The future largest building in the world has officially inaugurated its work.
Located northwest of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the upcoming Mukaab skyscraper is just one element of a 19-square-kilometer project led by New Murabba and the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). according to the developers. Although it is far from the tallest building, with a projected height of 1,312 feet when completed, the structure should easily take the title of largest structure in the world in terms of volume.
Mukaab, the Arabic word for “cube”, will have a block-shaped silhouette finely decorated with interlocking triangles that reflect the contemporary Najdi style of architecture as well as the traditional art of the region. But there’s more to the building than meets the eye. Once inside, the stark exterior gives way to a massive, airy atrium surrounding a central tower that spirals from the ground to the top. In total, the new skyscraper will house more than one million square feet of office space and more than two million square feet of retail space. A performing arts theater, at least 100,000 private residences, a university and a museum will complete its offering.
Scheduled to welcome its first occupants by 2030, the New Murabba development is part of a larger plan first implemented by the Saudi government in 2016, which aims to diversify the economy and cultural footprint of the country. The central tower and its surrounding campus will be a crown jewel of sorts that will also serve as a new city center for the capital. The scale of the structure alone could have an even greater impact, as it is expected to cause a rapid global shake-up, among which the sheer size of the building comes out on top.
If all goes as planned, the Mukaab skyscraper will dethrone the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington, as the building with the most usable volume. Boeing’s Everett plant first opened in 1967 with a massive 472 million cubic feet of usable space, originally built to handle the assembly of its largest airliner in the world. time, the 747.