Kingdom Tower — Riyadh Night Skyline

Description

The Kingdom Centre — Burj Al Mamlaka — in Riyadh’s Olaya business district is Saudi Arabia’s most architecturally distinctive skyscraper: designed by Ellerbe Becket and completed in 2002, its defining feature is the inverted parabolic arch that bridges the tower’s two split top sections, housing an enclosed sky bridge at 300 metres. The arch and the illuminated crown create the tower’s instantly recognisable silhouette. The Al Faisaliah Tower — the first skyscraper in Saudi Arabia, completed 2000, immediately adjacent — provides a rare opportunity to photograph the Kingdom Centre from an elevated position at approximately equal height to its lower sections. This photograph was made from the Al Faisaliah Gold restaurant at 9pm — the restaurant’s glazed views provide the cleanest available elevated perspective on the Kingdom Tower and the surrounding Riyadh CBD. The desert city’s characteristic grid extends to the horizon, lit in the warm amber of low-sodium street lighting.