[imagesource:suratdiamondbourse]

The Belgian city of Antwerp may be known as the world’s diamond trading hub, but Mumbai’s lesser-known city of Surat is where around 90% of all the planet’s diamonds are cut.

It’s for this very reason that the Indian city decided to go after another record-breaking achievement by building the world’s biggest office building, the Surat Diamond Bourse. And it’s massive.

The newly-opened building houses over 65 000 diamond professionals, including cutters, polishers, and traders. Featuring a succession of nine rectangular structures interconnected with a central “spine,” the sprawling 15-storey complex has been built across more than 14 hectares of land.

This gives the building over 660 000 square metres of floor space.

The project is set to welcome its first occupants in November after four years of construction work, two of which were hampered by Covid-related delays. It is expected to be officially opened later this year by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was born in the Gujarat region, where Surat lies.

Marble floors and light-filled atriums connect over 4 700 office spaces, dining, retail, wellness, and conference facilities. The development also houses 131 elevators.

According to the project’s CEO, Mahesh Gadhavi, Surat Diamond Bourse will save thousands of people from travelling, sometimes daily, to Mumbai by train to do business.

The building was masterminded by Indian architecture firm Morphogenesis following an international design competition. There are also plans for a seven million-person city, dubbed “Dream City.”

The ambitious plan, which has Prime Minister Modi’s support, aims to build a “smart” city across almost 700 hectares of south Surat. Perhaps this is what Cyril was wafting about?

Morphogenesis claims that its design also consumes as much as 50% less energy than the maximum permitted in India. The central spine’s flared shape was designed to funnel wind through the structure, while ‘radiant cooling’ circulates chilled water under the floors to reduce indoor temperatures.

“We decided to create something that is iconic.”

I’d say they did just that. Have a look at the below video for a walk-through of this marvel.

Harbour Arch 1 in the Cape Town Foreshore suddenly looks like a Wendy House.

[source:cnn&suratdiamondbourse]