Saudi Arabia’s upcoming mega project ‘The Line’ is now under construction, as seen on a new drone footage released by the Saudi Arabia-based OT Sky drone company.
According to the footage, the 170-kilometre linear city, which is being built in the kingdom’s north-west Tabuk province, saw excavators digging a wide trench in the desert in the video.
The Line, which will have a mirror façade, is set to be 500 metres tall, accommodating nine million people and will be built on a footprint of 34 square kilometres.
The project is part of the $500 billion NEOM project, a futuristic city with a mixed-use development, containing spaces for work, play and living.
While the project has garnered interest from around the world, it has also raised questions.
Answering some of the frequently asked questions, Giles Pendleton, the Executive Director of the project says, “It’s very exciting to have that blank canvas. I’ve been in this industry a long time working with real estate, smart tech and sustainability – but here we are creating something that has never been done before. We have a visionary leader, who has enabled us to do it. Elsewhere in the world, you might have political constraints, financial constraints or technical constraints. But with blue-sky thinking, we are creating this new future and we will succeed.”
The Line Saudi Arabia: Why the structure is 500 meters high and 200 meters wide
Giles Pendleton says that in order to accommodate nine million people, taking Saudi Arabia towards its 2050 population goal, The Line needs to incorporate efficiency – with the smallest possible footprint and optimal livability for residents. So, 200 meters wide by 500 meters tall – and 170 kilometers in length – was the best-engineered solution. He adds that the numbers were not selected randomly but were a result of research and science.
The Line Saudi Arabia: Why the walls are mirrored
“The most important thing for us is that we’re building a very large structure in a pristine part of the world. If the building was black, it would stand out. With a mirrored facade, wherever you are looking you will see the land behind you, which will be a natural environment,” says Giles Pendleton.
The Line aims to blend in perfectly with the surrounding environment and be one with nature. Other benefits of the mirrored walls include solar panel integration.
The Line Saudi Arabia: Mitigation of dark shaded spaces
With high structures towering 500 meters high, The Line will not be covered in shade says Giles Pendleton. The mirrored sructure will be penetrated by natural light and the canyon [inside of the structure] has been scientifically modeled to make the most of the sun’s high arc in summer and low arc in winter.
Plants in The Line will be situated based on their requirements. Those requiring sunlight will be placed in strategic areas.
The Line Saudi Arabia: How a city of nine million people is being built from scratch
“We’d like to see close to a million people living on THE LINE in 2030,” says Giles Pendleton. This requires building a lot of real estate in a shorter timeframe and The Line intends to use AI to build the structure by assembling a series of modular pieces that are pre-engineered.
A simple process delivering consistent quality will be created for optimised, standardised and industrialised production of building materials.
Speaking about the project, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said “The Line” will embody “Zero Gravity Urbanism,” where city functions are layered vertically.
“The designs revealed today for the city’s vertically layered communities will challenge the traditional flat, horizontal cities and create a model for nature preservation and enhanced human livability,” he said in a statement.
He said it “will tackle the challenges facing humanity in urban life today and will shine a light on alternative ways to live.”
The crown prince claims residents will be able to reach all daily needs within a five-minute walk in “The Line,” where public parks and pedestrian areas, schools, homes and places for work are “layered.”
There will also be a high-speed rail with an end-to-end transit of 20 minutes, according to the statement.
In case you missed it, here’s an overview of the latest announcements about Saudi Arabia’s The Line:
- Saudi Arabia’s The Line under construction
- Inside Saudi Arabia’s NEOM: The Line
- Saudi’s NEOM The Line will be cruise hub like Montenegro, says senior executive
- Saudi Arabia ‘not building The Line’ but AI is, says NEOM executive
Saudi Arabia’s The Line under construction
Saudi Arabia’s The Line has a new construction update, as satellite images by Australian company Soar revealed how much ground the megacity has covered so far, followed by the city’s length and the layout of the site, according to a report by Gizmodo.
The images, which were taken by a satellite from Chang Guang Satellite Technology Corporation on October 22 this year, showed updates of the megacity from the main base camp.
The base camp is located at 28.10 degrees latitude and 35.30 degrees longitude on the eastern side of Saudi Arabia’s peninsula region.
The colour-coded version of the base camp shows The Line being dug into the sand of the desert, and is about 200 feet (60 meters) wide.
At least 425 excavation vehicles are on the site, as indicated by the red dots seen on the image. An estimate 1.7 million cubic metres of rock and sand are being dug up at this site alone, the report said.
Urban’s image also characterises different parts of the construction site, such as a main construction camp in pink that is being used to house workers and arrays of solar panels in green.
The megacity’s western site, located approximately at 28.15 degrees latitude and 34.68 degrees longitude, was first taken on September 10, 2022 using a satellite by Singapore’s Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Company.
