# Why the Jeddah Tower Won't Be One Kilometre Tall ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall.webp]] **Creator:** The B1M · **Published:** 2026-04-29 · **Length:** 17:28 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVfEs9wrW98) > Caption source: YouTube English (United Kingdom) manual captions via TubeAlfred (`en-GB`, kind=manual) after yt-dlp hit HTTP 429 on subtitle download (`en` / `en-GB` tracks were listed). Extra figures and spellings (Petronas **451.9 m** vs Willis/Sears roof/antenna dispute **1998–2004**; Merdeka 118 **678.9 m** / occupied floor just above **500 m** / vanity height **176 m**; Shanghai Tower restaurant floor **120** / tip **48 m** above usable; Burj Khalifa **828 m** / vanity **242 m** / triple crown; The Index vanity **~4 m** / **1%**; Chrysler secret spire **38 m** / final **319 m** vs 40 Wall **283 m** / race vs Woolworth **1929**; Ukraine Hotel spire **73 m** / vanity **42%** / CTBUH **50%** occupiable rule; Jeddah original **1 mile / 1,600 m** then **1 km**; Y-shaped core; steel from level **167**; beacons ~**240** storeys; spire possibly **>300 m**) cross-checked with The B1M's companion article, [How Tall is Supertall? / The World's Tallest Buildings Are Cheating](https://theb1m.com/video/skyscraper-vanity-heights) (Ian Parkin, 29 April 2026; page title *The World's Tallest Buildings Are Cheating*). YouTube chapters used for section headings; they line up with the captions. Screenshots from the 720p stream (format 136). Host **Fred Mills**. Contains paid promotion for **Rayon Design**. Companion cites Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (video also notes rename to **Council on Vertical Urbanism**). Additional footage/images: 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, New Line Cinema, TriStar Pictures, Kingdom Holding Company. ## Outline ### 0:00 How Big? - **0:00** Fred opens with height-guessing quizzes: which of two towers is taller — the “taller-looking” one loses; a second pair lands on **Lotte World Tower**, except by **usable** height the other wins. - **0:18** Thesis: the world’s tallest buildings aren’t what they seem — architects have spent decades juicing official height. - **0:32** Prompt: as the next contender (Jeddah Tower) hits its **100th floor**, how big will it *actually* be? Six rule-stretching skyscrapers frame what “tallest building” means. ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0005.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0018.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0036.webp]] ### 0:54 Beef - **0:54** Case 1 — **Petronas Towers** (Kuala Lumpur): millennial nostalgia (*Entrapment* Connery/Zeta-Jones; games; dropped on London in *Independence Day* sequel) and real claim — **world’s tallest 1998–2004**. - **1:31** Displaced champion: **Willis Tower** (then **Sears Tower**), top since **1974**. Chicago felt robbed — antenna tip and even roof both look taller than Petronas. - **2:00** **1996** near-completion: incensed Chicago journalists take the fight to the keepers of the list — **Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat** (now also framed as **Council on Vertical Urbanism**). - **2:28** Council rule: measure from **street level to the architectural top**. Willis TV masts were **added after** construction and never counted; Petronas twin spires are deliberate architecture → official height **451.9 m**. - **3:23** Sponsor beat: Fred “designs” a joke penthouse in **Rayon Design** — web-based multiplayer CAD, **~50,000** block library, AI custom blocks, unified drawings / presentations / procurement; try-free CTA via link/QR. ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0059.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0094.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0114.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0140.webp]] ### 2:54 Sneaky Spire - **4:32** Fallout: council keeps architectural height as the crown but adds **highest occupied floor** and **highest tip** categories — and that opens the floodgates. - **4:59** Case 2 — **Merdeka 118** (also KL): completed **2024**, world’s **second** tallest, nudges China’s **Shanghai Tower** to third — Chinese commentary “surprisingly fine… kidding, furious.” - **5:25** Merdeka’s spire → **678.9 m**. Highest Merdeka floor sits just above **500 m**; Shanghai Tower’s floor-**120** restaurant is **>50 m** higher — you could lunch above Merdeka’s roof and still lose the ranking. - **6:03** Same CTBUH logic: spire is architecturally integral. Term for the gap from highest occupiable floor to architectural peak: **vanity height**. - **6:24** Shanghai Tower itself has **~48 m** vanity; Merdeka’s is a whopping **176 m** — taller alone than most famous towers. ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0220.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0243.