Mecca Royal Clock Tower – Saudi Arabia
This enormous feat of construction is the largest building in the world by floor area. It’s an extremely important site of religious significance, so is only open to muslims – others can instead admire its beauty from afar.
Profile:
- Height: 601m – observation deck at 559m
- Floors: 120
- Built: 2012
- Use: residential + hotel + shopping
- Location: Mecca (capital: Riyadh), population 2.0 mil
Background
3rd tallest building in the world + largest in world by floor area.
Part of modern skyscraper complex aiming to modernise the city and diversify the economy of the country. Within the complex is a giant shopping centre containing four thousand shops, two helipads, six residential towers and a prayer hall with a capacity of 3,800.
Located next to the Great Mosque, which accommodates up to 2 million worshippers over the course of Hajj.
Design
The tower features a clock face 43m in diameter – this includes 23m long hands which make it the world’s largest clock face. The face has a glass mosaic front in line with traditional art, comprising of millions of glass pieces and adhered with an adhesive that resists temperatures of up to 70˚, which is is a very possible temperature to be reached in summer on such a material.
The clock is lit up at night such that the time is legible at night from as far as 8km away!
The distinctive top crescent is made entirely of carbon fibre and contributes 23m to the total height of the tower.
Disputes
Despite the impressiveness of this tower and its surrounding buildings, the recents push to modernise Mecca and the nearby city and sacred site of Medina have been subject to some controversy.
First, modernisation has led to huge numbers of historic buildings, some whcih have stood for millenia, to be destroyed in order to make way to new projects: estimates say up to 95% of historic buildings in Mecca and Medina have been demolished in the last 20 years. Some say this is disrespectful to the history of such significant sites.
One important new construction project has been the Mecca Metro – an ‘elevated train’ system that was completed in 2010 and carries up to 72 thousand pilgrims an hour. Its aim is to reduce congestion on the city’s bus routes.
The other thing which has been critiscised has been how the grandness of the new tower and its hotel is out of reach for some muslims. An important part of Hajj is the idea that all muslims are equal, yet those with money may stay in this expensive, air-conditioned, luxury hotel whilst others sleep on the floor outside. This inequality is seen by many as unjust.
Construction
Architects + structural engineers: Dar al-Handasah Shair + Partners. Upper portion (450m and above) designed by SL Rasch, a German architecture firm.
The tower consists of a frame structure made of high-strength steel and reinforced concrete. The top 200m is clad in strong Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP): excellent use of a modern composite material amongst traditional architecture.
Contains 94 lifts and 16 extra heavy-duty Transvario lifts. This is to accommodate the huge numbers of people that will be moving to pray five times a day.
[Images: themeccaclocktower.com, urbanrail.net, sl-rasch.com]