Kingdom Centre

킹덤 센터

Kingdom Centre is a 99-storey skyscraper, 302.3 metres tall, in the Olaya district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. When it was finished in 2002 it became the tallest tower in the country, overtaking the 267-metre Faisaliah Tower. Today it is the fifth-tallest skyscraper in Saudi Arabia, but it is still the one people spot first, because of the big opening at the top.

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At a glance

Country: Saudi Arabia
Location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Built: 2002
Height: 302 m
Type: Skyscraper

Quick answers

Where is Kingdom Centre?

Kingdom Centre is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

When was Kingdom Centre built?

Kingdom Centre was built in 2002.

How tall is Kingdom Centre?

Kingdom Centre is about 302 m tall.

Riyadh's 302 m "bottle-opener" skyscraper, crowned by a sky bridge that spans the parabolic opening at its top.

The top third of the tower is an inverted parabolic arch, a huge upside-down curve, crossed by a 65-metre glass skybridge with a public observation deck. People nickname it the 'bottle opener'. The building also holds the Al-Mamlaka shopping mall, offices, a Four Seasons hotel and luxury apartments, and it contains the King Abdullah Mosque, the highest mosque in the world measured from the ground.

Design

The tower was developed by Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal and designed by the US firm Ellerbe Becket with the Riyadh firm Omrania, chosen in an international competition. Its almond-shaped plan keeps the building cooler, with the narrow ends facing east and west where heat gain is greatest. The silver reflective glass also reduces heat. The designers took inspiration from icons such as the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Eiffel Tower.

The hole at the top

The opening lets the building rise above a local height limit that allowed only 30 occupied floors. The skybridge is a 300-tonne steel structure shaped like an enclosed corridor with windows on both sides. After paying an entry fee, visitors take two elevators to the top. It is the world's third-tallest building with a hole in it, after the Shanghai World Financial Center and the 85 Sky Tower in Taiwan.

Inside and underground

The tower's floors hold 13 floors of offices, 10 of hotel and five of luxury apartments, plus more offices near the top. The east wing of the podium holds the Al-Mamlaka mall with more than 150 shops on three levels, one of them just for women, and the west wing has event spaces. The building stands on a four-metre-thick raft foundation, and its structure is concrete for the first 180 metres and a steel frame above that. A cooling system stores cold energy to use at the hottest hours of the day.