Jeddah Tower: Engineering Challenges and Design Considerations

The report provides a comprehensive overview of the Jeddah Tower, a skyscraper currently under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, poised to be the world's tallest building. It details the design by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill Architecture, the involvement of key companies like the Jeddah Economic Company and Saudi Binladin Group, and the initial construction timeline. The report highlights the engineering challenges posed by the building's height, particularly concerning wind forces, and how these are addressed through design elements like the reflective glass façade and aerodynamic triangular shape. It also describes the building's internal features, including the elevator system, observation deck, and mixed-use facilities such as hotels, offices, and residential apartments. Furthermore, the report discusses the project's alignment with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030, the construction's sustainability challenges, and the vision behind its creation.

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Jeddah Tower which was formerly known as the Mile Tower and Kingdom Tower in the
Northside of Jeddah Saudi Arabia is currently under construction. It is anticipated that the
skyscraper will be the tallest on earth and it will be the first 1 km high building challenging Burj
Khalifa of Dubai which has been the tallest building having a height of 828m. This skyscraper
was designed by Chicago based office architect known as Adrian Smith and the Gordon Gill
Architecture. 5 Smith is has a lot of experience in a high-performance building as he was the
leading designer at Skidmore, he is the architect who designed the current world´s tallest
building Burj Khalifa. The developer (the company responsible for the construction) of this
building is Jeddah Economic Company abbreviated as the JEC.
The main contractor of the skyscraper is Saudi Binladin Group and the structural
engineer responsible for the structural parts (beams and columns) is Thornton Tomasetti. The
construction of this skyscraper started on 1st April 2013 but stopped on 25th January 2018 for
sometimes.4 The project is anticipated to be completed by the year 2020/2021. The CEO of
Jeddah Economic Group, Mounib Hammoud promised that by the year 2020 people will start
seeing shopping malls and also many activities going on in this building. The total cost of
constructing the Jeddah Tower is approximated to be $1.4 billion. The diagram below illustrates
the Jeddah Tower when completed;

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Figure 1: Showing Jeddah Tower(Sundaram, 2019)
Figure 2: Showing Jeddah Tower (Sundaram, 2019)

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At 1000 m tall there is strong wind current (wind forces) which might affect the building
thus this is combated by changing the wind dynamics for every floor. Hence a reflective glass
façade which is continuously slopped will have to be introduced with every successive floor
plate be reduced by about 4 to 8 inches1. This can also be mitigated by the use of aerodynamic
triangular shape and the sloping exterior which will reduce the wind load.3 This is a tri petal-
shaped plan copied from a desert plant and it is shown in the diagram below;
Figure 3: Showing aerodynamic triangular shape in Jeddah Tower (Broujerdian 2019)
This building is constructed with a total of 59 elevators of five of them are double-
decker elevators. The elevators which will be used in this building are made by Finish Company
is known as Kone. The elevators used here will move at a low speed of 22 mph the low speed is
highly recommended due to change of air pressure, rapid change in air pressure can result in
nausea.2 This building will have the highest observation deck in the world illustrated in the
diagram below;

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Figure 4: Showing the observation deck of Jeddah Tower (Broujerdian, 2019)
After completion of this building it is anticipated that the building will have a mixed-use which
will include the offices, retails, residential retails, hotels and shopping malls.
The skyscraper will be owned by one of the richest people in the Mild East and Arabia´s
Prince by the name Alwaleed bin Talal. Even though the construction site is surrounded by the
desert, the CEO of the Jeddah Tower construction confirmed that when this project is completed
the tower will be a centre of the Jeddah. Key facilities which will be in this building include a
five-star Hotel having about ninety-seven affiliated serviced apartments, these will include seven
duplexes. Offices in this structure will account for 7 floors in which there will be four residential
tiers which will include about 325 apartments.6 According to this construction, it will help fit the
2030 Saudi vision which is a government plan which aims at diversifying the economy in the
kingdom and minimizes the country´s dependence only on oil.

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This project is one of the 2030 development strategies. Saudi also wanted a skyscraper
(landmark) which can be identified with just like other countries. The Jeddah Economic Group
CEO, Hammoud said that Saudi has power, strength and money, therefore they need something
to leave for the world like Egyptians built Pyramids. He added that Jeddah Tower will be a
building which many generations to come will talk about.
The construction of Jeddah Tower faces some challenges which include sustainability,
sustainability in tall buildings which involves issues like vertical transportation limitations, the
building sway will be witnessed in the building caused by the wind and set of super columns that
happen since the concrete will shrink after hydrating and settling under the load. This building is
also challenged to have very large core size due to its high height to help support the structure.
Therefore the large-sized core will consume a lot of space in the middle and the lower floor of
the building.

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References
1 .Allen, E. and Iano, J.Fundamentals of building construction: materials and methods. John
Wiley & Sons: 2019,PP 34-77
2. Broujerdian, V., Ghamari, A. and Zolghadr, R. Investigating a Combinatorial Lateral
Resisting System for Tall Buildings. Iranian Journal of Science and Technology,
Transactions of Civil Engineering: 2019 pp.1-13.
3. Choi, J., Lee, M.G., Oh, H.S., Bae, S.G., An, J.H., Yun, D.Y. and Park, H.S., Multi-objective
green design model to mitigate environmental impact of construction of mega columns
for super-tall buildings. Science of the Total Environment: 2019: 674, pp.580-591.
4. Golasz-Szolomicka, H. and Szolomicki, J, February. Architectural and Structural Analysis of
Selected Twisted Tall Buildings. In IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and
Engineering: 2019, 69-94
5. Mavrokapnidis, D., Mitropoulou, C.C. and Lagaros, N.D. Environmental assessment of cost
optimized structural systems in tall buildings. Journal of Building Engineering: 2019 24,
p.100730.
6. Sundaram, R., Gupta, S. and Gupa, S. Foundations for Tall Buildings on Alluvial Deposits—
Geotechnical Aspects. In Frontiers in Geotechnical Engineering Springer, Singapore:
2019, pp. 369-393