Middle East developer EMAAR Properties, which is backed by Dubai’s ruling Maktoum family, has released new images (pictured) of what will be the world’s tallest building.
The company has appointed Chicago-based architect Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) as the architects, and has opened registration for the project.
The building, described as a city within a city, will begin to rise up from Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai towards the end of the year.
It will include homes, offices, a hotel, entertainment and one of the world’s largest shopping malls shopping along with open green spaces, water features, pedestrian boulevards, and an old town.
EMAAR Properties chairman Mohamed Ali Alabbar, said that the project would be an architectural benchmark.
The region’s six-petal desert flower inspired SOM’s design for the tower’s base.
EMAAR has not revealed exactly how tall the world’s tallest tower will be, but claims that it will dwarf the existing record breakers the 452m Petronas Towers in Malaysia and the 442m Sears Tower in Chicago – and would beat China’s proposed 492m Shanghai World Financial Center.
Set up in 1997, EMAAR Properties is a Public Joint Stock Company listed on the Dubai Financial Market with an asset base of $6bn.
References: EGi News 28/05/03
