Office: KWY.studio | ArchDaily

Desert X AlUla 2024 Visitor Centre / KWY.studio

Clara Ott — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 07:00:00 +0000

The Desert X AlUla 2024 Visitor Centre is located at the end of a narrow canyon, a cul-de-sac that implied the position of the building as well as its spatial organisation. Nested between rock formations, the structure offers a singular uninterrupted view towards the West, starkly contrasting with the adjacent canyon walls to the North, East, and South. These immediate views of the stratified cliffs become essential to the experience.

Play Contract / Superflex + KWY.studio

Pilar Caballero — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 12:00:00 +0000

Playgrounds are meant to stimulate play, but most are designed based on grown-ups’ notions of children and how they should behave. With Play Contract, the balance of power is tipped, and now it’s the children’s turn to devise a playful space for themselves and grown-ups. A group of 122 children in Billund, Denmark was given 100,000 pink LEGO bricks to build models for playgrounds. These models were then analyzed and synthesized into five final designs, which were constructed in pink marble. The result is a collage of adventurous ideas and whimsical shapes that have been transformed into Play Contract.

Desert X AlUla Visitor Centre / KWY.studio

Pilar Caballero — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 02:00:00 +0000

Some of the most prevalent structures found everywhere around Al Ula are walled date plantations, usually rectangular in shape with large, centrally aligned gates. With palm tree crowns peaking above the sand coloured walls, we can imagine the refreshing shade within, a place where one could rest from the surrounding arid desert. Not far from Al Ula is Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site for its rock-cut monumental tombs. The most significant of these are decorated in an eclectic weave of architectural styles in precisely cut sandstone columns, arches and cornices: fine examples of delicate design and incredible craftsmanship. Interior space is usually a clear, carved void defined by the mass of cut stone – and by Meda’in Saleh’s siq there is an intriguing traditional dining hall lined by three benches for holding annual banquets.