Last year we reported on the Mukaab project which caused controversy because this giant cube-shaped building was seen as an insult to the holy Qibla of Muslims and was nicknamed the "Temple of Ignorance".
Despite the project receiving various negative reactions from global Muslims, the construction of Mukaab has already started in Riyadh two weeks ago. So far as much as 10 million cubic meters of land has been moved to build the Mukaab foundation site involving 900 workers.
Mukaab, when completed, will be the largest cube-shaped building in the world with dimensions of 400x400x400 meters. This is big enough to house 20 Empire State Buildings. Inside Mukaab, which means cube in Arabic, there is a tower that will be a place of residence, shopping, tourism, and business. The tower has a floor area of 2 million square meters.
The tower will be covered by a giant screen that can display various outdoor scenes because Mukaab has no windows. Therefore the view of the residents inside the tower can be changed according to the season, time and weather.
On the Mukaab wall there is a residence and on the roof there is also a garden for the use of visitors and residents. This will make it the second tallest park in the world after the Tiger Sky Tower which has a tropical forest at a height of 447 meters.
Mukaab is part of the New Murabba project with an area of 19 square kilometers that will be home to hundreds of thousands of residents. Within this new city, there is 25 million square meters of floor space that will house universities, museums, office space, hospitals and other venues. New Murabba is expected to be completed by 2030.
With Mukaab, Saudi Arabia will have a country with the world's largest cube, the world's longest building The Line and the world's tallest building JEC Tower which reaches 1007 meters.