The architects behind Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious infrastructure project have been speaking about the fear and excitement they feel about the task in hand.
The Line, Saudi Arabia’s remarkable upcoming $1 trillion project, could be the next Babylon according to one of the architects behind it - but this isn’t to say it doesn’t come with its own issues.
In case you haven’t been paying attention to one of the most ambitious projects of the next decade, here is a little bit of a breakdown.
It's basically a huge mirrored skyscraper laid on its side in the desert. It's either the natural evolution of humanity or a step towards a dystopian future, depending on who you ask.
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It's 105 miles long as well as 200 metres wide, and has been designed in the hopes of housing a whopping nine million people once it's completed.
Shockingly, the project is aiming to be completed by just 2030, a very tight deadline indeed. And because of this deadline, the project is well underway, with constructors working around the clock to get it completed on time.
In a documentary that looks at the progress being made, the architects give some of the details of the mega-structure city.
The Discovery Channel documentary on YouTube even includes Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denounces the naysayers and doubters who believe the project is too ambitious.
“They say a lot of projects in Saudi Arabia can’t be done, they’re too ambitious,” he said.
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“They can keep saying that and we can keep proving them wrong.”
Architects Thom Mayne said: “It’s actually a complicated project, but the big idea is incredibly simple.”
He noted that he and his team developed the concept for The Line and submitted an entry to an invited competition, where they won.
According to the architects in the documentary, the city will be divided up into multiple modules.
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Not just a handful, but about 140 modules, each measuring around 800 metres long and housing 80,000 people.
Each module is said to be different from one another, which will likely keep things a little bit interesting.
The first five modules will be developed by different architecture firms picked 'from a playing field of 20'.
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The one-of-a-kind mega-project is being constructed as part of NEOM, a new urban district that's being built in the northwest of Saudi Arabia - an area that has been virtually barren historically.
So we'll be watching this desert space for more updates.
Topics: News, World News