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The Unlikely Home of the World's Next Tallest Skyscraper

Read More: http://www.citylab.com/work/2015/11/...craper/417510/

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The Basra Province is a transformed place. Its 3 million residents are rebuilding and even pushing for autonomy. Make that 3 million oil-wealthy residents. It makes sense that Basra, a metropolitan city before its suppression under Saddam Hussein, would emerge as the new economic capital of Iraq.

- The “Bride” might refer to the veil-like structure that appears to flow from the curtain-wall of the 3,780-foot-tall building into a canopy that covers the base at the podium level and extends seemingly several city blocks from there. How this nearly 17 million-square-foot building will work as a net-zero site, fueled by solar energy, is anybody’s guess. If it operates even close to that efficiently—and it’s not out of the question—it would be a pinnacle of sustainability, at least in terms of energy consumption.

- What really sets the Bride apart is its size—not just its height. The architects put out a graphic showing how much more usable space the Basra super-tall has than its peers. Ultimately, this is a function of the area of the base of the building. The elevator and mechanicals column inside the building doesn’t shrink as you go up, so to rise to a height of around a kilometer (much less a mile) requires a much, much broader base to begin with. In the case of the Bride, the building’s height might be a product of opportunity in Basra.

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