Al Faisaliyah Center

The Al Faisaliyah Centre (or Al Faisaliah Centre, Arabic: برج الفيصلية‎) is a commercial skyscraper and mixed-use complex located in the business district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 267-metre-high office tower, the centrepiece of the Foster + Partners development, it is notable for having been the first skyscraper built in Saudi Arabia,[2] and for the monumental stained glass wall of its lobby, designed by architectural artist Brian Clarke in collaboration with Norman Foster.[3] Presently the fourth tallest building in Saudi Arabia after the Kingdom Centre, Burj Rafal and Abraj Al Bait,[4] the Center presently ranks as the 325 tallest building in the world.[5]

Al Faisaliah Complex
Location within Saudi Arabia
General information
TypeMulti-purpose residential and commercial complex.
LocationRiyadh, Saudi Arabia
Coordinates24°41′25″N 46°41′07″E
Construction started1997
Completed14 May 2000
Cost$800 million USD
Height
Roof267 m (876 ft)[1]
Top floor195.0 m (640 ft)
Technical details
Floor count44 (30 above ground)
Lifts/elevators44
Design and construction
ArchitectFoster & Partners
Main contractorSaudi Binladin Group

History and structure

First appointed to the architectural practice Foster + Partners in 1994, the complex was commissioned by the King Faisal Foundation,[3] with construction begun in 1997. The complex is made up of the central office tower, a five-star hotel, a three-storey retail mall, and a banqueting and conference hall. The skyscraper comprises 30 floors of office space, above which, at 200 metres above ground level, an observation deck provides a panoramic view of Riyadh. The 240,000-square-metre Centre was completed in May 2000, with the skyscraper opened to the public in the same month.[6] The skyscraper, also called the Star Dome, contains one of Saudi Arabia's premier restaurants, "The Globe", located in the sphere above the observation deck, possessing 360 degree views of the city.

The stained glass

In 1999, the artist Brian Clarke, who had formerly collaborated with Norman Foster on architectural art proposals for Stansted and Chep Lap Kok airports, was commissioned to design a 22,000 sq. ft. wall of glass for the modular lobby space connecting the complex's hotel, north of the tower's base, and the tower's residential and retail developments.[7] Clarke's initial designs for the project, produced in 1994 and incorporating traditionally-leaded stained glass and an interrelated glass mosaic floor for what was then known as 'The Link Building', developed in tandem with the architect's resolution of the complex,[8] and were resolved as an integral, five-storey-high glass art 'skin', considered a landmark development in the history of stained glass.[9]

See also

References
  1. SkyscraperPage - Al Faisaliah Center, source: Foster & Partners
  2. David, Jenkins; Baker, Phillipa (2001). Foster: Catalogue 2001. London/Munich: Foster and Partners/Prestel Verlag. pp. 148–149. ISBN 3-7913-2401-2.
  3. "Al Faisaliah Centre". www.fosterandpartners.com. Foster + Partners. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  4. "Al Faisaliyah Center in Saudi Arabia". My Guide Saudi Arabia. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  5. "Al Faisaliah Center - The Skyscraper Center". www.skyscrapercenter.com. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
  6. "الأمير سلطان يفتتح برج الفيصلية ويسلم جائزة الملك فيصل الرياض ترسخ مكانتها عاصمة للثقافة العربية". Alhayat (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-11-05.
  7. Binder, George (2006). Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (ed.). 101 of the World's Tallest Buildings. The Images Publishing Group. pp. 124–125. ISBN 9781864701739.
  8. "Al Faisaliyah Center". www.brianclarke.co.uk. Brian Clarke Studio. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  9. Brian Clarke: Transillumination (exhibition catalogue), Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York. ISBN 1-891475-22-3.
Records
Preceded by
 Tallest building in Saudi Arabia
2000 – 2002		 Succeeded by
Kingdom Centre


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