KINGDOM TOWER DESIGN BY ADRIAN SMITH & GORDON GILL ARCHITECTS
KINGDOM TOWER DESIGN BY ADRIAN SMITH & GORDON GILL ARCHITECTS
Kingdom Tower will be a mixed-use building featuring a luxury
hotel, Office space, serviced apartments, luxury condominiums and the world’s
highest observatory. Kingdom Tower’s height will
be at least 173 meters (568 feet) taller than Burj Khalifa, which
was designed by Adrian Smith while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
AS+GG’s design for Kingdom Tower is both highly technological and
distinctly organic. With its slender, subtly asymmetrical massing, the tower
evokes a bundle of leaves shooting up from the ground—a burst of new life that
heralds more growth all around it. This symbolizes the tower as a catalyst for
increased development around it.
The sleek, streamlined form of the tower can be interpreted as a
reference to the folded fronds of young desert plant growth. The way the fronds
sprout upward from the ground as a single form, then start separating from each
other at the top, is an analogy of new growth fused with technology.
While the design is contextual to Saudi Arabia, it also represents
an evolution and a refinement of an architectural continuum of skyscraper
design. The three-petal footprint is ideal for residential units, and the
tapering wings produce an aerodynamic shape that helps reduce structural
loading due to wind vortex shedding. The Kingdom Tower design embraces its
architectural pedigree, taking full advantage of the proven design strategies
and technological strategies of its lineage, refining and advancing them to
achieve new heights. The result is an elegant, cost-efficient and highly
constructible design that is at once grounded in built tradition and
aggressively forward-looking, taking advantage of new and
innovative thinking about technology, building materials, life-cycle
considerations and energy conservation. For example, the project will feature a
high-performance exterior wall system that will minimize energy consumption by
reducing thermal loads. In addition, each of Kingdom Tower’s three sides
features a series of notches that create pockets of shadow that shield areas of
the building from the sun and provide outdoor terraces with stunning views of
Jeddah and the Red Sea.
The great height of Kingdom Tower necessitates one of the world’s
most sophisticated elevator systems. The Kingdom Tower complex will contain 59
elevators, including 54 single-deck and five double-deck elevators, along
with 12 escalators. Elevators serving the observatory will travel
at a rate of 10 meters per second in both directions.
Another unique feature of the design is a sky terrace, roughly 30
meters in diameter, at level 157. It is an outdoor amenity space intended for
use by the penthouse floor.
ADRIAN SMITH & GORDON GILL
PHILOSOPHY
We believe that architecture has a unique power to influence
our world. As architects, we must recognize and respect our role in shaping
civic life. We strive to create designs that aid society, advance technology,
sustain the environment and inspire those around us to improve our world.
We strive to create intelligent, high-performance,
forward-looking designs that exhibit timeless and enduring qualities.
We embrace a holistic approach to design. We believe that
the future of architecture relies not on a changing aesthetic but on the
implementation of an integrated process, predicated on an equal understanding
and consideration of each project discipline.
We prize innovation and experimentation. We are not limited
by known solutions. We utilize our experience and knowledge to move forward and
develop new methods and technologies.
We support our clients in the realization of their visions,
while delivering the highest standard of design in the international practice
of architecture.
We foster a challenging and rewarding workspace. We
understand that the encouragement and development of each member of our staff
advances the practice of architecture.
We collaborate with the world's leading experts: scientists,
artists, sociologists, philosophers and thinkers. We strive to expand our
perspective and generate new discoveries and insights into the world of design.
http://smithgill.com/vision/our_philosophy/
ADRIAN SMITH & GORDON GILL
ARCHITECTURE
AS+GG designs high-performance,
energy-efficient, aesthetically striking architecture on an international scale
in a wide range of typology and scale, from low- and mid-rise residential,
commercial and cultural buildings to mixed-use supertall towers. We use a
holistic, integrated design approach that explores symbiotic relationships with
the natural environment -- a philosophy we call "global environmental
contextualism." This approach, which takes into consideration building
orientation, daylighting, generation of wind power, solar absorption and a
site's geothermal properties, represents a fundamental change in the design
process, in which form facilitates performance.
AS+GG's practice includes designers
with extensive experience in multiple disciplines, including technical
architecture, interior design, urban planning and sustainable design.
