Quote:
Originally Posted by photolitherland
I want to see what this tower looks like in the skyline or the lack thereof in Mecca. By the way, the detail in that clock looks incredible.
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I know this isn't quite what you had in mind, but as I understand it, the city is a vast construction site right now. Evidently this billboard is at the construction site and has a countdown clock to when the actual clock will be installed. Although according to the DallasNews story below(which looks like a tranlation from an Arabic paper), it's a countdown to the 25 hotels. That's the corner of Abraj Al-Bait on the left side of the billboard--even the 48 story hotels will look puny next to the monolith!:
http://img175.imageshack.us/img175/7928/s114.jpg
I think the series of similar buildings is this hotel project:
From:
http://www.dallasnews.com/
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Dallas-based Wilson Associates, considered among the elite of the world's hospitality interior design firms, was chosen to design 19 hotels going up simultaneously in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the religion he founded.
Unlike other fantastic projects that have come her way – the Atlantis in the Bahamas, the Venetian Las Vegas and Venetian Macau and palaces for Middle Eastern royals – this project is spiritually unparalleled.
The hotels are part of a $6 billion redevelopment in Mecca, center of the Islamic world. More than 65,000 pilgrims from around the globe come to the Grand Mosque every day. And many of them need places to stay.
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Quote:
The firm will design more than 10,500 rooms in 25 towers, ranging from 20 to 48 stories, all with views of the city and surrounding holy sites. It will also design 17 grand lobbies and 40 food and beverage outlets.
But there are no bars, spas or health clubs. "No elevator music – just the call to prayer via the PA system," Wilson says.
The hotel brands involved are Conrad, Westin, Sheraton, Marriott, Hilton, Radisson Blu, Mercure and Novotel.
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Here's one more clock pic:
BTW, I'm getting some of this via Arabic sites, initially--so if I'm sounding a little vague, it's because I don't speak Arabic! It truly is a bummer that information is so limited on what's happening there.