Saudi Arabia has announced a new titanic project: to build a gigantic cube 400 m high in its capital, in a new futuristic district.
A ” door to a new world “, the ” first experimental and immersive destination in the world “, a building ” like you’ve never seen at an unprecedented size »… It is in these somewhat grandiloquent terms that Saudi Arabia announced its new titanic project: The Mukaad and the New Marabba district.
In a tweet dated February 16, 2023, the country’s Public Investment Fund announced the construction northwest of its capital, Riyadh, of a brand new city center. Hyper modern, with an area of about twenty square kilometers, and to accommodate in its center The Mukaad, a huge square tower. The site, which promises to be enormous, must be finished for 2030 and the universal exhibition, which Saudi Arabia wants to host.
Another gigantic project in Saudi Arabia
The project is absolutely huge. First of all, The Mukaad consists of a spiraling tower, around which a huge dome covered with screens must be built – which should allow the tower to be isolated and achieve the spooky landscapes seen in the video . In addition to this dome, a huge cube, 400 m high and 400 m wide, must encompass everything and create a space in its own right.
According the official website of the projectThe Mukaab would include a huge mall, more than “ 80 entertainment areas ”, including museums and performance halls, and in addition, research centers and campuses. The whole thing would be big enough to fit 20 Empire State Buildings within it (a scale the kingdom seems to like, given that it’s another given size to measure The Line).
The Mukaab is to be built in a brand new neighborhood, New Murabba, which aims to accommodate ” hundreds of thousands of inhabitants “. Nothing is said about the ecological impact of this project, except that the construction will be ” durable », and that there will be green spaces and cycle paths.
This is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has presented a pharaonic city project. The Line, the future futuristic city of the country, will take the form of a long line 500 m high (or, as the kingdom specifies, higher than the Empire State Building) and 170 km long. Its construction, the beginnings of which can be seen on satellite images, is however very controversial. The city risks being an ecological disaster, and several people have already been sentenced to death in the country for opposing the works.
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