At street level in Jeddah the air feels heavy with sea salt and dust. Construction cranes cut into the sky and their shapes already tower over the minarets & glass buildings that used to define the city skyline. Taxi drivers mention it at traffic lights and coffee vendors gesture toward it while serving customers. Young Saudis constantly film it for TikTok. It is a tower of concrete and steel reaching up toward the clouds and quietly aiming for a height that sounds almost impossible: one kilometer.
The Burj Khalifa and Shanghai Tower suddenly seem outdated. These famous skyscrapers no longer represent the cutting edge of architectural achievement. New developments in building technology and design have moved beyond what these structures offered when they first opened. The engineering methods used to construct them have been improved & refined by newer projects around the world. Architects and developers now focus on different priorities than simply reaching record heights. Modern skyscrapers emphasize sustainability and energy efficiency more than previous generations of tall buildings. Green building certifications & carbon-neutral operations have become standard expectations rather than optional features. The materials and construction techniques available today allow for more creative and efficient designs. Advanced computer modeling helps engineers solve structural problems that would have been impossible to address when the Burj Khalifa was built. Prefabrication & modular construction methods speed up building timelines while reducing costs and waste. Urban planners increasingly view supertall buildings as part of larger mixed-use developments rather than standalone monuments. The focus has shifted toward creating vertical communities that integrate residential spaces with offices and retail areas & public amenities. This approach makes better use of limited urban land while fostering more vibrant neighborhoods. The symbolic value of holding height records has diminished as more cities achieve their own architectural landmarks. What once seemed like an exclusive club of elite cities with supertall buildings has expanded significantly. Dozens of cities across Asia and the Middle East now have their own towers exceeding 400 meters. Economic considerations also play a role in how these buildings are perceived. The massive investment required to build record-breaking towers must now demonstrate clear returns beyond prestige value. Developers need to show that these projects make financial sense for investors and contribute meaningfully to their cities. The conversation around skyscrapers has matured beyond simple measurements of height. People now evaluate these buildings based on their environmental impact and contribution to urban life & architectural innovation. The towers that capture attention today do so through distinctive design and sustainable features rather than just vertical reach.
Something even more daring is on the way.
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Saudi Arabia’s race toward the 1km sky
On the edge of Jeddah the framework of what people still call Kingdom Tower is gradually coming back to life. The construction site remained partially abandoned for years as a symbol of incomplete goals & falling oil prices. Saudi Arabia has now restarted contracts and opened new bids to revive its most ambitious building project. The plan is to create a skyscraper that will reach 1000 meters high and change the ranking of the world’s tallest buildings.
You do not simply glance at a tower of that magnitude. You begin to wonder what humanity is attempting to demonstrate.
Saudi Arabia has a vision that sounds straightforward but would actually change everything. The planned Jeddah Tower with its 1km height would surpass both Dubai’s Burj Khalifa at 828 meters & Shanghai Tower at 632 meters by a significant amount. This building would be so tall that the temperature at ground level could be several degrees different from the temperature at the top floors.
Picture this: observatories sitting above the flight paths of many planes & luxury apartments where clouds brush against the windows. The elevator ride feels more like boarding a short flight than simply pressing the button for Level 120. These towers represent more than just impressive engineering achievements. They show human ambition in its most visible form. Each new supertall building pushes the boundaries of what we thought possible with steel and concrete and glass. The race to build taller structures continues in cities around the world. Developers and architects compete to create the next record-breaking tower. These buildings reshape city skylines & change how we think about urban living. But height comes with challenges. Engineers must account for wind forces that increase dramatically at extreme elevations. They design systems to reduce sway and keep occupants comfortable. Construction crews work at dizzying heights where weather conditions can halt progress for days. The cost of building upward grows exponentially with each additional floor. Materials must be lifted higher and systems become more complex. Yet cities keep reaching for the sky because land remains scarce & valuable in major urban centers.
The reasoning behind this extreme height project combines strategy with symbolism. Riyadh aims to shift the country’s narrative from oil dependence toward tourism and finance while boosting its global reputation through the Vision 2030 plan. A tower reaching one kilometer into the sky represents more than just architecture. It sends a clear signal through concrete & glass & LED lights to investors and influencers and travelers that Saudi Arabia intends to claim the number one position in the world.
Skyscrapers have always represented a competition of pride between cities. This particular building is meant to deliver an overwhelming statement of dominance.
