When you think of skyscrapers, you typically think of height — not, necessarily, length. Plans for a new monumental building in the Saudi Arabian desert seek to change that.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans for what is being called the Mirror Line have been seen for the first time, thanks to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. The structure will feature two 1,600-foot-tall buildings (for context, the Empire State Building is 1,454 feet tall) running parallel to each other for 75 miles, making it the largest structure in the world. The two buildings will span coasts, deserts and mountains, and be connected by walkways. According to the plans, there will also be a high-speed train that runs beneath the buildings (because 75 miles), a marina, a sports stadium and a vertical farm. Prince Mohammed has likened the entire development to “my pyramids.”
Of course — and this may come as a shock — it won’t come cheap. The project is expected to cost up to a trillion dollars, though, when all is said and done, it will also allegedly provide housing for as many as five million people. According to initial estimates, the structure may take up to 50 years to complete, though the urban planners charged with designing it have been given a 2030 completion deadline.
Designed by U.S.-based Morphosis Architects, founded by the Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Thom Mayne, the Mirror Line is just one of the projects that will form Neom — a “development the size of Massachusetts conceived by Prince Mohammed to diversify the kingdom’s economy from its reliance on oil,” per The Wall Street Journal.
At the time the city of Neom was announced, back in 2021, Prince Mohammed said, “The Line is a project that is a civilizational revolution that puts humans first.”
What the Mirror Line definitely isn’t putting first? Birds. It’s a chief concern, among others, that’s been raised by those close to the project. According to The Wall Street Journal, the behemoth of a structure will impact the migration of millions of birds — something you have to think about when building a 75-mile long building, apparently.
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