80 Story Tower in Riyadh World’s Most High-Tech Super Tall Building

HOK’s Roger Soto to Present Super tall Capital Market Authority Tower at International Tall Buildings Conference in New York. NEW YORK – Roger Soto, AIA, LEED AP, an HOK design principal, is a featured presenter at the annual international conference of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH), which is taking place from Oct. 26-30 at the Grand Hyatt in New York. Soto will showcase the high-performance design of the 80-story Capital Market Authority (CMA) Tower, an iconic super tall building under construction in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

80-story tower in Riyadh will be one of the world’s most high-tech super tall building

 

Designed by HOK in collaboration with Omrania & Associates, the CMA Tower will serve as the headquarters of the government organization responsible for regulating Saudi Arabia’s capital markets. Rising 1,263 feet (385 meters) and 80 stories, the faceted crystalline tall building structure will have 73 occupied floors and a gross floor area of 1.9 million square feet (182,137 square meters).

The design of the tower responds to the guidelines and vision set forth by the developer of the district, the Al Ra’idah Investment Company.

When it opens in mid-2017, the CMA Tower will position Riyadh as the financial and economic center of the Middle East. It is the centerpiece and tallest structure within the King Abdullah Financial District, a mixed-use development that creates a world-class financial hub for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also will be one of the world’s most high-tech super tall building. The design team is targeting LEED Gold certification.

Harsh environmental conditions in Saudi Arabia pose unique challenges to the construction of super tall building. Intense solar radiation increases heat gain and the accumulation of fine-grain sand clings to building surfaces.

In his presentation, Soto will describe how the team overcame these challenges by creating a high-performance enclosure that incorporates solar shading, photovoltaic solar collection, facade lighting and an innovative facade access system.

This integrated solution reinforces the overall building design and geometry while minimizing solar gain and internal cooling loads, reducing HVAC requirements and reclaiming electrical energy.

The major components of the high-performance enclosure system include triple-glazed insulated glass units; unitized type glass curtain wall; a horizontal gantry, or catwalk, located on each floor; an array of angled glass fins connected to the gantry for shading; and a photovoltaic array located in the crown of the super tall building.

The super tall building ’s main structural skeleton comprises a central core, perimeter columns, composite floors, roof crown and a continuous raft foundation. The central core is made of cast in-situ reinforced concrete walls interlinked in a hexagonal-shaped pattern by coupling shear beams.

The form tapers inward and outward as it rises, providing floor plates that range from 27,000 to 28,000 square feet of gross floor area. Together with its dynamic facade, the iconic geometry of the building contributes to a highly functional yet strikingly originally form on Riyadh’s skyline.

The modular plan creates a highly efficient interior environment with clear-span floor plates that maintain their flexibility and adaptability across every level of the structure. Combining public circulation and private amenity space, the podium structure at the base of the tower includes an auditorium, cafeteria and two-story atrium.

An innovative vertical transportation system integrates one of the world’s largest installations of the TWIN^® elevator system with double-deck shuttles. Two elevator cabs travel independently-one above the other-in the same shaft.

Soto will present “Iconic Office Tower Propels Saudi Arabia into the New Global Century: Challenges and Innovations” on Oct. 27 at 1:45 p.m. at the Grand Hyatt New York.

HOK is a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm celebrating 60 years of design and innovation in 2015. Through a network of 25 offices worldwide, HOK provides design excellence and innovation to create places that enrich people’s lives and help clients succeed. DesignIntelligence consistently ranks HOK as a leader in sustainable and high-performance design and recently named HOK the #1 most-admired firm for leadership in technology innovation.

Omrania & Associates is a leading multidisciplinary design firm based in Saudi Arabia. Since its founding in 1973, the company has become involved in some of the most celebrated architectural projects in the Kingdom. Numerous design awards, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, have recognized the quality of Omrania’s work. Its team of architects and engineers designs built environments that are functional, timeless, inspiring, durable and responsive to climate and context.

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is the world’s leading resource for professionals focused on the inception, design, construction and operation of super tall building s and future cities. Founded in 1969, the not-for-profit organization is based at Chicago’s Illinois Institute of Technology, with an Asia Headquarters at Tongji University in Shanghai and a Research Office at Iuav University in Venice, Italy.