Al Faisaliah Tower

Al Faisaliah Tower
Al Faisaliah Tower and Al Faisaliah Hotel (left), 2023
Location within Saudi Arabia
Record height
Tallest in Saudi Arabia from 2000 to 2002[I]
Preceded by	Riyadh TV Tower
Surpassed by	Kingdom Centre
General information
Type	Multi-purpose residential and commercial complex
Location	Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Coordinates	24°41′25″N 46°41′07″E / 24.69028°N 46.68528°E / 24.69028; 46.68528
Named for	Faisal bin Abdulaziz
Construction started	1997
Completed	14 May 2000
Cost	$800 million USD
Height
Roof	267 m (876 ft)[1]
Top floor	195.0 m (640 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	44 (30 above ground)
Lifts/elevators	44
Design and construction
Architect	Foster & Partners
Main contractor	Saudi Binladin Group

Al Faisaliah Tower (Arabic: برج الفيصلية) is a pyramid-shaped commercial skyscraper and mixed-use complex located in the al-Olaya district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 267-metre-high office tower, the centerpiece of the Foster + Partners development, is notable for having been the first skyscraper built in Saudi Arabia,[2] and for the monumental stained glass wall of its lobby, designed by architectural artist Brian Clarke in collaboration with Norman Foster.[3] It was the largest building in Saudi Arabia between 2000 and 2002 and currently is the seventh tallest building in the country, after Kingdom Centre, Burj Rafal and Abraj Al Bait.[4] The tower is named after King Faisal bin Abdulaziz,[5] and at some date ranked as the 325th tallest building in the world.[6]

First appointed to the architectural practice Foster + Partners in 1994, the complex was commissioned by Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal,[3] with construction begun in 1997. The complex is made up of the central office tower, a five-star hotel, a three-storey retail mall, and a banqueting and conference hall. The skyscraper comprises 30 floors of office space, above which, at 200 metres above ground level, an observation deck provides a panoramic view of Riyadh. The 240,000-square-metre Centre was completed in May 2000, with the skyscraper opened to the public in the same month.[7] The skyscraper, also called the Star Dome, contains one of Saudi Arabia's premier restaurants, "The Globe", located in the sphere above the observation deck, possessing 360-degree views of the city.

In 1999, the artist Brian Clarke, who had formerly collaborated with Norman Foster on architectural art proposals for Stansted and Chep Lap Kok airports, was commissioned to design a 22,000 sq. ft. wall of glass for the modular atrial space connecting the complex's hotel, north of the tower's base, and the tower's residential and retail developments.[8] Clarke's initial designs for the project, produced in 1994 and incorporating traditionally-leaded stained glass and an interrelated glass mosaic floor for what was then known as 'The Link Building', developed in tandem with the architect's resolution of the complex,[9] and were resolved as an integral, five-storey-high glass art 'skin', considered a landmark development in the history of stained glass.[10][11]

• The Shard, building in London

• Kingdom Center
• Burj Rafal
• Abraj Al Bait

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Al Faisaliyah Center.

• Al-Faisaliah Center at ArchNet