Kingdom Centre is the tallest skycraper in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With a height of 302 m (992 ft), it is considred the 25th tallest building in the world, and the tallest of the 21st century.The tower is built on area of 94,230 square meter land, while the whole centre is built on a total area of 300,000 square meter.
The Kingdom Centre is owned by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud , a prince of the Saudi royal family, the total cost of the project was 1,717 Million Saudi Arabian Riyals and the contract was taken by Saudi Arabian Bechtel.
Kingdom Centre is situated in Al-Urubah Road between King Fahd Road and Olaya Street in the growing business district of Olaya in Riyadh. Kingdom Centre is the winning building of the Skyscrapers.com Award 2002, selected as the "best new skyscraper of the year for design and functionality". Also a three-level shopping center fills the east wing. The mall won a major design award. The large opening is illuminated at night in continuously changing colors.
Besides the shopping mall, the Centre includes a Four Seasons Hotel and state of the art apartments. The ellipse motif taken from the tower's footprint appears also in the light fixtures, ceiling panels, entrance canopy, wastebaskets, and furniture.
The Shopping Mall contains 161 prestigious stores divided as follows:
- Service Floor (-1) 10 Stores
- Ground Floor ( 0) 74 Stores
- First Floor (+1) 37 Stores
- Ladies Floor (+2) 40 Stores
The design of the Kingdom Centre is said to be inspired from a necklace, though after the September 11th attacks, lots of sarcastic pictures emerged showing the new design of the twin towers to be two identical Kingdom Centres with a plane passing through them.
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