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NEOM has announced three new architectural partners who will participate in its ongoing planning and design development process for The Line megacity component. The press release names Delugan Meissl Associated Architects (DMAA), Gensler, and Mott MacDonald as additions. DMAA (the Phase One... View full entry
Documentary filmmakers have discovered abusive working conditions for laborers of NEOM’s The Line megacity development in Saudi Arabia. Per new reporting on the website Middle East Eye: "Labourers are forced to work grueling hours far beyond legal limits to construct the flagship project of... View full entry
A surprising new claim about the amount of steel being used to construct NEOM’s new The Line megacity and other satellite developments is being advanced by several regional outlets, which claim the amount equals one-fifth (20%) of the world's current steel production. The claim was first... View full entry
Multiple outlets in the Gulf region report on a new $186 million series of ready-mix concrete plants that will augment construction efforts for NEOM and The Line. According to Gulf News, the facility is capable of producing more than 700,000 cubic feet per day. The $500 billion linear city... View full entry
Saudi Arabia’s turn as host of the 2034 World Cup would include NEOM as one of its 15 host cities, according to an official bid submitted to FIFA. Renderings describing a new 46,000-seat stadium elevated 350 meters (1,150 feet) above the ground and embedded within the superstructure of the... View full entry
Saudi Arabia's gargantuan The Line megaproject appears to be experiencing changes in its design team composition. According to the Architect's Journal, Morphosis Architects has reportedly left the signature development of the larger $500 billion NEOM initiative. The Thom Mayne-led studio was... View full entry
Saudi authorities have permitted the use of lethal force to clear land for a futuristic desert city being built by dozens of Western companies, an ex-intelligence officer has told the BBC.
He said the April 2020 order stated the Huwaitat was made up of "many rebels" and "whoever continues to resist [eviction] should be killed, so it licensed the use of lethal force against whoever stayed in their home".
— BBC
The village of al-Khuraybah, home to members of the displaced Huwaitat tribe, was the target of Saudi security forces during the deadly raid that left one member dead. The report states, however, “The BBC was not able to independently verify Col. Alenezi's comments about lethal force.” The... View full entry
NEOM’s next satellite development has been announced as Jaumur, a seaside marina getaway on Saudi Arabia’s Gulf of Aqaba designed by the Australian-British firm bureau^proberts. Founder Liam Proberts and Partner Terry McQuillan appear in a marketing video that promotes the resort as a “place... View full entry
Bloomberg is reporting on a tip they received recently about NEOM’s The Line centerpiece as it advances on the first phase of construction in Saudi Arabia’s northwest highlands.Last week, the outlet published details citing an anonymous source who said The Line segment is now expected to... View full entry
The next satellite development of NEOM has been announced as a new lagoon straddling resort called Treyam. News of its announcement follows last week’s update from NEOM detailing the golf course and resort concept Gidori from Aedas architects Ignacio Gomez and Lama Al-Kharboush in the Saudi Gulf... View full entry
A new golf resort concept has been revealed as the latest satellite development for NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s $500 billion+ experiment in urbanization and global luxury tourism. 'Gidori,' as it will be known, is designed to include an 18-hole course with a 200-unit residential component, 80-room... View full entry
Progress on the Oxagon, Sindalah, and the 110-mile-long The Line centerpiece developments in Saudi Arabia’s NEOM megaproject has been documented in a new update released this week. Aerial photos combined with drone footage displaying their construction progress surfaced on NEOM social... View full entry
Italian contractor Webuild has won a $4.7 billion bid to deliver the central manmade water feature included in the Trojena mountainside resort concept that forms a vital part of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM megadevelopment for 2030. The contract calls for the construction of three dams and an artificial... View full entry
The latest satellite development of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project, a new mountainside resort destination called Aquellum, has been launched, along with other initiatives meant to promote sport, leisure, and tourism in the Gulf of Aqaba region. The coastal development, which appears to feature... View full entry
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 Guardian
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... View full entry