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
| Jan 3, 2014
Norman Foster proposes elevated bikeways throughout London
Called SkyCycle, the plan calls for the construction of wide, car-free decks atop the city's existing railway corridors.
| Jan 3, 2014
World’s tallest vegetated façade to sprout in Sri Lanka [slideshow]
Set to open in late 2015, the 46-story Clearpoint Residences condo tower will feature planted terraces circling the entire structure.
| Dec 31, 2013
Top 10 blog posts from 2013
BD+C editors and our contributors posted hundreds of blogs in 2013. Here's a recap of the most popular topics. They include valuable lessons from one of the first BIM-related lawsuits and sage advice from AEC legend Arthur Gensler.
| Dec 31, 2013
BD+C's top 10 stories of 2013
The world's tallest twisting tower and the rise of augmented reality technology in construction were among the 10 most popular articles posted on Building Design+Construction's website, BDCnetwork.com.
| Dec 30, 2013
Calatrava facing legal action from his home town over crumbling cultural complex
Officials with the city of Valencia, Spain, are blaming Santiago Calatrava for the rapid deterioration of buildings within its City of Arts and Sciences complex.
| Dec 30, 2013
Survey: Number of licensed architects grows in 2012-13
A survey by NCARB shows that there are 105,847 registered architects in the U.S., up slightly from the organization's 2011-2012 survey.
| Dec 29, 2013
7 ways to make your firm more efficient
In a CEO.com post, Andrew Miller, president of ACM Consulting, shares the seven organizational efficiency strategies he encounters most frequently as he works with corporate executives to boost their performance.
| Dec 24, 2013
First Look: Calatrava's Sharq Crossing in Doha, Qatar [video]
The government of Qatar has released details of Sharq Crossing, a massive infrastructure project designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
| Dec 23, 2013
MBI commends start of module setting at B2, world's tallest modular building
The first modules have been set at B2 residential tower at Atlantic Yards in New York, set to become the tallest modular building in the world.
| Dec 23, 2013
First Look: KPF's dual-tower design for Ziraat Bank in Istanbul
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) is designing a new headquarters for Turkey’s largest and oldest financial institution, Ziraat Bank, in a modern, suburban district of Istanbul.
