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Riyadh-based photographer Faisal Bin Zarah has documented the construction process of a major new project soon to be completed in his home city. The King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) Metro Station, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, is projected to be completed next year, eight years... View full entry
U.S. engineering firm Aecom will manage the development of Neom Bay, part of a $500 billion mega city on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast [...]
The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, is spearheading plans to develop Neom, a futuristic city being built from scratch, as part of the government’s plans to cut its reliance on oil and attract foreign investment.
— Bloomberg
Intentions for the planned Neom megacity were first announced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2017, but Saudi Arabia's suspected involvement in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi a year later caused international outrage and prominent international figures on the... View full entry
Danish 3D printing construction company COBOD International has sold a BOD2 to Saudi Arabian construction company Elite for Construction & Development Co. The BOD2, reportedly the biggest construction 3D printer in the world, will be delivered to Elite by the end of May, 2019.
Elite placed the order of the BOD2 from COBOD in order to fulfil Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims to improve the country’s economy and housing through pillars of innovations, i.e., modern construction techniques.
— 3D Printing Industry
COBOD states the printing speed of its new BOD2 system at 18 meters (59 feet) per minute. Image: COBOD."The BOD2 3D printer can print buildings with measurements of 12m in width, 27m in length and 9m in height," reports 3D Printing Industry. "COBOD also claim that the machine can produce three... View full entry
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has set multiple ambitious agendas for his desert kingdom. Turning it into a major cultural destination may end up being one of the highest-profile. For part of the plan, the Saudi government has turned to Sotheby’s, the biggest U.S. auction house, and Allan Schwartzman, the co-chairman of its fine art division. — Bloomberg
The largest auction house in the US, Sotheby’s, is in talks with Crown Prince HRH Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to build a cultural center in the northwest deserts of Saudi Arabia, according to Bloomberg. The contemporary art program is to be located in the Al-Ula region, which... View full entry
Norman Foster has temporarily stepped back from his role on the board overseeing the planning of a $500 billion mega-city in Saudi Arabia as questions mount over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
The international community is demanding answers over what happened to the Washington Post writer following his recent disappearance inside the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul.
— Architects' Journal
Norman Foster is one of several 'global experts' who were announced as members on the global advisory board for the planned $500-billion NEOM mega-city project in the Saudi Arabian desert earlier this month but have distanced themselves from the appointment since the reported death of WaPo... View full entry
Working closely with DaeWha Kang, then the office’s design director, Hadid turned to nature for lessons. “When you look deeply at nature, you find out why things look the way they look,” Mr. Kang said. “You find systems that respond to environmental conditions that result in the forms you see.” — The New York Times
Photo © Hufton+Crow.The NYT's Joseph Giovannini reviews the Zaha Hadid-designed King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: "Her victory in the competition dovetailed with the agenda of a king who, in 2009, founded the coed King Abdullah University of Science and... View full entry
Construction of the world's tallest skyscraper in Jeddah is going ahead, the head of the consortium behind the $1.5 billion project said, despite the detention of some businessmen backing the plan in Saudi Arabia's crackdown on corruption. [...]
Construction has reached the 63rd floor and the superstructure - the concrete shell and the cladding - is to be completed next year, Jomah said, adding that delays in some areas were inevitable because of technical challenges.
— Arabian Business
Progress on the soon-to-be tallest structure on earth has been troubled for a while, with the main contractor (and partial owner) Saudi Binladin Group going through a financial rough patch and, more recently, several project officials and royal family members being targeted by the country's... View full entry
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... View full entry
Emerging from the desert landscape of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, Zaha Hadid Architects' new King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre (KAPSARC) recently opened its doors for the first time during Saudi Design Week 2017. With the late Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher as the architectural... View full entry
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced plans to build a new city on the Red Sea coast, promising a lifestyle not available in today’s Saudi Arabia as he seeks to remake the kingdom in a time of dwindling resources.
The prince said the city project, to be called “NEOM,” will operate independently from the “existing governmental framework” with investors consulted at every step during development. The project will be backed by more than $500 billion from the Saudi government [...].
— Bloomberg
The project is ambitious with a capital A: besides the mere challenge of building a new mega city in currently undeveloped desert terrain, the Saudi Crown Prince also envisions a new kind of society for NEOM — likely modeled on the 'free zone' concept that made Dubai flourish — whose "new way... View full entry
In a stunning move, seven Muslim countries—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Yemen, and the Maldives—have severed ties to Qatar, a small nation of about 2.7 million people on the north-east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The crisis underscores the deep divisions... View full entry
Completion of the world’s new tallest tower, Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, has been pushed back to 2019, its developer said yesterday.
Formerly known as Kingdom Tower, the structure is to reach more than a kilometre in height, which means it will surpass Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.
Construction began in April 2014, and was to have finished in 2018. [...]
“The project was delayed... but it’ll open (in) 2019,” Prince Alwaleed said during a media visit to the site, reports AFP.
— globalconstructionreview.com
"Saudi Binladin Group has been hit by a fall in work brought by lower Saudi public spending following the collapse in oil revenues," GCR reports. "Last year workers in Mecca burned buses in protest over unpaid wages amid reports of mass lay-offs." View full entry
Dr Sumaya Bint Sulaiman Al Sulaiman has become the first woman in Saudi Arabia to be appointed dean of a design college. Al Sulaiman now heads the College of Design at the Imam Abdul Rahman Bin Faysal University
...the highest administrative position for a Saudi woman at a public college or university was vice-dean, except at Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman University, an exclusively for women university in the capital Riyadh.
— Gulf News
Dr. Al Sulaiman's appointment at the University of Dammam College of Design last month is one of two groundbreaking university dean appointments in Saudi Arabia. She was appointed days after Dr. Dalal Namnaqani, who became the first woman to become dean at the Taif University College of... View full entry
Diriyah, Saudi Arabia is home to the Turaif district, the first capital of Saudis and an UNESCO world heritage site since 2010. Appropriately, ZHA's winning design for the Urban Heritage Administration Centre in Diriyah will help maintain the area's UNESCO distinction, including an exhibition... View full entry
Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia, which is set to the world’s tallest building, is over 20% complete, according to the developers.
The planned 1km-tower has already reached the 37th floor and is on track for completion by 2018 [...].
Although the number of habitable floors has not yet been revealed [...] expects it to be around 167 floors tall on completion.
Jeddah Tower, formerly known as Kingdom Tower, is set to overtake the 830-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai as the world’s tallest tower.
— meconstructionnews.com
Kingdom—pardon—Jeddah Tower previously in the Archinect news:Kingdom Tower megaproject secures new funding to complete long-delayed constructionInstallation of UltraRope elevators begins at Kingdom TowerWork to start next month on 1km Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaAS+GG Designs Kingdom... View full entry
