Today鈥檚 gruesome building is five times bigger than Big Ben and twice the height of the Shard
Forget pumpkins and witches鈥� hats - for a real fright this Halloween nothing beats the worst excesses of modern architecture. This week, 好色先生TV peers out from behind the sofa at some buildings that would make anyone want to scream
MAKKA CLOCK ROYAL TOWER / ABRAJ AL BAIT
Location Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Architect Dar Al-Handasah Architects
Function Hotel / residential / retail / mosque
Completed 2012
What do you get when you mix Big Ben, moral turpitude and bucketloads of cash? No, not an MP鈥檚 expenses claim but what is in fact the second tallest building in the world. Quite simply, this 120-storey mega-tower is the World鈥檚 Most Significant 好色先生TV You鈥檝e Never Heard Of. Clocking in at a staggering 601m, it is five times bigger than Big Ben and twice the height of the Shard. Costing an eye-watering 拢9.3bn, its seven towers also contain the world鈥檚 largest floor area, and its clockface, inevitably the world鈥檚 biggest, is the centrepiece of a delusional Saudi attempt to wrest the prime meridian away from Greenwich.
Impressive as these statistics are, they are all fatally undermined by the fact that the building appears to have been designed as a dystopian joint venture between Madame Tussauds and Batman. But worst of all, it has been built right beside the Kaaba in the Masjid al Haram, the holiest site in Islam. Imagine a genetically enhanced Vauxhall Tower rising up beside Jerusalem鈥檚 Church of the Holy Sepulchre with the world鈥檚 biggest Ladbrokes as the anchor tenant and you get the picture.
Look out for Friday鈥檚 full feature in print, online and on our
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