Architect plans to build 'Vertical City' that would dwarf Burj Khalifa in IRAQ

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The 241-floor, 3,162ft-high structure would be named 'The Bride' and sit in the middle of Basra, in war torn Iraq
Designers claim the vertical city would become a iconic landmark for Basra but also help prevent urban sprawl
It would contain offices, hotels, commercial centres, parks, clinics and schools, and even its own neighbourhoods

Published: 10:02 EST, 18 November 2015 | Updated: 23:18 EST, 18 November 2015

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Previously confidential plans have been released which propose building a giant 'Vertical City' in Basra, Iraq.

The structure - a tower named 'The Bride' - would feature four climbing towers dwarfing the world's other mega structures including the Burj Khalifa.

The Bride's tallest structure would be a 241-floor, 3162ft-high centrepiece, Tower 1, made up of seven sections that designers say would 'relegate super tall towers as a thing of the past'.

Newly-released design plans reveal designers have proposed building a massive 'Vertical City' (illustrated) in the heart of Basra, Iraq

The structure would feature four climbing towers dwarfing the world's other mega structures - including the Burj Khalifa in Dubai

Named 'The Bride', the building would contain gardens, parks, commercial centres, offices and entire neighbourhoods

The design was commissioned by city leaders looking for an environmentally-friendly way to maximise the city's capacity

Plans for the design were put forward by AMBS Architects but remained secret until now for security reasons

Proposals for The Bride, which look to answer oil-rich Basra's intention of maximising the city's capacity by 2025, were put forward by AMBS Architects. They remained secret until now for security reasons. A price for construction has yet to be revealed.

Rather than opt for traditional urban sprawl, AMBS feel a vertical city would not only provide a landmark for Basra, but also help protect the environment.

The design brief demanded a variety of sustainable measures, in order to create a net zero-energy development, free from the city's power grid.

In order to be sustainable, the plans state that natural daylight must be optimised while minimising solar heat gain. This, the company said, will be done by strategically placing each tower to shade others.

Within the giant structure would be a 'round the clock city': offices, hotels, neighbourhoods, commercial centres, parks, gardens, schools, clinics - even its own rail network.

The Basra province, in southern Iraq, has remained removed from the political and religious tensions elsewhere in the country.

Basra has the bulk of the country's oil reserves, is one of the world's fastest-growing business centres, and is home to Iraq's main port.

Marcos De Andres, a director of AMBS Architects, which is working with Mott MacDonald consultancy on the project, said: 'In contrast to a conventional tower, The Bride will be a place that may be enjoyed by all, not only for the ones that live and work there, but also the rest of the public.

'Super tall towers are perceived as an object in the distance. An alien planted in the city, disconnected from the urban scale at ground level. The Bride, on the other hand, will be conceived as a city itself both vertically but also horizontally from the ground.

'It will be enjoyed by thousands of people in endless ways, within it, on it or under it.

'From walking in the vast shaded parks and promenades at ground level, to having lunch or shopping in a sky-square hundreds of metres above sea level.'