Surat Diamond Bourse in Gujarat surpasses Pentagon as largest office building in the world

The Pentagon AKA the US Department of Defense has not only been the birthplace of many a top-secret operation but it also held the record for the world’s largest office building for over eight decades. However, now the Arlington building has been surpassed by a building in Gujarat’s Surat. 

Housing a diamond trading centre, the newly-constructed Surat Diamond Bourse aims to be the ultimate destination for over 65,000 diamond professionals.

This makes sense, given how Surat itself is the gem capital of the world with over 90 per cent of the world’s diamonds being cut there. 

Coming to the building’s size, the Diamond Bourse is a 15-storied complex occupying over 35 acres of land. While the Pentagon’s exact area spans 6.6 million square feet, the Diamond Bourse area is 7.1 million feet. As for the other largest office buildings in the world, China and the United States take up most of the spots. 

The second largest Indian office (and 13th largest in the world) is Hyderabad’s ICICI Regional Hub building. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will officially inaugurate the structure this November. The building's construction took four years to complete.

• According to the SDB website, the property includes a recreation zone and a parking area covering 20 lakh square feet.
• The project's CEO Mahesh Gadhavi told CNN that the new building complex will prevent thousands of individuals from having to travel to Mumbai by train on a daily basis to conduct business.

Morphogenesis, an Indian architecture firm, designed the skyscraper after winning an international design competition.

“Surpassing the Pentagon was not part of the competition brief. Rather, the project's size was dictated by demand,” Gadhavi told CNN.