Saudi Arabia breaks ground on $50B Mukaab, the worlds largest building which can hold 20 Empire State Buildings

It’s an out-of-the-box undertaking.What is expected to be the “world’s largest building” has officially broken ground in Saudi Arabia.

The ambitious $50 billion project — called The Mukaab — in capital city Riyadh is part of a wave of futuristic construction across the Arab nation, the Sun reported.The skyline-redefining Mukaab will clock in at 1,300 feet high and 1,200 feet wide when completed – giving it enough volume to contain 20 Empire State Buildings, the outlet reported.

Offering fine dining, retail space, offices and restaurants, the massive cube will be its own downtown-in-a-box with 2 million square feet of floor space.Many will also call the cube home — as it will feature 104,000 residential units and 9,000 hotel rooms. The builder boasts that The Mukaab will be “human-first” and that green spaces will be accessible within 15 minutes from any location in the cube.The New Murabba Development Company also boasts that it will use artificial intelligence to create immersive experiences for Mukaab visitors.That includes gigantic screens that will cover the outside of the square — in the style of the Las Vegas Sphere.Though the project is meant to move Saudi Arabia toward a more modern future, the company said it is deriving design inspiration from the local ecology and regional architecture.The buildings and area surrounding the metropolitan oasis are inspired by wadis — the Arabic term for a riverbed formation.

Winding structured pathways partially lined with smaller buildings will recreate the likeness of desert streams flowing through craggy rocks leading up to the neck-craning edifice.The square design itself is considered a reference to the regional Najdi architecture style.Nadji is characterized by mudbrick buildings, triangular or rectangular window and door openings and centralized outdoor courtyards.The Mukaab is expected to add over $51 billion to non-oil GDP and create 334,000 jobs.New Murabba Development Company says ...