Skyscr
apers
Battle of the Skyscrapers
Bahrain World Trade Centre
Bahrain’s skyline is set to rival some of the best in the region with the addition of some great new (and very tall!) buildings – will we be the next Dubai? FACT takes a look at what is set to be soaring high on the island in the coming years… Bahrain l Harbour Financia
ANOTHER ONE FOR future reference – FACT watched the first bits of foundation get laid down for what will become an exceptional commercial complex near King Faisal Highway. As far as a financial hub goes, this is going to be an epic venture with multiple buildings including a Performance Centre, two 53-floor-high commercial towers (east and west), a Diamond Tower (ooh, sounds fancy!), a Dhow
Almoayyed ain Tower Bahr
A true landmark building, and the first real skyscraper in the country, has finally been completed. This lavish tower will go down in history for being the tallest building in Bahrain, offering panoramic sea and city views. It’s a prestigious business tower in the posh Seef neighbourhood, made up of 47 floors, consisting of office space and retail units. These are serviced by state-of–the-art six public and one service elevator, so
Harbour, a hotel, and residential north and south, as well as the actual Financial Centre. Sounds like a whopping project to us, and if it’s completed around the same time as the World Trade Centre then Bahrain will have a lot to celebrate indeed – there’s no holding us back now, Dubai we’re coming to get you!
whizzing up to your chosen floor is a whirl! And if that wasn’t enough, there’s a helipad (yes, you heard right!) for all those who want to arrive in high-flyer style. There’s VIP parking space for 40 cars, perfect for all the high rollers driving in, in their Bentleys and Maseratis. Those in their Jeeps and Lancers can make use of the spaces in the basement and adjoining multi-storey car park. And that’s not even the best part – Almoayyed Tower has the excellent location of being in the up-and-coming Seef area, and is only 11km from the
airport. This is THE skyscraper to make every Bahrain resident proud, and it’s only 2004 – can you imagine what’s yet to come?
Just when WE thought Dubai couldn’t aim more higher (no pun intended!) they’ve gone and started construction on the Burj Khalifa, which is set to be the tallest man-made structure in the world (we’ll see how that pans out!). This skyscraper will stand tall at
829.8m - 2,722ft to be precise – in the new development called Downtown, along Sheikh Zayed Road, which will be Dubai’s main business district. Officials have said that the decision to build Burj Khalifa is reportedly based on the government’s idea to diversify from an oil-based
To answer the question of what’s yet to come – Bahrain will have its very own World Trade Centre in a few years, with construction already underway. So, it looks like Almoayyed Tower already has some healthy competition in the size department! WTC will soon be the talk of the town as it’s set to be the first ever large-scale building that will introduce the use of wind power. We went on to scoop some information from the architects at WS Atkins & Partners. The twin towers are going to be inspired by the shape of the sails of ships that use wind energy to surf (ooh, clever!). This supports the idea of using wind power in the towers! Impressive huh? The tower will be 240m high with 53 floors, which will be placed on a three-storey-high podium, which will house an entertainment complex including restaurants, a shopping center and, of course, a parking complex. Looks like we’ll be breaking some GCC records with this one!
Burj Khalifa, Dubai
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economy to one that is service and tourism based. Sure, this sky-high structure will put Dubai on the world map with something really sensational, but the question is, will it fill up or will it remain mostly empty like many other wondrous highrises in the world?