Archinect - News

‘A spectacle of reform’: Rowan Moore throws cold water on NEOM's motivation and sustainable claims

2023-12-05T11:49:00-05:00

Conceivably, as one architect speculates, The Line will be “a Noah’s Ark for the happy few”, a privileged AI-controlled citadel set in an inhospitable desert. Otherwise it will be clickbait visible from space, two vast and pointless lines of glass whose colossal construction cost would defeat the Vision 2030 plan to reduce dependency on oil revenues. What’s more likely is that it will never be completed.

The Observer architecture critic blasts The Line as nonsensical, poorly conceived, a youthful self-promotional tool of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and ultimately mocking the leader’s claims that it is “designed to protect and enhance nature” before predicting much of it will never be completed.

NEOM has recently unveiled a trio of resort concepts for the Gulf of Aqaba, bringing the total number of planned developments to seven. As Moore points out, many of the projects’ realization dates remain unpublicized — hazy as though a desert mirage.

Saudi Arabia begins securing financing agreements for various NEOM developments

2023-07-17T12:52:00-04:00

Saudi Arabia's megaproject Neom is seeking to raise 10 billion riyals ($2.7bn) in loans, according to a report in Bloomberg published on Monday. The early stages of the $500bn planned city will be financed by money raised from local lenders, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg. Banks are currently in negotiations with Neom, and the loan could be completed in the next few months.

A separate $3 billion loan will be required for Shushah Island, the luxury resort component of the $500 billion megadevelopment whose record-setting centerpiece is promised for 2025. Another $800 million was secured recently towards the development of Sindalah, which is set to be the project’s first portion to open next year. $5.6 billion more is on the way to build temporary housing and other facilities for 95,000 workers on The Line. The Saudi Private Investment Fund (which underpins NEOM) holds $778 billion in assets currently, according to Bloomberg.

Saudi Arabia is moving forward with plans for a ski resort in NEOM

2022-12-12T12:38:00-05:00

The NEOM megadevelopment in Saudi Arabia is moving forward with an attention-grabbing feature after the American engineering firm Bechtel announced its retention as project managers for a new manmade ski resort project called Trojena.

According to NEOM’s website, the resort will be spread across six development districts containing a manmade lake, "folded" village, wildlife reserves, observatory, hotel, and the country’s first-ever high-altitude ski run. It will have room for 3,600 guest accommodations and 2,200 custom-built ultra-luxury "slope residences" for approximately 7,000 people set against more than 500 square miles of undeveloped mountain land.

Image courtesy of NEOM

The resort will be located about 30 miles from Saudi Arabia’s Gulf of Aqaba coast and range in elevation from 4,921 to 8,530 feet. Bechtel says the development will be a centerpiece in the Kingdom’s tourist-driven 2030 development goals and will eventually play host to the 2029 Asian Winter Games after its an...