Summary of Short Stuff: Jeddah Tower

Overview of Short Stuff: Jeddah Tower

This episode of iHeartPodcasts' Short Stuff gives a compact history and status update on the Jeddah Tower (originally Kingdom Tower), the planned 1‑kilometer skyscraper in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Hosts summarize the tower’s design, engineering specs, construction timeline, delays (political purge and COVID), safety measures that enabled resumption, and the current build progress and projected completion window.

Key takeaways

• Jeddah Tower is planned to be the world’s first 1‑kilometer (≈3,280 ft) building, surpassing the Burj Khalifa (≈2,717 ft).
• Designed by Adrian Smith (same architect as Burj Khalifa) with a tapered Y/triangular profile to better handle wind.
• Mixed-use program: offices, a luxury hotel, and residential floors (the uppermost ~167 floors planned for apartments).
• Major practical features include a high open-air observation deck (≈2,187 ft), ~59 ultra‑high‑speed elevators, ~80,000 tons of steel, and other ambitious engineering systems.
• Construction began 2013, paused around 2017–2018 due to political and financial disruptions, and later by COVID; work resumed in 2023. As of the update in the episode, the build had passed ~80 floors and progress had accelerated.
• Original estimates (as of 2023) projected completion roughly 4–5 years after that restart (i.e., around 2027–2028), but timelines remain uncertain.

Design & engineering highlights

• Architect: Adrian Smith, who also designed the Burj Khalifa. The tower shares design philosophy (tapered, wind‑resistant form) but uses a continuous taper rather than multiple setbacks.
• Inspiration: hosts note Adrian Smith cited palm fronds as a design motif.
• Structural & mechanical specs cited in the episode:
  • Approximately 80,000 tons of steel.
  • 59 ultra‑high‑speed elevators, including seven double‑decker elevators and eight escalators.
  • Observation deck at about 2,187 ft (originally intended as a helipad).
  • Elevator speed example: ~32 feet per second to reach high terraces quickly.
• Foundation: very large concrete pilings (described as 10 ft in diameter and very deep), installed with embedded sensors to monitor long-term integrity.

Construction timeline & current status

• Groundbreaking: April 2013.
• Foundation work took over a year and involved massive pilings.
• Pause: construction halted circa 2017–2018 following a Saudi political/financial purge (2017 anti‑corruption campaign that affected major backers, including Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and partners in the Saudi Binladin Group). COVID‑19 further delayed work.
• Safety concern: extended exposure (sand, salt) raised worries that the partially built structure might have to be torn down, but embedded sensors in pilings reportedly provided assurance that foundation integrity remained acceptable.
• Restart: construction resumed (hosts cite September 2023). By 2025 the project had about 60 of 167 planned floors built; in January (episode date context) it had passed the 80‑floor mark. Work reportedly accelerated after the restart.
• Projected completion: the 2023 estimate was an additional 4–5 years—uncertain and dependent on funding, logistics, and engineering challenges.

Delays, controversies, and context

• Financing and politics: work stopped when key financiers were detained in the 2017 anti‑corruption purge; this pause demonstrates how mega‑projects are vulnerable to political risk.
• Human rights context: hosts note the same period included the Jamal Khashoggi murder, raising ethical and diplomatic complications surrounding the Saudi leadership.
• Location notes: Jeddah is a historic Red Sea city; hosts mention local lore and claims (e.g., a purported tomb of Eve cited in one interview), but treat some of these details as anecdotal.

Notable quotes and host remarks

• “It’s going to make the Burj Khalifa look like poop.” (colloquial host remark emphasizing relative scale)
• The host highlights the possible terror/appeal of the open-air observation deck and jokes about the original helipad plan.
• Observational note: while the tower’s height and engineering are extraordinary, its visual style in renderings was described as familiar/unspectacular (could be placed in many global luxury-city contexts).

Why it matters

• If completed, Jeddah Tower would set a new benchmark in vertical construction and urban ambition (first kilometer-high building).
• The project highlights technical innovation (foundation monitoring, tall-building aerodynamics) and the geopolitical and financial risks that shape mega-developments.
• Completion would shift the skyline hierarchy, tourism and prestige in the Gulf region, and influence future supertall projects.

Further reading / sources mentioned

• Architectural Digest (coverage and renderings)
• CNN (coverage of construction and pauses)
• HowStuffWorks (explanatory pieces)
• YouTube update videos referenced by hosts for recent progress visuals and analysis

Short Stuff is a condensed, conversational update—good for a quick technical and historical primer, but for the latest floor counts, engineering reports, or official timelines consult project press releases and respected architecture/engineering outlets.