Kingdom Centre
Kingdom Centre (Arabic: مركز المملكة), formerly Kingdom Tower, is a 99-story, 302.3 m (992 ft) skyscraper in the al-Olaya district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When completed in 2002, it overtook the 267-meter (876 ft) Faisaliyah Tower as the tallest tower in Saudi Arabia. It has since been surpassed and, as of 2021, is the fifth-tallest skyscraper in the country, whose tallest two buildings are the Abraj Al Bait 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.
| Kingdom Center | |
|---|---|
مركز المملكة | |
The tower at night in 2007 | |
Location within Saudi Arabia | |
| Alternative names | Riyadh City Center |
| Record height | |
| Tallest in Saudi Arabia from 2002 to 2012[I] | |
| Preceded by | Al Faisaliyah Center |
| Surpassed by | Abraj Al Bait |
| General information | |
| Status | Completed |
| Type | Commercial offices Residential condominiums Hotel |
| Architectural style | Modernism |
| Location | King Fahad Road Saudi Arabia |
| Coordinates | 24.7113°N 46.6744°E |
| Construction started | 1999 |
| Completed | 2002 |
| Cost | SR 1.7 billion (US$453 million) |
| Height | |
| Architectural | 302.3 m (991.80 ft) |
| Top floor | 290.4 m (952.76 ft) |
| Observatory | 290.4 m (952.76 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 41 |
| Floor area | 185,000 m2 (1,991,323 sq ft) |
| Lifts/elevators | 45 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Ellerbe Becket<_engineer = Arup |
| Developer | Kingdom Holding Company |
| Main contractor | EL-Seif Engineering Contracting & Salini Impregilo (Webuild) |
| References | |
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, 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.