The image revealed 103 excavation vehicles, digging up an estimated 0.7 million cubic meters of the Earth for The Line. According to an image by Urban on Soar, the area has been excavated as per the planned area.
Recently in October, new drone footage was also released by the Saudi Arabia-based OT Sky drone company.
According to the footage, the 170-kilometre linear city, which is being built in the kingdom’s north-west Tabuk province, saw excavators digging a wide trench in the desert in the video.
Inside Saudi Arabia’s NEOM: The Line
Saudi Arabia’s NEOM has released what visitors can expect, according to the latest facts shared by the city’s chief executive officer Nadhmi Al-Nasr.
According to Al-Nasr, NEOM is currently developing 15 islands as phase 1, followed by a full mobility system, the “largest marina on Earth”, and is also focused on renewable energy.
Saudi Arabia will also not directly build the futuristic city The Line at NEOM, but instead use “a lot of artificial intelligence to design through a digital twin backbone,” NEOM’s executive director Giles Pendleton said in an internal interview.
“We’ve got to build quite a lot of real estate in a short space of time. Well, we’re not actually building THE LINE. We’re assembling it from a series of modular pieces that are pre-engineered and predetermined as to what they do,” Pendleton said when asked about building a new city of nine million inhabitants in a short period of time.
The linear city, which is being built in the kingdom’s north-west Tabuk province, recently saw excavators digging a wide trench in the desert.
The Line’s mirror facade will allow the city to seamlessly blend into the nature around it. With a reduced infrastructure footprint, the linear city will have no roads, cars or emissions, running on 100 percent renewable energy with 95 percent of land preserved for nature. The city is built to prioritise health and well-being over transportation and infrastructure.
The city will be just 200 metres wide but 170 kilometres long and 500 meters above sea level with ideal climate throughout the year and a high-speed rail offering residents end-to-end transit in 20 minutes.
Pendleton also revealed that The Line will have a “one door-lock system.”
Saudi’s NEOM The Line will be cruise hub like Montenegro, says senior executive
Located within NEOM in the Northwest of Saudi Arabia, The Line is a linear city that will be built on a footprint of just 34 square kilometres. The city intends to eventually accommodate over nine million people. The mirror facade allows the city to seamlessly blend into the nature around it.
“It will be a cruise hub like Fort Lauderdale in Florida or Montenegro in the Mediterranean. The Red Sea is a fantastic boating area. And we don’t have tornadoes, we don’t have hurricanes. It’s very stable with great weather and beautiful crystal clear waters,” said Giles Pendleton, Executive Director, THE LINE.
The city will be just 200 metres wide but 170 kilometres long and 500 meters above sea level with ideal climate throughout the year and a high-speed rail offering residents end-to-end transit in 20 minutes.
The linear city, which is being built in the kingdom’s north-west Tabuk province, recently saw excavators digging a wide trench in the desert.
One of the features of The Line revealed was ‘ideal climate throughout the year’ To ensure the establishment of microclimatic spaces, the environment has been designed to allow for an optimal balance of sunlight, shade and natural ventilation. Furthermore, the green open spaces throughout the city will enhance the comfort for those living, working and visiting the city, the website describes.
When asked about the reason behind the mirrored walls, Pendleton explained that “if the building was black, it would stand out. With a mirrored façade, wherever you are looking you will see the land behind you.”
Saudi Arabia ‘not building The Line’ but AI is, says NEOM executive
Saudi Arabia will not directly build the futuristic city The Line at NEOM, but instead use “a lot of artificial intelligence to design through a digital twin backbone,” NEOM’s executive director Giles Pendleton said in an internal interview.
“We’ve got to build quite a lot of real estate in a short space of time. Well, we’re not actually building THE LINE. We’re assembling it from a series of modular pieces that are pre-engineered and predetermined as to what they do,” Pendleton said when asked about building a new city of nine million inhabitants in a short period of time.
The linear city, which is being built in the kingdom’s north-west Tabuk province, recently saw excavators digging a wide trench in the desert.
The Line’s mirror facade will allow the city to seamlessly blend into the nature around it. With a reduced infrastructure footprint, the linear city will have no roads, cars or emissions, running on 100 percent renewable energy with 95 percent of land preserved for nature. The city is built to prioritise health and well-being over transportation and infrastructure.
The city will be just 200 metres wide but 170 kilometres long and 500 meters above sea level with ideal climate throughout the year and a high-speed rail offering residents end-to-end transit in 20 minutes.
Pendleton also revealed that The Line will have a “one door-lock system.”
“But, if we need 100 million of them, then it’s easier for us to set up a factory and create exactly the same block 100 million times. We will create a very simple process with optimised, standardised and industrialised production whereby things are made in factories in large-scale volumes within NEOM – so that we don’t have to transport them far. Think of it like a giant assembly kit. The great thing about pre-engineered parts is that you can control quality and you can control dimensions, so that things connect.”
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