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0270.webp]] ### 5:12 More Tricks / 6:59 Independence - **6:44** Merdeka’s odd spire pose is meant to echo Malaysia’s founding father declaring independence — **“merdeka”** — in **1957**; advocates call it legitimacy, not cheat (vs Petronas’s mere **~46 m** spires). - **7:17** Bigger shift in what skyscrapers are *for* — cue Dubai and the planet’s “vainest” building. ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0347.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0360.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0383.webp]] ### 7:35 The GOAT - **7:40** Case 3 — **Burj Khalifa**: also *Independence Day 2* casualty; wins the **triple crown** (architectural height, tip, highest occupied floor) at **828 m**. - **8:00** Record vanity: **242 m** from uppermost mechanical floor to spire tip — that stub alone would dominate a Manhattan skyline if transplanted. - **8:20** Point isn’t the metres: early skyscrapers answered **land scarcity**; mid-**2000s** Dubai was a quiet, resource-dependent port with plenty of land — towers were a **statement of intent**, soft power, tourism/investment branding. - **9:16** Chart of vanity heights on supertalls: Petronas era → post-Petronas boom, with Dubai dominating the excess. Burj worked: skyscrapers as national symbols, not just offices. - **10:06** Counterpoint in the same city: **The Index** — supertall with only **~4 m** / **~1%** vanity (smallest above **300 m**). Comments-section unresolved. ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0460.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0506.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0531.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0560.webp]] ### 10:08 The Stub / 10:53 100 Years Ago - **10:35** Vanity explosion is recent; height races were never fair. Case 4 — **Chrysler Building**. - **10:53** Disaster-movie beat, then **1929** Manhattan: prize to beat was the **Woolworth Building**. **Walter Chrysler**’s **65-storey** Art Deco “sky palace” vs **George L. Ohrstrom** at **40 Wall Street**. - **11:32** Escalation: Ohrstrom goes from a shorter **47-storey** plan to a race — beats Chrysler by **9.8 m**; Chrysler redesign to **282 m**; Ohrstrom to **283 m**. - **12:09** Chrysler’s trick: architect **William Van Alen** quietly permitted a **38 m** spire, assembled **in secret inside the roof**, hoisted overnight in **October 1929** → final **319 m**, dwarfing 40 Wall. Chrysler briefly owns the world’s tallest — and the win. ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0623.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0638.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0700.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0747.webp]] ### 13:15 Moscow Madness - **12:59** Case 5 — **Ukraine Hotel**, Moscow: Stalin’s **Seven Sisters** answer to Uncle Sam’s skyline. - **13:37** Unusual U-shaped courtyard footprint — space wasn’t scarce. Legend: proposed **flat roof**; Stalin demanded spires because “American skyscrapers have spires… so should ours” → **73 m** spire added. - **14:08** CTBUH rule: ≥**50%** of height must be **occupiable** or it’s a **tower**, not a building. Ukraine Hotel vanity (spire + pedestal) ≈ **42%** of total — vainest by percentage, a “hammer and sickle” from disqualification. Client tip: do what Stalin says. ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0800.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0825.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0850.webp]] ### 14:47 The Tallest? - **14:45** Case 6 / closer — **Jeddah Tower**. Competition again: preliminary work **2008**, a year before neighbouring **Burj Khalifa** opened (**828 m**). - **15:08** Original brief: a **one-mile** tower — **1,600 m** — dropped as “absolutely insane”; switched to a **one-kilometre** metric target instead. - **15:25** Structural logic: **Y-shaped** core (same family as Burj / **CN Tower**) for self-weight and extreme wind; from level **167** onward concrete yields to **steel**. - **15:53** Upper stack houses ladders to aviation warning beacons ~**240 storeys** up. Exact published spire numbers scarce; by standard floor height the spire alone could be **>300 m** — vanity height that would itself qualify as a **supertall**. - **16:26** Closing: not a verdict on vanity height as good/bad, but what the impulse says — cathedrals, temples, pyramids → modern towers; ego, economics, legacy. Rayon Design sponsor wrap + subscribe CTA. ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0892.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0920.