The Royal Commission for AlUla has appointed Lina Ghotmeh and Asif Khan as the lead architects for two upcoming museums to be added to the cultural oasis of AlUla, a destination in North-West Saudi Arabia displaying 7,000 years of continuous human history. Ghotmeh is set to design the contemporary art museum to house works by artists from the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Eastern Mediterranean in dialogue with their contemporaries from across the world. Asif Khan will design the Museum of the Incense Road, the first museum dedicated to the millennia-old network of major land and trading routes. The architects have been selected following an international competition.
The contemporary art museum in AlUla is envisioned as a space of dialogue and connections, featuring a comprehensive cultural program. The relationship between the space of the museum and its surrounding landscape will be underlined through a series of artist-designed gardens. The museum is structured as an archipelago of pavilion galleries interspersed with greenery and palm groves to create a balance of interior and exterior spaces, allowing visitors to define their encounters with both art and the natural landscape of the AlUla oasis.
The Museum of the Incense Road is conceived as a celebration of AlUla’s cultural legacy as a place of exchange at the confluence of civilizations, highlighting northwest Arabia as a cultural epicenter. The exhibitions will spotlight the discoveries of ongoing excavations to enable visitors to engage with the layered history of the valley. The program of the museum is developed in dialogue with AlUla’s ancient heritage, including Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its host village, AlJadidah.
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Valley of the Arts in AlUla, in KSA, Announces 5 Permanent Large-Scale Installations, to be Completed by 2024Both museums aim to highlight AlUla’s cultural offering and heritage and to contribute to the preservation and interpretation of the region’s layered history. The vast area known as AlUla, covering 22,561 square kilometers, includes an oasis valley, sandstone mountains, and ancient cultural heritage sites dating back thousands of years to the time of the Lihyan and Nabataean kingdoms. One of the most recognized sites in AlUla is Hegra, an ancient city classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition to Hegra, AlUla is home to other historical and archeological sites such as the Ancient Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan Kingdoms, thousands of ancient rock art sites and inscriptions at Jabal Ikmah, and the AlUla Old Town, dating back to the 12th century.
The architecture of the contemporary art museum in AlUla immerses visitors in a creative journey from the desert expanse to the lush cultural oasis of AlUla, interweaving the natural environment, agriculture, and art to reveal the heart of contemporary culture. Through a series of garden pavilions, the museum presents a constant interplay between art and nature, capturing the essence of this unique place. The galleries offer surprising and anchored perspectives on the many facets of AlUla, from the microclimates of the oasis to the expanse of the desert, evoking a deep sense of attachment to the land and its heritage. - Lina Ghotmeh
Recently, Beirut-born, Paris-based architect Lina Ghotmeh has been announced as the designer of the 22nd annual Serpentine Gallery Pavilion. Her proposal, titled “À Table,” introduces a slender wooden structure housing a ring of tables and benches inviting visitors to relax, eat or work together. British architect Asif Khan is currently working on the refurbishment of UK’s Barbican Center, in collaboration with Allies and Morrison, and the new London Museum. Together with artist Theaster Gates, he has also been selected for the redevelopment of Liverpool’s waterfront, a project that includes the redesign of the public spaces at Canning Dock, a historical area central to the Liverpool docks.
