Cost to
build: US$458 million
Completion
date: 2002
Fast fact:
Ladies Kingdom claims to have "almost every thing a female would
need" -- even a ladies’ bank and a ladies' mosque.
Some
observers have drawn a connection between the Kingdom Center and a shovel stuck
in the sand; a somewhat misplaced comparison for the tallest building in Saudi
Arabia.
But get
this: Riyadh building code forbids any building with more than 30 usable floors,
but doesn’t impose height restrictions. So, thanks to the big void in the new
Saudi Arabian icon, only 30 floors are used for normal purposes.
It features
an area offering a refreshing break from usual social norms in the region, with
a shopping mall that includes a female-only "Ladies Kingdom," an
entire floor designated for women to shop freely without needing to be covered.
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