Two Chicago Architects Are Designing The World's Tallest Skyscraper
By Rachel Cromidas in News on Dec 2, 2015 4:32PM
Design for Smith and Gill's Park Gate Project in Dubai/Smith + Gill
Saudi Arabia is looking to overtake Dubai for the bragging rights to the world's tallest skyscraper, and it's enlisting the help of two Chicago architects to do it.
Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill are the architects behind the Saudi project, called the Jiddah Tower, the Tribune is reporting. It's no surprise Saudi Arabia went with a Chicago firm—the current world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, was designed in part by Smith, who was then with the Chicago offices of architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill's Chicago office.
The concept for the Jiddah Tower is close to a decade in the making. The country's major developers, the Jiddah Economic Co. and Alinma Investment, announced Sunday they were financing the $1.2 billion deal for a 200-story tower to be completed by 2020.
For comparison: The Willis Tower is currently the 10th tallest building in the world at 1,451 feet (that's compared to the Burj Khalifa's whopping 2,717 feet), and Trump International Hotel & Tower holds the 13th-tallest slot at 1,389 feet.