A New Landmark in the King Abdullah Financial District

Among the tallest buildings in the world, the Capital Market Authority office tower provides an anchor for the new King Abdullah Financial District.

CMA will occupy 300,000 square feet of space in the top floors of the tower, which features 76 stories of office space.

The tower’s transparency creates internal openness and access to natural light within the workplace. With transparency comes the need to moderate the intense Saudi Arabian light and heat. The high-performance solar control system includes an external layer of fins, gantries and perforated panels that provides shade, amplifying the thermal efficiency of the triple-pane, unitized glazing. These shading devices minimize solar gain and internal cooling loads, reducing HVAC requirements. Electrical energy will be reclaimed through a photovoltaic panel array on the tower’s roof.

Internal heat gains are further reduced by eliminating copper wire-based distribution systems for data and security. The design uses wireless communication, air blown fiberoptics and converged network technologies. The intelligent infrastructure will merge voice, data and video networks to reduce costs, centralize management and boost productivity.

HOK designed the tower in collaboration with Omrania & Associates.