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0967.webp]] ![[images/Why-the-Jeddah-Tower-Wont-Be-One-Kilometre-Tall-t0994.webp]] ## Things mentioned ### Buildings and projects - Jeddah Tower (Saudi Arabia; ~100th floor under construction; abandoned **1,600 m** / mile plan → **1 km** target; Y-core; steel from **167**; spire possibly **>300 m**) - Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur (**451.9 m**; world’s tallest **1998–2004**) - Willis Tower / Sears Tower, Chicago (top from **1974**; antennas excluded) - Merdeka 118, Kuala Lumpur (**678.9 m**; completed **2024**; vanity **176 m**) - Shanghai Tower (nudged to third; floor-**120** restaurant; tip **~48 m** above usable) - Burj Khalifa, Dubai (**828 m**; vanity **242 m**; triple crown; soft-power watershed) - The Index, Dubai (smallest vanity above **300 m**: **~4 m** / **~1%**) - Chrysler Building, Manhattan (**319 m** with secret **38 m** spire, Oct **1929**) - 40 Wall Street (Ohrstrom; **283 m** in the race) - Woolworth Building (prior tallest to beat, **1929**) - Ukraine Hotel / Hotel Ukraina, Moscow (Seven Sisters; **73 m** spire; vanity **~42%**) - Lotte World Tower (opening height quiz) - CN Tower (Y-core structural comparison) ### Places - Kuala Lumpur (Petronas; Merdeka 118) - Chicago (Willis/Sears dispute) - Dubai / UAE (Burj Khalifa; The Index) - Manhattan / 40 Wall Street (1929 race) - Moscow (Seven Sisters) - Jeddah / Saudi Arabia (Jeddah Tower) - London (*Independence Day* sequel landmark drops) ### Companies, orgs, sponsors - Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat / Council on Vertical Urbanism (street-to-architectural-top rule; occupied-floor and tip categories; **50%** occupiable building test) - Rayon Design (paid promotion; web CAD; block library; AI; unified model) - Kingdom Holding Company (footage credit; Jeddah Tower stakeholder context) - 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. Interactive, Paramount, New Line, TriStar (footage/images) ### People and titles - Fred Mills (host) - Ian Parkin (companion article author) - Walter Chrysler; William Van Alen; George L. Ohrstrom - Joseph Stalin (Seven Sisters / Ukraine Hotel spire demand) - Malaysia’s founding father / “merdeka” **1957** silhouette (Merdeka 118 spire rationale) - Sean Connery; Catherine Zeta-Jones (*Entrapment* Petronas beat) ### Figures and facts - Petronas **451.9 m** architectural top; world’s tallest **1998–2004**; Willis/Sears top since **1974** - Merdeka **678.9 m**; occupied ~**500 m+**; vanity **176 m**; Shanghai tip vanity **~48 m** - Burj **828 m**; vanity **242 m**; Index vanity **~4 m** / **1%** - Chrysler redesign **282 m** → secret spire **38 m** → **319 m**; 40 Wall **283 m**; Woolworth the prior champ - Ukraine Hotel spire **73 m**; vanity **42%**; CTBUH building threshold **50%** occupiable - Jeddah: prelim **2008**; mile/**1,600 m** dropped; **1 km** plan; steel from **167**; beacons ~**240** storeys; spire maybe **>300 m** - Petronas spires ~**46 m** (contrast with Merdeka-scale vanity) ## Biographies ### Fred Mills Founder and on-camera host of **The B1M**. Walks six vanity-height case studies (Petronas/Willis, Merdeka/Shanghai, Burj Khalifa/The Index, Chrysler/40 Wall, Ukraine Hotel, Jeddah Tower), explains CTBUH measurement categories, runs the mid-video **Rayon Design** penthouse demo/sponsor, and closes on why humans keep chasing height from pyramids to supertalls. ### Ian Parkin Author of The B1M companion article *[The World's Tallest Buildings Are Cheating](https://theb1m.com/video/skyscraper-vanity-heights)* (29 April 2026; also framed as *How Tall is Supertall?*), used to cross-check CTBUH architectural-top vs antenna rules, Merdeka **176 m** / Burj **242 m** vanity figures, Chrysler **38 m** secret spire / **319 m**, Ukraine Hotel **42%** near-disqualification, and Jeddah’s mile→kilometre redesign plus possible **300 m+** spire for this note. ### Walter Chrysler Automobile industrialist who commissioned the **Chrysler Building** as a **65-storey** Art Deco height play in **1929**; with Van Alen’s overnight secret spire, briefly claimed the world’s tallest at **319 m** and beat Ohrstrom’s **40 Wall Street**. ### William Van Alen Architect of the Chrysler Building. Quietly secured permission for a **38 m** steel spire, built it inside the crown, and hoisted it in a single night in **October 1929** to win the Manhattan height race. ### George L. Ohrstrom Developer behind **40 Wall Street** who escalated from a shorter **47-storey** scheme into a metre-by-metre duel with Chrysler — peaking at **283 m** before Van Alen’s spire stole the crown. ### Joseph Stalin / Seven Sisters Soviet leader who pushed Moscow’s monumental **Seven Sisters** skyscrapers to match American grandeur; legend credits him with rejecting a flat-roofed **Ukraine Hotel** and demanding a **73 m** spire — pushing vanity to **~42%** of height, near the CTBUH’s **50%** occupiable cutoff for “building” status. ### Rayon Design Paid video sponsor. Fred demos a web-based collaborative CAD workflow (shared live model, large block library, AI-assisted custom blocks, synchronised drawings/presentations/procurement) by joking up a Petronas-scale penthouse; free-trial CTA via description link and on-screen QR (description: rayon.design/r/b1m_april2026_2).