Saudi Arabia Prepares to Construct World's Largest Building in NEOM

When most people think of the largest buildings in the world they think of skyscrapers like the Burj Khalifa in the UAE, the Warisan Merdeka Tower in Malaysia, or the Shanghai Tower in China. Now Saudi Arabia has thrown their proverbial hat into the ring, but this time they’re turning the whole thing on its side - literally.

As part of their hyper-futuristic, environmentally-sustainable city, NEOM, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has announced their plans for The Line, a pair of ‘side-scrapers’ made up of two buildings that are each 170 kilometres long. The Line will be constructed as a ‘linear smart city’ without any cars, and uses vertical farms and renewable energy to sustain itself. In short, The Line - also known as the ‘Mirror Line’ - is designed to reinvent urban living as we know it.

At a cost of USD 1 trillion, The Line is planned to house five million people within its inward-facing linear city with homes, hotels, shops, offices and even a stadium that will stretch 1,000 feet in the sky integrated throughout. Instead of cars, the city will be completely walkable, with a high-speed train running underneath the buildings. Residents will be able to pay a subscription to get their breakfast, lunch and dinner from the city’s own farms.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia commissioned US-based and award-winning architecture firm, Morphosis Architects, to design the record-breaking side-scraper.

NEOM is a centrepiece project in Saudi Arabia’s 2030 Vision, and represents the kingdom's aspirations to diversify its economy, acting as Saudi’s new commercial and tourism development on the Red Sea coast. The 26,500-square kilometres city is being constructed in the Tabuk Province northwest of Saudi Arabia and north of the Red Sea, and is expected to receive visitors by 2024, with millions of residents moving into the city by 2030 by the latest.