gain while concealing the three main mechanical floors to create a seamless facade. At the top of the tower, an inverted arch is spanned by a glass skybridge housing a public observation deck. The large opening allows the building to rise higher than the height limit—30 occupied floors—mandated by local laws. Its design was inspired by iconic structures from around the world, including the

Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary Catenary arch, arch, it is the world's tallest arch and List of tallest buildings in Missouri, Missouri's ...

in St. Louis, The Sydney Harbour Bridge, and the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

. From base to top, the tower house 13 floors of offices, 10 stories of hotel, five stories of luxury apartments, and additional office space at the top. The East wing of the podium houses the Al-Mamlaka

, which features more than 150 stores divided across three levels - the first targeted to young people, the second to fashion and furnishings, and the third level is reserved for women. The West wing houses event and entertainment spaces.

Structure

The Kingdom Center is built on a four-meter-thick, 3,100-square-meter raft foundation. Its structure consists of two systems:

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

columns, beams, and core for the first 180 meters, and a tubular steel frame structure for the building's remaining height.

Mechanical systems

A multi-part mechanical system was created to accommodate the building's mixed-use program. The tower is cooled by a central chilled water plant, supported by a thermal energy storage system that provides 5,000 tons of cooling capacity. This storage system is used during the hottest hours of the day, allowing the building to shift cool-air production to off-peak hours when electrical demand is lowest. The podium structures are served by separate mechanical systems designed to accommodate the needs of the building's unique programs. Systems used to cool these spaces include variable air volume, constant volume, and fan coils.

References

External links

*
Omrania official website

at Ellerbe Becket {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingdom Centre 2002 establishments in Saudi Arabia Buildings and structures in Riyadh Commercial buildings completed in 2002 Four Seasons hotels and resorts Tourist attractions in Riyadh Residential skyscrapers in Saudi Arabia Skyscraper office buildings in Saudi Arabia Skyscraper hotels in Saudi Arabia Landmarks in Saudi Arabia

Design

Structure

Mechanical systems

See also

Similar towers

Other towers

References

External links