What a 1km tower really changes for a city
To understand what this type of building does to a city you need to stand beneath it. In Dubai everyday life already revolves around Burj Khalifa through traffic routes and tourist movements and photo opportunities and holiday celebrations. The planned 1km tower in Jeddah will take that same magnetic effect and make it even stronger.
Developers are planning luxury neighborhoods, hotels shopping centers, waterfront walkways and modern business areas around the future giant tower. They all believe in one simple concept: construct buildings near the tallest structure on Earth and investors and residents will come.
One engineer who worked on Gulf supertalls described the process this way: first you build the tower and then the tower builds the city around it. That is exactly what happened with Burj Khalifa’s Downtown Dubai district where desert became fountains and boutiques and traffic jams of supercars. Saudi planners are hoping for a bigger version of that domino effect in Jeddah.
We are looking at thousands of jobs while the building is being constructed and then thousands more positions in tourism & maintenance and hospitality & technology sectors. For a Saudi student who is twenty years old right now that skyscraper represents less of an abstract symbol and more of a potential place where they might work in the future.
There is a darker side to the dream. Supertalls consume concrete, steel, water and energy on a scale that troubles environmentalists. Wind loads at 1000 meters are extreme. Foundations must be drilled deep into sometimes unstable soil. Evacuation plans read like disaster movie scripts. Every extra meter above 600 becomes a serious engineering and sustainability challenge.
Nobody actually reads the technical reports before they post selfies from an observation deck. But behind those polished images are teams of architects and fire safety experts and climate consultants all trying to answer one question. How do you build a vertical city without creating a vertical disaster? The challenge is real. When you stack thousands of people hundreds of meters in the air you need to think about everything from emergency exits to wind loads to water pressure. Every floor adds weight and complexity. Every window needs to withstand extreme conditions. Every elevator shaft becomes a potential chimney in a fire. Modern skyscrapers require careful planning at every stage. Engineers calculate how the building will sway in high winds. They design systems to pump water to the top floors without losing pressure. They create evacuation routes that can handle crowds during an emergency. They install fire suppression systems that work at different heights and pressures. The environmental impact matters too. Tall buildings consume enormous amounts of energy for heating and cooling and lighting. They create wind tunnels at street level that can make sidewalks uncomfortable or even dangerous. They cast shadows that affect neighboring buildings and public spaces. They need foundations that go deep into the ground and can disturb underground infrastructure. Then there are the human factors. People need to feel safe at extreme heights. They need natural light and fresh air. They need spaces that feel comfortable rather than claustrophobic. They need reliable systems that work every single day because when something fails in a tall building the consequences affect hundreds or thousands of people at once. All of this happens before anyone takes that first selfie.
How Saudi Arabia is trying to make the impossible feel normal
The project needs to shift from being a viral news story to something people can actually use. Saudi Arabian planners are focusing on one key challenge: making a 1km tower functional rather than just visually stunning. Their approach involves organizing the building into stacked neighborhoods instead of creating one massive corporate structure. The design includes distinct zones for offices & hotels and residential spaces & observation decks and sky gardens. Each zone will have its own character that reflects normal daily life.
The concept is that a person could live on the 150th floor and work on the 70th floor. They could eat dinner near the bottom of the building and still feel like they are in one connected city.
The emotional risk with these massive projects is clear enough. They can become hollow symbols that tourists visit while local residents stay away. Most people know this experience well when a shiny new landmark becomes somewhere you only bring visitors from out of town. The tower in Jeddah needs to prevent this outcome. The building must serve a real purpose beyond just being tall. It should offer something meaningful to the people who live in the city rather than existing only as a monument to ambition. The challenge lies in creating spaces that residents actually want to use in their daily lives. Many cities have learned this lesson the hard way. They built enormous structures that looked impressive in photographs but failed to connect with the community around them. These buildings often sit partially empty or become destinations only for special occasions rather than integrated parts of urban life. Jeddah has an opportunity to do something different. The tower could include facilities & amenities that genuinely improve life for people in the area. This means thinking carefully about what goes inside the building and how it relates to the streets and neighborhoods nearby. Success will depend on whether the project creates value beyond its height record. The most memorable buildings in any city are usually the ones people use regularly rather than the ones they simply admire from a distance.
