Kingdom Centre
Ellerbe Becket + Omrania · Riyadh, Saudi Arabia · 2002
Kingdom Centre is a mixed-use skyscraper whose defining feature is the enormous inverted-arch opening near its summit, crossed by a public skybridge. The tapered tower combines offices, hotel, apartments and retail within a highly recognizable silhouette that became an early icon of Riyadh’s vertical expansion. Ellerbe Becket and local partner Omrania used the upper void to reduce the visual mass of the tower while creating a distinctive skyline marker. Opened in 2002, the building remains one of Saudi Arabia’s most recognizable high-rise works and an important precursor to the capital’s current wave of megaproject development.