A newly opened building that will serve as a diamond trading center in Surat, India, has dethroned the U.S. Pentagon to become the world’s largest office building.
About the building: India’s Surat Diamond Bourse (SDB) is regarded as a “one-stop destination” for more than 65,000 professionals in the diamond industry, such as cutters, polishers and traders.
While the building’s official website noted that it was ready to operate as far back as November 2022, its grand opening was reportedly postponed after only 400 members agreed to move into the building. SDB will purportedly start welcoming its occupants this November.
The 15-story complex, developed by Indian architecture firm Morphogenesis, has over 7.1 million square feet of floor space. It also boasts over 4,700 office spaces, 131 elevators and other features, such as dining, retail, wellness and conference facilities.
With a total cost of 32 billion Indian rupees (approximately $388 million), it reportedly took Morphogenesis four years of construction work, two of which were a result of delays brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beating the Pentagon: SDB has more floor space than the Pentagon by around 600,000 square feet. The Pentagon has around 6.5 million square feet of floor space.
Although the Pentagon was built on land with a total area of 583 acres in Arlington County, Virginia, the building reportedly only occupies an area of 29 acres. SDB, on the other hand, occupies more than 35 acres of land.
