AFP / Getty Images
IMAGES OF THE DAY... How ironic; the skyscraper depicted above will be built in Saudi Arabia by the family of Osama bin Laden, while the skyscraper shown below is being built to replace previous buildings whose destruction was the work of Osama bin Laden himself. (What helped create bin Laden’s hatred for the United States, as a little FYI, was him being expelled from Saudi Arabia after he criticized his home country’s willingness to have American forces stationed on its soil after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.) Anyways... In case you don’t know yet, the Saudi Binladen Group (whose owners disowned bin Laden as a family member years ago) is planning to build the 3,300-foot-tall Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia...on the outskirts of Jiddah, a city near the Red Sea. Once completed, the Kingdom Tower will become the highest building ever constructed, pushing to second place Dubai’s Burj Khalifa—which is currently the tallest structure in the world at 2,717 feet.
Meanwhile, the 1 World Trade Center (a.k.a. the Freedom Tower) continues to be assembled at Ground Zero in New York City. Once finished—sometime in 2013—the 1 World Trade Center will become the tallest skyscraper in the U.S. at 1,776 feet (this also includes its antenna spire). Chicago’s Willis Tower is currently the highest building in America at 1,451 feet. Don’t know if this includes the two 278-foot-tall antenna towers on its roof.
Try building the Kingdom or Freedom Towers in California (earthquakes), Alabama (tornadoes) or Florida (hurricanes). Obviously not a good idea.
Photo courtesy of Deepen03 - Wikipedia.org
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