10 Craziest Buildings Under Construction Right Now
These strangest buildings under construction are a sign that the future is already here, and it will be very tall and covered in glass. Don't believe? See for yourself!
(Total 19 photos)
1. Royal Tower
2. The Royal Tower, exceeding the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates, by 167 meters, is being built in Saudi Arabia and will be the first building on the planet whose height is close to a kilometer. The $1.2 billion project, located in Jeddah, will house luxury condominiums, office space, an observatory, a Four Seasons hotel and the world's tallest terrace on the 157th floor (still quite far from the top of the building, by the way). The construction of the skyscraper officially began last year, the building should be completed in 2019.
3. Shanghai Tower
4. Construction of the 121-story $4.2 billion Shanghai Tower in China, started in 1993, was completed earlier this year and finishing work is underway. Now it is the second tallest building in the world, but the official opening will be in 2015. However, millions of people have already seen the picture from above, thanks to the dizzying pictures and videos taken by two Russian daredevils who illegally climbed to the top last year and went viral on the Internet. The multifunctional skyscraper consists of nine different vertical zones and is surrounded by a layer of transparent glass to protect from the weather and allow for natural ventilation.
5. Dubai Pearl
6. Between designing artificial islands in the shape of parts of the world, the largest shopping center known to man, and, of course, the tallest building in the world, someone decided that there should be a luxurious building in Dubai that looks like an ordinary residential building, ominously legs apart. The construction of the 73-story Dubai Pearl, overlooking the Persian Gulf, started in 2009 and should be completed in 2016. The planned "inner city" will feature four towers connected by a sky bridge and a 1,800-seat premium theater that will host the Dubai International Film Festival.
7 Agora Garden
8. Already in 2016, Agora Garden in Taipei, a building in the form of a double helix, will be a compromise between the creations of mother nature and man. The sinuous 20-story luxury building will be green in every sense of the word, with balconies on each floor supporting gardens and embedded life support systems including solar panels and rainwater recycling.
9. World One
10. When construction is completed next year, the 117-story World One skyscraper will be the tallest residential building on the planet and undoubtedly the tallest building in Mumbai, nearly twice the size of the 61-story Imperial Tower currently holding the latter title. World One will be home to some of Mumbai's wealthiest residents and will feature 300 luxury three- and four-bedroom apartments (starting at $1.5 million) designed by Armani/Casa studio Giorgio Armani. It's funny, but World One won't be able to hold the title of the tallest building in Mumbai for long, as the Indian Tower under construction will have 126 floors.
11. King Abdullah Oil Research and Development Center (KARSARC)
12. The closest to earth on this list, but no less mind-blowing, KARSARC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, looks more like a James Bond villain's lair than a multinational non-profit center. The futuristic crystal design is the brainchild of Iraqi-born iconic architect Zaha Hadid, who took the interlacing of hexagonal checks as the basis for her design. Construction on the project began in 2009 and only the steel frame has been completed so far, so it is unclear when the facility will open.
13. Zhongnan Center in Suzhou
14. Only recently in Suzhou, China, construction began on a 730-meter, 138-story center, and it still has a long, very long way to go. But if the pointed $4.5 billion project is completed on schedule in 2020, it will be the tallest building in China and the third tallest building in the world. The tower, complete with hotel, offices and living quarters, will be located next to the nearly completed 69-story Gate of the East skyscraper, which has been repeatedly noted to look like an oversized pair of trousers.
15. Lotte World Tower
16. Significantly taller than all other buildings in Seoul, South Korea, the 556-meter, 123-story skyscraper Lotte World Tower will soar above the horizon when it is completed in 2016. The building will contain (from bottom to top): shops, offices, apartments, hotels and an observation deck at the top. It will also notably overtake North Korea's extraordinary pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel as the tallest building on the Korean Peninsula.
17. Dawang Mountain Resort
18. Tired of hotels that don't gracefully float between two cliffs above an abandoned quarry and lake? Dawang Chinese mountain resort will be waiting for you from 2016. Stretching 170 meters in length, the resort will include an "ice world of entertainment", an indoor ski complex, a water park and hanging gardens.
19. Songjiang Hotel
20. Apparently, this hotel, basking among the rocks and lakes, is the next in the list of high-end vacation spots in China. Like the mountain resort of Dawang, the Songjiang Hotel is located in a quarry, and located near Shanghai, the hotel will be built right on the walls of the quarry, and a waterfall will flow down its facade. Well, if you can’t enjoy the view from one of the upper floors, go to the lower ones - they will be under water.