Session 5b: Other Developments in the Middle East

Roger Manuel Soto
Senior Principal, Design Principal
HOK, Inc., Houston

As the centerpiece of the King Abdullah Financial District, the CMA Tower is evidence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification strategy. The faceted crystalline iconic structure, which rises 385 meters and 80 stories, serves as the headquarters of Capital Market Authority, the government organization responsible for regulating Saudi Arabian capital markets. The design responds to the design guidelines and vision set forth by the developer of the district, the Al Raidah Investment Company. The region’s climatic and environmental challenges inspired the development of a high-performance integrated enclosure system that incorporates solar shading, photovoltaics, facade lighting, and an innovative facade access system. Floor plates are designed to provide clear span lease depths that facilitate flexibility, efficiency, and natural daylight. An innovative vertical transportation system represents the world’s first large-scale use of twin and double-deck elevators in one unique system. This integral sustainable design strategy is targeting LEED Gold certification.

Louis Becker
Global Design Principal, Professor
Henning Larsen Architects, Copenhagen

This presentation explores contextualism in the increasingly globalized urban habitat. While the ever increasing global interchange of capitals and ideas have created immense opportunities and growth in cities around the world, the physical manifestation of this energy in the urban habitat risks becoming generic in the face of growing global interconnectivity.

This presentation draws inspiration from selected projects around the world by Henning Larsen Architects. It draws attention to the role of public realm between tall buildings and its potential in the creation and accentuation of a local identity that fosters vibrant urban life, a quality that is diminishing in the increasingly globalized urban habitat. This presentation addresses "global interchanges" by examining its repercussions on the urban habitat, a renewed focus of CTBUH. It seeks to address the gap between local and global, and buildings and their environs, both recurring themes in the built environment of the global era.

Pierre Marcout
CEO & Artistic Director
Prisme Entertainment, Dubai

Dubai is a city that emerged only in one decade. Though facing successive challenges it has built an attractive reputation around the world. Criticized and envied, it multiplies the superlatives and keeps being talked about. Its notoriety is impressive compared to its relative size.

Dubai holds in its name a fantastic power of attraction, and Burj Khalifa (828m, 162 floors) became the emblem of the new century. Its opening ceremony confirmed its reputation and won the crowds’ sympathy. The Burj was the most viewed building showcased on the media. During the launch show more than 2 billion people saw the event, proving the benefits of the positive image created by broadcasting around the globe.

Thanks to its impossible architecture and its record height it acquired a universal symbolic status.

People will be intrigued to discover the real amazing story behind presenting this new global icon.