Dubai: A sparkle heavy concept design of the ‘Burj 2020’ — one of the world’s tallest commercial towers to be — has been revealed, and which draws a lot of inspiration from cut diamonds. No surprises there since the developer is DMCC (Dubai Multi Commodities Centre), the free zone dedicated to the precious metals trade, and which hopes to complete the top up of the high-rise project before Expo 2020 comes calling.

The final height and the number of storeys that will make up the high-rise are yet to be finalised, and will happen once it moves into the “detailed design phase”, according to top officials at DMCC. (The speculation is that the eventual height could be in the ‘region of 700 metres’.) The US firm of Adrian Smith and Gordon Gill has been mandated with the design brief, following a competitive tender involving four shortlisted candidates. It is also the designer behind the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, the world’s tallest tower — at 1 kilometre — in the making.

They declined to say whether the eventual height will push Burj 2020 to be the tallest stand-alone commercial tower when complete. At the time of the initial announcement of the project, that target was very much the stated aim of the developer. Currently, New York’s One World Trade Center lays claim to the mantle, at 541 metres. The earlier holder of the title was Taipei 101.

“Demand will dictate how high this tower will be — At the highest (point) it might go 700 plus metres — we are looking at a super-tall tower,” said Ahmad Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC.

According to Sana Farooq, Development Director at DMCC, “design is a continuous process”. “We will be in a position to finalise the height only once the detailed design is done, not before. These days there’s a lot happening in terms of projects looking at reaching certain heights.

“What we can confirm is that Burj 2020 will be super-tall structure. But, our focus is creating a design that maximises efficiency and sustainability — those are our key goals,” she said.

Krysta Fox, Director of Free Zone at DMCC, added: “The tower concept we have unveiled today is a teaser.”

Meanwhile, DMCC also lifted the veil on the Burj 2020 District, which will have a built-up area of 1 million square metres plus.

This is around a third of the ‘existing JLT area and nearly twice the size of New York’s Rockefeller Center,’ DMCC said in a statement. It will also include a retail offering totalling over 100,000 square metres which will serve the DMCC Free Zone, JLT and surrounding areas.

The Burj 2020 District will be integrated with the DMCC Free Zone in JLT (Jumeirah Lake Towers), which is a base to 66 towers.