Saudi Arabia‘s Jeddah Tower is on the right track to be the world’s first kilometre-tall constructing. But, architect Gordon Gill tells Dezeen in this interview, a skyscraper double that top is already lifelike.
Together with Adrian Smith and Robert Forest, Gill co-founded Chicago-based studio Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, a skyscraper specialist and the agency behind Jeddah Tower.
One of the most hotly anticipated buildings of the century, the megatall skyscraper is at present rising simply exterior the port metropolis of Jeddah.
It is ready to quickly surpass the 830-metre-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai – designed by Gill’s companion Smith whereas at SOM – as the world’s tallest constructing.
Jeddah Tower reached its 100th floor this week, however building has not all the time been easy crusing.
The constructing broke floor in 2013, however progress stopped and restarted a number of occasions for myriad causes, together with monetary points, the Covid-19 pandemic, and technical challenges.
One of the greatest blows got here when the contractor, Binladin Group, was taken off the undertaking as a result of the firm proprietor being arrested as half of 2017 corruption purges in Saudi Arabia, which additionally noticed the undertaking’s developer, Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, detained.
However, after building formally restarted in early 2025, Gill says Jeddah Tower is now on observe to finish in 2028 with its lofty ambition intact.
That places it in stark distinction to the present prospects of different high-profile Saudi projects, corresponding to Neom.
What makes Jeddah Tower totally different is that its ambition of rising one kilometre into the sky is definitely lifelike, in response to Gill.
“It’s not a speculative endeavour”
“Of all the projects in Saudi Arabia, this was the one that was capable of meeting its deadline,” Gill instructed Dezeen.
“What sets [Jeddah Tower] apart is its clarity and reality of being able to be delivered under a known set of circumstances, which include constructability, economy and time.”
“It’s not a speculative endeavour; it’s a reality, and it has been a reality for some time,” he continued. “Everything else was ranging from paper, whereas this had already been established as a identified entity; it simply wanted the impetus to complete it.
There are classes right here for architects, he suggests.
“One of the things that we have to be careful of in all of this is the common sense around what we’re doing. As architects, we turn down projects all the time if we think they are unrealistic.”
When it involves skyscrapers, Gill believes that going nicely past a kilometre in top is already completely potential with at this time’s building information and know-how.
“We’ve looked at a mile, we’ve looked at two kilometres – today, technically or technologically, entirely feasible,” he stated.
Already, reports emerged in 2024 that British structure studio Foster + Partners is engaged on a secretive plan for a two-kilometre-tall skyscraper, additionally in Saudi Arabia.
“There are things in the works right now that may well exceed Jeddah Tower, but you might not see them for another 10 or 15 years,” stated Gill.
“Owning [the world’s tallest] title as a firm is tremendously humbling for us, but also very exciting.”
“We’ve spent our decades working on this typology, so we know it very well,” he continued. “We love them, we understand them, and to be asked to achieve something like this was a tremendous honour.”
“Like a child’s drawing of a paper aeroplane”
Gill describes Jeddah Tower as “one of the most efficient pound-for-pound supertalls out there”.
The skyscraper could have a tapered type, not stepped, which crucially means there are fewer factors of load switch.
“It’s a very simple tapered form, almost like a child’s drawing of a paper aeroplane,” Gill described.
“It’s very rigid in its behavioural characteristics, but at the same time, as a three-legged tripod, it’s offering you great programmatic opportunities for residential or offices without impacting personal views. So structurally, it is extremely efficient.”
In this method, the Jeddah Tower undertaking helps developments in the wider structure and building industries, claims Gill.
“The technology around concrete, structure, wind behaviour characteristics, oxygen and mechanical systems, safety criteria, vertical transportation – all of that gets a little bump every time you do one of these projects,” stated Gill.
“It’s almost like a research lab. It helps people understand a lot of things about the technical aspects of building.”
“The lessons that we learn from doing supertalls can be applied to a host of different building typologies and scales,” he added.
“How do you move people? How do you get that ice cream cone from A to B without melting? What is the psychology of comfort that we can give you? Can we do something with your apartment that improves your air quality and health?”
“It’s an amazing time to be an architect”
Gill is a transparent techno-optimist, with a distinctly utopian view of how know-how will advance and affect our cities.
He is continually attempting to foretell what can be wanted from skyscrapers of the future and what know-how can be obtainable.
“When we’re in the Middle East and working on projects, we’re having conversations about air taxi use and drone deliveries as no longer a dream, but actually integrating them into our projects,” he stated.
“There are construction companies that have invested billions of dollars in drone freight.”
“As a kid, I used to draw flying cars all the time, and I always wondered why I could never have a jet pack and go to work or go to school,” he added. “Now we’re beginning to see this as a definite reality.”
These sorts of technological advances might have a dramatic influence on the method buildings are designed in the future, Gill posits.
“I’ve always joked about the idea of ground-borne lobbies,” he stated. “If I said to you, I’ll meet you in the lobby, you’ll probably think it’s the ground floor.”
“Whereas a decade from now, you might say, ‘Which one?’ because we may be able to access buildings at different heights.”
“It’s an incredible time to live,” he added. “It’s an amazing time to be an architect and designer of any sort. I’m one of those eternal optimists, I just love where we’re going.”
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