Architects also have expertise in a range of building types, including
supertall towers, large-scale mixed-use complexes, corporate offices,
exhibition facilities, cultural facilities and museums, civic and public
spaces, hotels and residential complexes, institutional projects and high-tech
laboratory facilities. AS+GG is currently working on projects in the United
Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Canada and
the United States.
ADRIAN SMITH & GORDON GILL
URBAN DESIGN
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
offers urban design, city planning, infrastructure design and landscape
architectural services to private and public clients. Recognizing that the most
successful and livable places are the result of a collaborative effort, our
practice seeks a complementary relationship between architecture, infrastructure
and landscape to achieve enhanced economic and environmental outcomes for our
clients. The AS+GG urban design team creates sustainable master plans and urban
infill projects that create exceptional outcomes for municipalities, developers
and institutions.
AS+GG's partners and directors have
over 40 years of experience, master-planning more than 250,000 acres (100,000
hectares) and millions of square feet in major cities across the globe. Major
projects include master plans for Canary Wharf in London, King Abdullah
Economic City in Jeddah, Beijing Central Business District, the Nation of
Bahrain, Chongming Island in China, Jumeira Gardens in Dubai, Za'abeel Energy
City in Dubai, and many others. Our master plans have received numerous awards
and included major sustainable measures for energy and carbon reduction.
ADRIAN SMITH & GORDON GILL
INTERIORS
Led by John Burcher, our Director of
Interior Design, the AS+GG interiors team works closely with architecture and
engineering teams to promote new ideas, further the design process and break
boundaries in interior design. We embrace a modern sense of space, designing
flexible, adaptable interiors that can be shared between users. We maximize the
amount of natural light in our projects, which affects the quality of the
space, the quality of life for its users and a passive, low-cost sustainable
technology. We use sustainable materials and design spaces that respect our
resources, both natural and built, to create healthy, forward-thinking
environments.
The interiors team has extensive
experience working with clients to design interior spaces around the globe. At
AS+GG and at other design firms, our senior design and management teams have
worked with clients at some of the world's most innovative and well-known
companies. Designs include interior spaces for residential towers, mixed-use
developments and corporate headquarters buildings, including the world's first
large-scale positive-energy building, Masdar Headquarters, which will serve as
a headquarters building for both the Masdar Initiative (a subsidiary of the Abu
Dhabi Future Energy Company) and the recently established IRENA (International
Renewable Energy Agency), a multinational organization promoting the adoption
of renewable energy.
ADRIAN SMITH & GORDON GILL
STORY
Adrian Smith
& Gordon Gill Architecture is dedicated to the design of high –
performance, energy – efficient and sustainable architecture on an
international scale. The firm approaches each project, regardsless of size or
scale, with an understanding that architecture has a unique power to influence
civic life. We strive to create designs that aid society, advance modern
technology, sustain the enviroment and inspire those around us to improve our
world.
Our Office is
dedicated to the creation of new paradigms for sustainable development. We use
holistic, integrated design approach that emphasizes symbolic relationship with
the natural enviroment – a philosophy we’ve termed ‘’ global environmental
contextualism.’’
This
approach, which takes into consideration building orientation, daylighting,
generation of wind power, solar absorption, and a site’ geothermal properties,
represents a fundamental change in the design process, in which form
facilitates performance. It’s predicated on the understanding that everything
within the built and natural enviroment is connected, and that a building’s
design should stem from an understanding of its role within that context –
locally, regionally and globally.
Such a
pluralistic approach acknowledges the interaction among building systems as
well as between those systems and the natural enviroment, and seeks to improve
each individual system’s performance. By using this principle in the design of
buildings, we can create structures that only reduce their negative
environmental impact, but in some cases, virtually eliminate it together.
AS + GG’s
practice includes designers with extensive experience in multiple disciplines,
including technical architecture, interior design, urban planning and
sustainable design. Architects also have expertise in a range of building
types, including supertall towers, large – scale mixed – use complexes,
corporate offices, exhibition facilities, cultural facilities and museum, civic
and public spaces, hotels and residential complexes, institutional projects and
high – tech laboratory facilities.
The firm was
founded in 2006 by partners Adrian Smith, Gordon Gill and Robert Forest. Today
there are 100 employees in offices in Chicago and Beijing.
ADRIAN SMITH
