The new tallest building in the world is set to rise in Iraq
Set to rise in Iraq's oil-rich Basra Province, the complex is actually made up of four conjoined towers, totaling 604 stories and 16.6 million square feet.
They combine to create what the architects are calling the world's first "vertical city."
A 616-foot antennae sits on the tallest of the towers, which would soar 3,780 feet into the sky.
This makes it taller that both the current tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which rises 2,723 feet, and the future tallest building, Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Tower, which will be 3,307 feet tall when completed.
"The Bride" would have a glazed canopy - or "veil" - cascading down from the towers, which would provide shade for the complex's ground-floor developments. These would include hotels, retail, parks, gardens, and even a rail network just for the complex.
The plan is to make the development "net-zero," meaning it produces as much energy as it consumes.
Why create the tallest tower in the world in the middle of the desert? Simple - preservation of the fertile farmland which surrounds it, according to the architects.
Locals refer to Basra as "the bride of the gulf," which served as inspiration for the complex's name. The Basra Governorate, who commissioned the project, has an ambitious goal of maximizing the city's capacity by 2025. "The Bride" was designed to reach staggering heights in an effort to avoid urban sprawl.
