Saudi Arabia is planning to build the world’s largest structure: two buildings reaching up to 1,600 feet in height and running parallel for 75 miles. The skyscrapers, expected to cost a whopping $1 trillion, will be made of mirrored glass. The Wall Street Journal claims, and are part of the project named ‘Mirror Line’.
Mirror Line has been envisioned as the epicenter of the new desert city called Neom, which is being constructed as per Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to set up a zero-carbon city in a 170-km line. Neom will be around the size of Massachusetts. The two buildings will be connected via walkways, and a high-speed train will run underneath them.
The eight-sided buildings will run from the Gulf of Aqaba through to a mountain resort, with a suspended sports complex, a marina to moor yachts and a complex that will house the Saudi government, according to the plans. To feed its residents, the project plans vertical farming integrated into the buildings.
The project will reportedly house five million people, who will be able to travel end-to-end within a 20-minute stretch. The Prince has claimed he wants the Mirror Line to be ready by 2030, but engineers said it could take up to 50 years for completion.
An initial impact assessment produced in January 2021 also mentioned that the structure would have to be constructed in stages and could take 50 years. The Mirror Line is designed by the U.S.-based Morphosis Architects, founded by Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Thom Mayne, and involves at least nine other design and engineering consultants, including Montreal-based WSP Global and New York’s Thornton Tomasetti, among others.
