Mind-bending plans for ‘upside-down skyscraper’ INSIDE a mountain in latest NEOM mega-city project ‘built on blood’

SAUDI Arabia has revealed mind-bending plans for a futuristic community hidden in an upside down skyscraper in a mountain.

Aquellum, the latest NEOM megalomaniac project, promises to challenge architectural norms and offer the world’s first “floating marina”.

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NEOM’s latest project Aquellum will feature an ‘upside-down’ skyscraper and the world’s first floating marina[/caption]

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The mega-city will be hidden inside a mountain, featuring underground water canals and a courtyard stretching from the water to the sky[/caption]

The ultra-tech development will be invisible from the outside, hidden away in a 450-meter-high mountain range.

Featuring a hidden underground canal and a courtyard stretching from the water to the sky the mega-city will offer social and hospitality spaces, immersive arts, events, shopping and dining.

Guests and residents will access the year-3000 city by boarding a specially designed vessel at a floating marina.

Developers described Aquellum as a subterranean digitalised community from the future.

An announcement from NEOM on the project’s website read: “This hidden world will be driven by boundless imagination, inverting architectural principles to integrate with nature.

“It will seamlessly connect hotel accommodation, apartments, retail spaces, leisure and entertainment zones and innovative hubs.

“Once inside, visitors will be treated to an exhilarating, 100-meter-high vertical experience with an impressive courtyard space stretching from the water to the sky. ​

“This subterranean digitalized community creates vibrancy and interconnectivity through seamlessly blending hotel accommodation, apartments, retail spaces, leisure and entertainment zones and innovative hubs.”

Aquellum also boasts great investment in tech and science with its signature “The Generator” space.

It will house “unique research labs for disruptors, innovators, and creative thinkers, offering a platform where the future is reimagined,” NEOM claims.

Aquellum is one of the many ambitious projects in Saudi Arabia as the kingdom is spending £1trillion as it seeks to ditch its reliance on oil.

Through massive investments as part of Saudi Arabia Vision 2030, the nation has been unveiling wildly ambitious projects funded by oil billions at an unprecedented rate.

In line with the megalomania vision of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi is desperate to be the centre of the world.

The price of each project is not known – but Saudi is set to spend an outlandish $175billion every year on mega projects between 2025 and 2028.

But beneath the glitzy facade lies a story of threats, forced evictions and bloodshed.

Many projects have faced fierce criticism over human rights abuses – including the $500billion Neom project where tribes were shoved out of their homeland, imprisoned or executed.

At least 20,000 members of the Huwaitat tribe face eviction, with no information about where they will live in the future.

Authorities in the port city of Jeddah also demolished many houses to implement Saudi’s development plans – with thousands of locals evicted illegally.

One campaigner claimed “Neom is built on Saudi blood”.

Jeed Basyouni, Middle East director of the human rights organisation Reprieve, told DW: “We have seen, time and again, that anyone who disagrees with the crown prince, or gets in his way, risks being sentenced to jail or to death.”