Saudi Arabia has came up with some crazy building ideas before, but a 170 km (105.6 miles) long skyscraper is taking it to another level. The $1 trillion megastructure will hold up to 9 million people and residences will be able to commute end-to-end in 20 minutes.
The ambitious project will be part of the desert city of Neom, whose size will be comparable to Massachusetts. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman believes that the new city sized building will be greater than the Egyptian pyramids. If fully completed, the skyscraper will run from the Gulf of Aqaba, through a mountain range, and then extend along the coast into a desert aerotropolis.
Called the Mirror Line, the skyscraper will consist of two parts with a height of 500 meters (1,640 feet). For comparison, that’s taller than the Empire State Building in New York. The Mirror Line will be in the 13th tallest building ever made, assuming nothing taller is built by the time the building is ready. And there will be a lot of time. The Mirror Line is expected to take 50 years to build, although MBS wants the project completed by 2030.
The two parts of the skyscraper will run through the desert, coast and mountains parallel to each other. Architects will take the curvature of the Earth into account when designing the building. Mirror Line will have no cars. Citizen can travel from one end of the building to the other via an underground high-speed rail line. There is also a sky stadium at a height of 304 meter (1,000 feet) and a pier to dock the yachts.
Environmental planning experts do not approve of the Crown Prince’s idea. They believe the Mirror Line’s length and mirrored glazing could affect the migration of animals and migratory birds. Others have said the project is just too ambitious and will never be built. Saudi Arabia previously abandoned plans to build a mile-high skyscraper that would have been the world’s tallest after getting into funding difficulties.