Urban planners are discussing walkability and public spaces along with shaded plazas and transport connections that work for everyone instead of only the wealthy or social media users. The real challenge will be making sure that regular people living in Jeddah feel the tower is part of their city and not just something that exists in marketing materials and exclusive areas.
Tall buildings used to show who had the most steel. Now they show who can fit the most life into every vertical meter. That is what one Middle East architect told me. The change reflects how we think about height today. Buildings are no longer just monuments to engineering power. They have become complex vertical communities where people live & work & play all in the same structure. Modern skyscrapers pack residential units and office spaces and restaurants and gyms into their floors. Some include parks and schools and medical centers. The goal is to create a complete environment that rises into the sky rather than spreading across the ground. This shift happened because cities ran out of horizontal space. Land became expensive & populations kept growing. Developers had to think differently about how to use vertical space efficiently. The architect explained that older skyscrapers wasted a lot of interior volume. They had large mechanical floors & inefficient layouts. New designs maximize usable space through better planning and technology. Elevators take up less room now thanks to improved systems. Mechanical equipment has become more compact. Structural engineering allows for more open floor plans without as many support columns. These improvements mean that every meter of height can serve a purpose. Buildings can house more people and activities without getting wider at the base. The vertical dimension becomes a resource to exploit rather than just a measurement to brag about. The change also reflects different priorities among building owners. Prestige still matters but return on investment matters more. A building that generates revenue from multiple uses on every floor makes more financial sense than one that simply reaches high into the sky.
- A tower that acts as a mixed-use ecosystem, not a lonely office stack
- Public access zones that feel welcoming, not security-heavy or exclusive
- Transport links that connect poor districts as well as rich waterfronts
- Green technologies to cut energy use at extreme height
- Ticket prices and services that do not quietly lock locals out
Beyond records: what a 1km building says about us
The race to build the tallest structures often appears to be a competition between nations. Dubai competes with Shanghai and Jeddah for the title. However beneath the pursuit of records lies something more fundamental about human nature. We have an enduring drive to push the boundaries of our technology & our urban environments and our own capabilities. A tower reaching one kilometer into the sky serves as a reflection of our future ambitions. It forces us to question whether we possess the readiness to achieve such goals. This kind of extreme construction project reveals our relationship with progress itself. When engineers and architects propose buildings of this scale they are not simply designing structures. They are testing the limits of materials and challenging our understanding of physics & exploring how far human innovation can extend. The question becomes less about national pride and more about what humanity can accomplish when we direct our resources and knowledge toward a singular ambitious target. These towers represent more than height measurements or engineering statistics. They embody our willingness to confront technical obstacles that previous generations would have considered impossible. Each proposal for a kilometer-high building pushes us to develop new solutions for wind resistance & elevator systems and foundation stability. The process demands that we expand our toolkit & refine our methods and ultimately grow our collective expertise.
Some people view it as nothing but ego. Others view it as opportunity. Still others see a fragile ecosystem being pushed to its limits just so a skyline can look better on a postcard.
Saudi Arabia believes the world will continue to want real physical landmarks even as everything becomes more digital. People still need places they can actually visit and touch and photograph and experience in person. If the Jeddah Tower reaches its planned height it will likely trigger new competitions for the tallest building across Asia and the Middle East. But it might also start a more serious discussion about whether the next world record should focus on how many meters tall a building is or whether it should be about reducing emissions and making life better for people.
The cranes visible across Jeddah’s skyline are doing more than lifting construction materials. They represent a fundamental change in how we think about urban possibilities and which people will occupy positions of power and influence in the future.
| Key point | Detail | Value for the reader |
|---|---|---|
| 1km ambition | Jeddah Tower aims to surpass Burj Khalifa and Shanghai Tower by a wide margin | Helps understand why this project is reshaping the global skyscraper race |
| City-building effect | The tower is designed as a catalyst for a whole new urban district around Jeddah | Shows how one mega-project can influence jobs, tourism, and daily life |
| Human impact | Questions around access, sustainability, and local ownership of the landmark | Invites readers to think beyond records and consider who really benefits |
FAQ:
- Question 1Will the Jeddah Tower really be 1km tall?
- Question 2When is Saudi Arabia’s 1km skyscraper expected to be completed?
- Question 3Will it be taller than Burj Khalifa and Shanghai Tower by a clear margin?
- Question 4Can tourists visit the tower, and will there be an observation deck?
- Question 5Is the 1km tower project sustainable, or just a prestige stunt?
