MINNEAPOLIS — Kingdom Centre, the Saudi Arabia mixed-use project designed by the Ellerbe Becket/Omrania Consortium for HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, has been selected by the Art Institute of Chicago for inclusion in a major exhibition and accompanying book Skyscrapers: The New Millennium.
Currently under construction in Riyadh, Kingdom Centre will be a dramatic focal point on the city’s horizon, visible from virtually anywhere in the city. Until recently, buildings in Riyadh averaged just five stories and few exceed ten. At 300 meters (984 ft.), Kingdom Centre is the same height as the Eiffel Tower.
“We are very pleased that Kingdom Centre is being recognized by the Art Institute of Chicago in this special exhibition and book,” said Scott Berry, principal in charge for Ellerbe Becket. “The Kingdom Centre design represents the culmination of an extraordinary effort by the Ellerbe Becket/Omrania Consortium and an international group of consultants to create a global symbol of modern Saudi Arabia.”
The exhibition. “Skyscrapers: The New Millennium” will open at the Art Institute of Chicago August 19, 2000, and run through January 15, 2001. For the exhibition, the curators selected more than 70 of the world’s newest high-rises, designed by some of the world’s most prominent professionals, reflecting a variety of approaches to high-rise design. The exhibition provides a rich visual tour of architectural landmarks that exist or will soon be completed within various international urban environments. The exhibition will travel to San Francisco in February 2001, and to Washington, DC, in November 2001.
The book. The Kingdom Centre project is featured on the cover of Skyscrapers: The New Millennium, edited by John Zukowsky and Martha Thorne, curator and associate curator of the Art Institute of Chicago. The book, published in June 2000 by Prestel, a European-based publisher of fine books on art, architecture and photography, is a study of selected projects, showing the latest developments in the skyscraper’s form, character and technology.
About Kingdom Centre. HRH Prince Alwaleed, one of the world’s best-known businessmen, spent three years selecting a design team for Kingdom Centre. In a process that included an invited international competition, the prince reviewed and rejected more than 100 designs from some of the world’s top architectural firms. The winner, Ellerbe Becket, teamed with the Riyadh-based architectural and engineering firm Omrania & Associates to form the Ellerbe Becket/Omrania Consortium.
Prince Alwaleed wanted the building to be a globally recognized icon of Riyadh and Saudi Arabia, just as the Eiffel Tower is a symbol for Paris and France. The prince’s request to the architects was to create a simple, strong, monolithic, symmetrical structure — a building that uses 21st century technology to create a humane, inviting environment. The Ellerbe Becket/ Omrania Consortium met the prince’s requirements with a design that uses gentle, fluid curves rising to a sculpted opening at the top.
The design process was a remarkable collaboration between consortium partners 7,000 miles apart, Ellerbe Becket and Omrania & Associates, working with a network of consultants in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The mixed-use Kingdom Centre will include a five-star Four Seasons Hotel, a luxury three-level retail mall, rentable office space, the headquarters of a large Saudi Arabian bank, luxury condominiums and apartments, a wedding/conference center, a sports club and an observation deck.
An innovator since its founding in 1909, Ellerbe Becket provides integrated architecture, planning, interiors, engineering and construction services on a global basis.
