They have the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. They have the iconic Burj Al Arab, the iconic ship-shaped luxury hotel on a manmade island. They also have the Palm Islands, a man-made palm-shaped archipelago of mixed-use property. Naturally, the next step for the largest emirate of this small country on the Arabian Peninsula is to build the largest indoor ‘city’ in the world.
The emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid, expressed in a press release that the project, dubbed Mall of the World, is part of his plans to transform Dubai into “a cultural, tourist and economic hub for the two billion people living in the region around us.”
The project will house the world’s largest mall, largest indoor park, cultural theatres and wellness resorts with a capacity to host over 180 million visitors annually. So it’s not really a city, but close enough.
The mall will occupy 8 million square feet connected to 100 hotels and serviced apartment buildings with 20,000 hotel rooms. 3 million square feet is allocated for the wellness district.
For recreation, the cultural district will have theatres built around New York’s Broadway and shopping streets based on London’s Oxford Street.
All of this inside an enclosed, air-conditioned building that is intended to allow tourists to “be able to enjoy a week-long stay without the need to leave the city or use a car.”
The Independent reports that the Sheikh, who is also vice president of the United Arab Emirates, owns the company responsible for the development, Dubai Holding.
Though details of the timeframe and the cost of the project are yet to be released, it is expected that the development will be Dubai’s main focus at the UAE World Expo trade fair in 2020.
For a better chance at visualizing the project's proportions, view the rest of the infographic from Dubai Holding here.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Colonnade fixes setback problem in Brooklyn condo project
The New York firm Scarano Architects was brought in by the developers of Olive Park condominiums in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn to bring the facility up to code after frame out was completed. The architects designed colonnades along the building's perimeter to create the 15-foot setback required by the New York City Planning Commission.
| Aug 11, 2010
Wisconsin becomes the first state to require BIM on public projects
As of July 1, the Wisconsin Division of State Facilities will require all state projects with a total budget of $5 million or more and all new construction with a budget of $2.5 million or more to have their designs begin with a Building Information Model. The new guidelines and standards require A/E services in a design-bid-build project delivery format to use BIM and 3D software from initial ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Opening night close for Kent State performing arts center
The curtain opens on the Tuscarawas Performing Arts Center at Kent State University in early 2010, giving the New Philadelphia, Ohio, school a 1,100-seat multipurpose theater. The team of Legat & Kingscott of Columbus, Ohio, and Schorr Architects of Dublin, Ohio, designed the 50,000-sf facility with a curving metal and glass façade to create a sense of movement and activity.
| Aug 11, 2010
Residence hall designed specifically for freshman
Hardin Construction Company's Austin, Texas, office is serving as GC for the $50 million freshman housing complex at the University of Houston. Designed by HADP Architecture, Austin, the seven-story, 300,000-sf facility will be located on the university's central campus and have 1,172 beds, residential advisor offices, a social lounge, a computer lab, multipurpose rooms, a fitness center, and a...
| Aug 11, 2010
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
News Briefs: GBCI begins testing for new LEED professional credentials... Architects rank durability over 'green' in product attributes... ABI falls slightly in April, but shows market improvement
| Aug 11, 2010
Luxury Hotel required faceted design
Goettsch Partners, Chicago, designed a new five-star, 214-room hotel for the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The design-build project, with Saudi Oger Ltd. as contractor and Rayadah Investment Co. as developer, has a three-story podium supporting a 17-story glass tower with a nine-story opening that allows light to penetrate the mass of the building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Three Schools checking into L.A.'s Ambassador Hotel site
Pasadena-based Gonzalez Goodale Architects is designing three new schools for Los Angeles Unified School District's Central Wilshire District. The $400 million campus, located on the site of the former Ambassador Hotel, will house a K-5 elementary school, a middle school, a high school, a shared recreation facility (including soccer field, 25-meter swimming pool, two gymnasiums), and a new publ...
| Aug 11, 2010
New Jersey's high-tech landscaping facility
Designed to enhance the use of science and technology in Bergen County Special Services' landscaping programs, the new single-story facility at the technical school's Paramus campus will have 7,950 sf of classroom space, a 1,000-sf greenhouse (able to replicate different environments, such as rainforest, desert, forest, and tundra), and 5,000 sf of outside landscaping and gardening space.
