What do Philadelphia City Hall, the Empire State Building, and the Burj Khalifa have in common? They’ve all held the title of the world’s tallest skyscraper. And eventually Jeddah Tower, a neo-futuristic skyscraper under construction in Saudi Arabia, will join the ranks among these iconic structures.
Designed by Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the structure will stand at 3,281 feet tall when completed in the next four to five years, nearly 11 times the height of the Statue of Liberty. “The design for Jeddah Tower is rooted in the symbolism of Saudi Arabia while looking toward the future by being technologically expressive,” explain Smith and Gill in a joint statement to AD. “Its slender, subtly asymmetrical massing evokes the new growth of palm fronds shooting upward from the land—a symbol of new life heralding future growth for the kingdom.”
Here, AD covers everything you need to know about the future world-record holder.
Where will Jeddah Tower be located?
Jeddah Tower will be located in the port city from which it gets its name, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A coastal area, the city borders the Red Sea and is the second-most populated in the Middle Eastern country. When complete, the skyscraper will join other architectural marvels in Jeddah, such as the Penang Floating Mosque and Al Balad, the town’s historic center featuring homes from coral.
The Jeddah Tower project is part of a broader effort wrapped into Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a government initiative launched to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, society, and culture. The ultimate goal is to elevate the kingdom’s global profile in the Middle East and beyond. The tower, the focal point and soon-to-be crowning jewel of the port city of Jeddah, is a symbol of the country’s technological ambition. As the CEO of the Jeddah Economy Company (JEC), the building’s developer, put it: “Jeddah Tower will serve as a beacon of innovation and a catalyst for growth... Today’s progress represents the realization of a vision that was years in the making.”
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What will Jeddah Tower look like?
The building is designed in a neo-futuristic style, an avant-garde aesthetic often underpinned by the use of world-class technology and a rethinking of both the form and function of developments. Renderings show a singular, slender tower, which subtly tapers towards its apex. As Smith and Gill explain, the shape is inspired by new palm fronds, which are abundant in Saudi Arabia.
Though the design is meant to honor its Saudi Arabian origins, it also represents the pinnacle of supertall design and the technological evolution that has allowed such monumental design of tall buildings to become a reality. “The geometry of the tower, starting at the base as a single tripod form then gradually separating at the spire, is tied to the wind performance characteristics of the tower—an analogy of new growth fused with technology,” Smith and Gill add.
Designed with desert conditions in mind, the soon-to-be world’s tallest skyscraper boasts advanced MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) features like energy-efficient cooling and high-performance facade glass that allows for minimal solar gain that make it suitable for the extreme climate.
The building’s extraordinary scale is supported by a hybrid piled raft system, resting on a 5-meter-thick concrete raft covering 7,500 square meters, secured by 270 bored piles that reach depths of up to 110 meters into underlying limestone and coral formations for structural support. Engineers have refined these high-performance concrete formulations to withstand extreme heat and saline coastal conditions, a bid for the tower’s longevity.
How much of Jeddah Tower is complete?
Jeddah Tower’s construction started back in 2013 but was paused in 2018. Its contractor, the Binladin Group, was taken off the project following the 2017–2019 Saudi Arabian purge when its president, Bakr bin Laden, half-brother to Osama bin Laden, was arrested. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in further delays; though in September 2023 Dezeen reported that construction had restarted.
“Jeddah Tower construction has restarted…the tower is expected to be completed within four to five years,” JEC confirmed in a statement to AD.
Before it was halted, builders had finished about a third of the building. In January 2025, 60 floors of the total 167 floors had been built, totaling over 35% of the final build. A year later, in January 2026, the Tower officially surpassed the 80-floor mark, bringing it to nearly 50% of the way to completion. The structural engineering firm now responsible for the construction of the building, Thornton Tomasetti, anticipates the building’s 100th floor to reach completion by February 2026.
When completed, the tower will stand at around 3,281 feet, or one kilometer. It will be about 564 feet taller than the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, designed by Smith while he was working at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, which currently holds the record for the world’s tallest skyscraper.
Why has Jeddah Tower taken so long to build?
The Kingdom Tower of Jeddah Economic City, no less grand than its nickname suggests, has not yet claimed its title of the world’s tallest building due to a number of financial and political setbacks. The 2017 Saudi Arabian anticorruption purge resulted in key backers of the project, including the Saudi Binladin Group’s chair Bakr bin Laden, being detained. As the original main contractor with a 33% ownership stake of the supertall tower, the reputational issues of the Saudi Binladin Group spurred contract restructuring and re-tenders. Additionally, the pandemic further disrupted supply chains and labor, slowing overall progress of the construction of the Jeddah Tower and delaying its claim of the world’s tallest building title.
What will Jeddah Tower hold?
Similar to the Burj Khalifa, Jeddah Tower is expected to be a mixed-use building, offering both residential, commercial, and office space. There will also be an observation deck (currently planned to be the world’s tallest) and sky terrace, a Four Seasons luxury hotel, and a 98-foot-diameter outdoor balcony, which was originally designed as a helipad. The 5-star luxury hotel will be situated on floors 19 to 27, offering approximately 200 keys, and boasting exceptional views, fine dining, and direct access to the world’s highest observation deck.
Its stunning height will be supported by 59 ultra-high-speed elevators and eight escalators, including seven double-deck elevators and two construction time elevators. The vertical transportation leading to the observatory and sky terrace will travel at a neck-breaking speed of 32 feet per second. The tower’s three-petal base and tapering wings also provide a streamlined shape that allows wind to flow around the building more smoothly, minimizing overall stress on the structure.
When will Jeddah Tower be finished?
In the aftermath of delays and financial troubles, the record-breaking tower is now expected to be completed in August of 2028, based on recent plans. As of January 2026, 80 floors have been completed, with the building anticipated to reach its 100th floor in February of 2026.
While reaching these new heights is certainly daunting, the structural challenges are a comparatively lesser concern: Construction Week spoke to Bob Sinn, principal engineer at Thornton Tomasetti (the structural engineering firm for Jeddah Tower), who explained that “[at] extreme heights, the main challenges are along practical and architectural lines, not material or structural.”