Towering Buildings and Impressive Complexes: Megaprojects Around the World

By Samantha Butts

A megaproject is a large-scale investment project that typically costs over $1 billion and attracts a large amount of public attention. Megaprojects can be anything from a city airport to massive building complexes to entire cities.

Here is a list of four impressive megaprojects in the world as they exist in 2022.

Abraj Al-Bait

The Abraj Al-Bait is a towering building complex in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is also often known as the Makkah Royal Clock Tower, which refers to the clock tower in the middle of the complex.

The Abraj Al-Bait is a government-owned complex of seven skyscraper hotels in Mecca. The towers are a part of the King Abdulaziz Endowment Project, which aims to modernize the city.

The Central Tower (Makkah Clock Tower) of the complex stands 1,972 feet tall and has 120 floors. The height of each of the four clocks on the tower is 150.9 feet, with the middle point of each clock face standing 1,410.8 feet above the street level.

The highest habitat floor in this megaproject is 1,476.4 feet, and the highest accessible floor for visitors is 1,289.4 feet. The tower is so tall that it can be seen in some places as far as 10.6 miles away.

Abraj Al-Bair has the largest floor area among skyscraper buildings in the world. It is made up of seven individual towers of different heights, apart from the central clock tower, the other shorter towers are over 754 feet, and the two next to the Middle Tower stand at 918.6 feet tall. The complex takes up 16 million square feet,

The megaproject is not just used as a hotel. The Makkah Royal Clock Hotel Tower and the surrounding towers also contain a shopping mall, an Islamic museum, residences, and many religious spaces, such as prayer rooms.

The buildings that are mainly used as hotels contain 858 suits operated by Fairmount Hotels and Resorts.

Four of the six high-rise buildings of Abraj Al-Bait are residential towers, containing a total of 864 residential units. In the Makkah Clock Tower, the first five floors are used as a shopping mall.

Roppongi Hills in Japan

Roppongi Hills is a developmental project and one of Japan’s largest integrated property developments, located in the Roppongi district of Minato, Tokyo.

This megaproject was opened in 2003, in the heart of Tokyo’s Roppongi district. The complex has offices, apartments, shops, restaurants, a hotel, an art museum, an observation deck, a garden, and more.

The development of Roppongi Hills was based on the concept of building a 21st-century city. The goal was to create a “cultural heart of the city” and create a unique vision of the future in Japan.

Mori Tower

At the center of Roppongi Hill is Mori Tower. One of the tallest buildings in the city, it stands at 780.8 feet tall.

Most of the building is occupied by office space, however, the first few floors have restaurants and shops. On the top few floors, you can find an observation deck and a modern art museum, both of which are open to the public.

The Mori Art Museum, which sits on the top floors of the tower, is a modern art museum with a focus on new artistic ideas from all over the world.

The Tokyo City View observation deck also occupies the top floors of the tower. When the weather permits, guests can enjoy the view from an open-air deck on the rooftop.

The megaproject has many other places to visit, including the Mori Garden just behind the tower, and the Grand Hyatt luxury hotel.

Embassy Gardens

Embassy Gardens is a residential and business development built by Ballymore Group in the Nine Elms, London is one of the megaprojects in the United Kingdom.

The Embassy Gardens quickly became central London’s newest district for food, culture, commerce, and 21st-century life. The Nine Elms district has turned into a desirable place to live, and a great place to work, shop, and go out. It is a well-connected, culturally vibrant, and highly livable place at the heart of everything.

Sky Pool

The Embassy Gardens has something unique floating through the air in central London. The Sky Pool was named the world’s first floating pool.

The transparent 82 feet crystal clear Sky Pool made of acrylic allows residents to swim from one tower block to another, ten stories above the ground.

Sky Pool offers swimmers a clear view of the gardens that lay 115 feet below. The experience of swimming through Sky Pool has been compared to flying.

Embassy Gardens residents and their guests have exclusive access to Sky Pool and the Orangery and Sky Deck – London’s finest rooftop spaces. You can spend the entire day up there, swimming, relaxing, or working.

First World Hotel & Plaza

The megaproject First World Hotel & Plaza is a hotel, shopping, and entertainment complex located at Resorts World Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia. It is the world’s largest hotel by the number of rooms.

The First World Hotel is a 3-star hotel made up of three towers and 7,351 rooms. The hotel offers simple rooms, some with mountain views, that have flat-screen TVs. Upgraded rooms include minifridges, tea and coffee making facilities, and sitting areas.

One floor above the lobby level of the hotel is the First World Plaza, a shopping center that holds casino, retail, and dining outlets.

The First World Hotel is at the heart of Resorts World Genting and gives guests access to locations such as the First World Plaza, SkyAvenue, Skytropolis Indoor Theme Park, and Genting International Convention Centre.

There are dozens of megaprojects all over the world with just as many in production. These are only a few of the impressive and jaw-dropping structures out there.

Read more: Seven New Megaprojects that began in 2022

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