Saudi Arabia has revealed its plans of building Aquellum, a mind blowing “upside down skyscraper” which is part of the rapid development plan of NEOM-a burgeoning construction site that the Asian kingdom plans to convert into one massive next-generation mega-city that is located on the Red Sea.
This new site also known as Aquellum and termed as one of a kind luxurious space, is set to look like a sci-fi video game in real life and shall bring forth the interest and skepticism upon first sight. The planned development of the building foresee it established in a 1,500ft-high mountain range that is along the coastline of Gulf of Aqaba, having a mega-structure with a height of 330ft with a very stunning view.
Aquellum Facilites
On arrival, all the visitors will be emerging into one cavernous space that is constructed in the mountain. The Aquellum will have many facilities which include hotels and apartments that are quite decadent, spaces for conducting retail businesses, and zones that will be set aside for both pleasure and entertainment purposes. The building will also quite lush gardens and viewing platforms that will enable the visitors to enjoy the breathtaking views of the landscapes.
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Scope of the Project
Aquellum will not only be designed with the intention of being a luxury and fantasy playground for the rich in the society but also play as the host to “The Generator”, which is a dedicated workspace that will contain a good number of laboratories where scientists will be gathering to come up with cutting-edge technology.The upside-down subterranean development of NEOM is undeniably ambitious-but perhaps an even much more ambitious undertaking of engineering works comes in the form of one of mega-structures of NEOM dubbed as The Line. This massive construction site will foresee the establishment of 2 parallel skyscrapers that will be having a height of 1,500ft and shall stretch a distance of 100 miles throughout the northwestern part of Saudi Arabia constructed parallel to each other, thereby creatively an elongated city that will be built within mirrored walls. According to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, The Line shall cost $1 trillion to construct and will also give unprecedented living experience that shall be of preservation to the surrounding nature.
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Challenges Facing The Line Project
However, criticism from conservationists has sounded an alarm to The Line, stating that it shall be a very destructive barrier for the migration of birds that will be happening between Europe and Africa yearly. This destructiveness is posed by the mirror facades, orientation of the city and the wind turbines that have been proposed to be set up in this mega project. This was revealed by a study that was conducted by Prof. William Sutherland of Cambridge University who pointed out The Line as among the 15 most pressing issues of conservation in the year 2024.
According to a statement that he gave to The Times, he said that it will be one big problem as birds fly into tall windows of a building that is 500M high running across Saudi Arabia, keeping in mind it will be having windmills at its top.
He was however countered by a spokesperson for NEOM who told The Times that they are conducting studies so as to understand the migration patterns of bird and animals and assess how these will be mitigated into the project.
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