Courtesy of Studio Schiattarella

Conjugating innovation and tradition, the first prize winning proposal for the Celebration Hall of Riyadh by Studio Schiattarella, in collaboration with Tecturae, aims at adhering to the specific route adopted by the Saudi culture. The building appears to be the requirement currently expressed globally and each culture develops it in its own fashion. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Photo by Flickr user: nelson ebelt - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nelsonebelt/

Recent years have seen an influx of skyscrapers completed, nearing construction, or proposed in Asia. Stimulated by an exponentially growing population and, therefore, thriving economy, Asia has contributed more soaring buildings to the world’s Supertall list than any other continents combined. With the completion of the world’s tallest building at 828 meters tall, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, comes the proposition of progressively more structures which aim to surpass the prior and ascend to the number one status.

More on skyscraper-mania in Asia after the break.

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© Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture

Over 1,000 meters (that’s 3,280 feet!) with a total construction area of 530,000 sqm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture are currently in design development phase for Kingdom Tower. Slated to surpass Burj Khalifa by 173 meters (coincidently which Adrian Smith also designed while at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) Kingdom Tower is the centerpiece of the $20 billion dollar Kingdom City Development, with the tower itself expected to cost $1.2 billion dollars. Featuring a luxury hotel, office space, serviced apartments, luxury condominiums and the world’s highest observatory the tower’s foundation drawings are complete with the piling currently being tendered.

More renderings of the world’s largest tower which will be located near the Red Sea in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia following the break.

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Courtesy of Godwin Austen Johnson Architects

Godwin Austen Johnson Architects shared with us their proposal in an invited international competition held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Their design for the Celebration Hall is situated in the socially and architecturally significant Diplomatic Quarter of Riyadh and takes into consideration the local roots of the city. The proximity of the local Aga Khan award winning landscaped edge to the Diplomatic Quarter provides direction for prestigious architecture and a high degree of creativity. More images and architects’ description after the break. read more »

Courtesy of Moriyama & Teshima Planners Limited & Buro Happold

Of a total of 410 projects, five have been selected for the 2010 Aga Khan Award for Architecture at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha.  The five projects, selected by a Master Jury are:

• Wadi Hanifa Wetlands, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Revitalisation of the Hypercentre of Tunis, Tunisia
• Madinat Al-Zahra Museum, Cordoba, Spain
• Ipekyol Textile Factory, Edirne, Turkey
• Bridge School, Xiashi, Fujian, China

For more information on the winners and images read on after the break.

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Here is a video about one of Zaha Hadid‘s latest project, King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSRC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  This project has a holistic approach unifying architecture and engineering, landscape and building artist expression and environmental responsive design.  It is intended to not only be a leading research facility, but also a LEED Platinum certified building upon its completion.

We recently featured Zaha Hadid, as she won this years esteemed RIBA Stirling Prize for the design of the MAXXI National Museum in Rome. Full coverage of the RIBA Stirling Prize along with photographs of the MAXXI can be found here.

Also you can check our previous coverage of Saudi Arabai – in particular last year ArchDaily personally visited Saudi Arabia for the opening of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, an international graduate-level research institution.  Photographs and a write up on KAUST here.

The Saudi Arabia Pavilion for Shanghai World Expo 2010, which starts in two days, is a combine effort of Chinese and Saudi designers. The pavilion has a “moon boat” shape and is surrounded by deserts and seas, just like Saudi Arabia. Along with the 150 date palms that are now planted in the pavilion, it’s main attraction is a huge IMAX screen. The 1,600-square-meter screen is larger than any other cinema screen on earth. Short films will be presented on the screen.

You can see more images and a video after the break. read more »

KAUST Campus © 2009 J.B. Picoulet – S. Lourié

As we told you on a previous post, last week we were in Saudi Arabia visiting the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). We showed you some renderings and the construction process, and now we bring you more details on this 6.5 million sqf LEED Platinum project, including a video with Bill Odell, design partner at HOK.

The project consists of two parts, the campus and the university town with facilities and accommodations for students, faculty and staff.

The main area of the campus consists of 10 volumes facing the Red Sea, housing the administrative offices, student services, library, a mosque, labs, research centers and an auditorium. A Costal Studies Center is still under construction and will be opened next January.

Access to the campus

The first building we visited was the Library, the main volume overlooking the Red Sea.
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KAUST Campus

Yesterday, after a very long flight, we arrived to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, one of the most important cities in the region. Why? We are attending the opening of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, an international, graduate-level research institution. The mission if this academic institution is to dedicated to advancing science and technology of regional and global impact, with a fellowship program that provides full tuition to graduate students pursuing the M.S., M.S. to Ph.D., or Ph.D. degrees (more info here).

The University is located on a new campus designed by HOK, 80km north of Jeddah (aerial view of the site). The campus is part of a larger master plan, also designed by HOK: A new town of 10,000 to 12,000 people, surrounding and supporting the University, living in over 6.5 million sqf on a 3,200 acre site along the Red Sea.

KAUST Campus © 2009 J.B. Picoulet – S. Lourié

The project started in fall 2006, and it was finished in just 3 years. To achieve this, the HOK Planning Group accelerated the process with a “Racing the Sun” design charrette in which planners from 10 offices across multiple time zones contributed to the plan over one 24-hour period. Each HOK office had a two-hour window to create its ideas and post them on a server. In the end, each contributed an idea that ultimately found its way into the final plan.

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Architects: Willy Müller Architects
Location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Principal in Charge: Willy Müller
Associate Architect: Frédéric Guillaud
Project Team: Francisco Villeda, Isabella Pintani, Simona Assiero Brá, Mariano Arias-Diez
Collaborators: Iris Cantante, Bruno Louzada, Edgardo Arroyo, Claudia Barata, Bart Hooijen, Katrine Kunstz
Rendering: Lucas Capelli, Julia Morgado, Daniel Corsi
Model: ARRK,s.l., Fabio Castelblanco, Fabian Asunción
Structure Consultant: SBP, Schlaich Bergermann und partner
Engineering Consultant: GEPRO engineering
Model Photographs: Adria Goula Sarda

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