After years of delays and a dearth of information, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (known as Ithra) in the Saudi Arabian eastern city of Dhahran is finally getting off the ground. The long-awaited culture hub, which is funded by the Aramco oil conglomerate, should be fully open and operational by the summer. — The Art Newspaper
Snøhetta won the design competition for the King Abdulaziz Center for Knowledge and Culture a decade ago in 2008 and beat out rival proposals by Zaha Hadid and Rem Koolhaas.
The Art Newspaper quotes a spokesperson for the museum, saying: "The centre is undergoing its soft opening phase after [it was] officially inaugurated by the Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, on 1 December. We’re ramping up for full operations during the first half of this year."
All images courtesy of Snøhetta.
2 Comments
I always enjoy the lens flare effect in Snohetta's renderings.
How did such a good design firm go so bad.
All it took was opening a US branch
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