Saudia Arabia's Plans for New 'World's Tallest Building' Apparently Still Alive and Well

While the financial bust of the last couple of years might have you believing that the Burj Khalifa in cash-strapped, bust-affected Dubai would be the last “world’s tallest building” being constructed for a while, it’s sounding more and more likely that you’re wrong. We reported back in March that Adrian Smith, who had designed the Burj while he was at Skidmore, Owings & Merill, had been tapped by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal to design a tower in the port city of Jeddah that would put the Burj to shame, coming in at nearly twice as tall at roughly a full mile high, and costing tens of billions of dollars.