Imagined yourself as the guardian of the most holy site of your religion. Imagine you were responsible for its maintenance, its safekeeping, good access to that site for your coreligionists and so on. Other than those obvious things what else should you do? Well, if you were the House of Saud, the ruler of Saudi Arabia, boasting that you are very rich and show it off to the whole world instantly come into your mind!
The Background
Let me provide you some background information.
First, some basic information about the economy of Saudi Arabia. That country got most of their money either from oil export OR from Islamic pilgrimage to 2 holiest cities of Islam: Mecca and Medina.
Second, that same country practices segregation until today. Basically they segregated male & female, and Muslim & non-Muslim. The first segregation is so radical, they practically prepared to build a FEMALE ONLY CITY!! But in this writing, this segregation is not so relevant. The second segregation is not nation-wide, but only in some areas, like the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The 2nd segregation will be important later, but for now let's put these background infos in your mind, and move on.
The Gargantuan Clock Tower
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| From this forum |
So, how the Sauds plan to show off their wealth? Easy, by building a gargantuan clock tower, the largest on earth: The Abraj Al Bait Tower. This clock tower is approximately 600 meters (2000 feet) high. That means, in 2012, it is the 2nd tallest building on earth. Each of its clock face is 43x43 m² (141² ft²), the largest four-faced clock in the world. Compare that dimension to the 96 meter tall Big Ben with its 6,9x6,9 m² clock face.
And the clock tower is only the beginning. They also want to build the largest building, in term of office-space, around and behind the clock tower. (See the picture on the right.) This whole complex has a 5-star hotel (The tallest in the world), shopping malls, heli pads, Islamic Museum, and Lunar Observation Center.
And as you can see, the 600 meter clock tower is surrounded by 6 shorter towers, each 260 meters tall.
In the end, the whole tower cost $ 15 billion.
One thing already annoyed me. Maybe it is just me, but I don't feel any feeling of grandeur whenever I saw the photo of this enormous tower and complex. I feel the architecture didn't amplify the size of the tower, you can build smaller tower with exactly the same architecture and feel the same feeling. But this one is very subjective, and not very important compare to the next facts.
The Location and the Overshadow
So, where did they build this "HEY WORLD, I am super rich, see how I build this expensive and spectacular clock-tower"? They built it in the holy city of Mecca, only few steps away from the holiest mosque in Islam: Al-Masjid al-Haram.
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| From this blog |
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| From FlickR |
Huh?
Wait, wait, they show off literally in front of the most sacred place of their religion? Even though I am not a Muslim, this still pissed me off! How dare they boasting their wealth only a few steps from the holiest place of their own religion!!! I am sure that a holy site has to be a place for meditation, contemplation, and prayer for whatever reason that make it sacred!!
Nope, not for the Saudis. They really want to show off, even when there is possibility that this project overshadows their holiest place. Is that the case? Well ... I put some photos from some angles, you decide whether the Abraj Al Bait Tower really overshadows the Al-Masjid al-Haram. Ask your Muslim friends who has done a pilgrimage after the completion of this tower, what do they feel about it. Do they got that feeling?
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| From Skyscraper Center |
Oh yeah, one last thing about its location. Previously the historic Ajyad Fortress stand on that same spot. The Saudi government never care, so they demolished the fortress without hesitation. Hey, what do you expect? These are the guys who show-off in front of their own holiest place, do you think they care about "cultural heritage" or "historic site" or anything like that?
Bottom line: its location alone already make it a bullshit building. But that is not all! Let's see the purpose of this building. What kind of purpose actually this building serves other than as a show-off?
The Purpose
According to the Saudi's, this complex will provide an accommodation for the pilgrims.
Err ... why it has to be build only few meters from the Al-Masjid al-Haram? You could build them WITHOUT risking to obstruct and overshadow the holy site right? Nope. The Saudis doesn't think so.
Other than that, the tower also functioned as a beacon for prayer. They equipped the tower with loudspeaker, strong enough to let people even 7 km (Around 4 miles) away to hear the prayer's call. Wow ... if people so far away can hear that call ... what can happen to the eardrums that are only few meter away from the tower? There will be not so much ears to be hit by such powerful speaker right? Oh ... I forgot ... the Al-Masjid al-Haram is only few meter away from that tower ...
This time they think one step ahead! For deaf people, they already prepared 21.000 lamps that can be seen from 30 km (Around 18,5 miles) away!
Some people protest, they argue that there is no need for such massive prayer call, since Mecca was full with mosques, each of them has their own loudspeaker! And the light is even worse, because to determine the timing of one of the prayer, Maghrib, the clerics has to see whether the moon already rise or not. A powerful light from 21.000 lamps during the sunset IS NOT HELPING!!
But who cares, the point is they want to show-off. How can they do that if they don't put ultra-loud loudspeakers and 21.000 lamps?
And we have one last point about this tower. Any gargantuan building could serve as a tourist attraction. The Big Ben, Empire State Building, Burj Khalifa, and many others have helped to put their respective city as global tourist destination. Not this one. Remember when I said non-Muslims may not set their foot on Mecca? That means only Muslim could come and see this tower with their own eyes.
Excuse me, but ALL Muslims come to Mecca for pilgrimage, not for tourism! Let me put it this way: NO ONE will come to Mecca because of this clock tower! This is the most crucial difference between most skyscrapers and this tower: Burj Khalifa attracts tourists, Big Ben attracts tourists, this clock tower attracts NO ONE!
In the end, this tower is a clear example of a bullshit building: tall, spectacular, destroying existing historic building, arguably overshadow the most holy site, and of course ... exist to show-off.
P.S: the Saudi government is not satisfied with this one. They also plan to build 1 kilometer tall tower in the port city of Jeddah, the city that functioned as the port of Mecca; the female only city I already mentioned above, and at least 10 other projects. Will they complete all of them? Only if there is no sharp drop in oil price. Are they bullshit projects too? Maybe.
Previous Bullshit Building: Ion Storm office
Next Bullshit Building: Suramadu Bridge
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