RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Architecture and Design Commission recognized multiple projects as part of the King Salman Charter for Architecture and Urbanism Award in a ceremony this week.
The award helps to promote the King Salman Urban Charter Initiative.
Projects that adopted the charter’s methodology and embodied its values were selected, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
The CEO of the commission, Dr. Sumayah Al-Solaiman, expressed her gratitude and appreciation to King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for their unremitting support for the architecture and design sector, which integrates with the aspirations of the leadership to build a promising future.
She also recognized Prince Badr bin Abdullah, Saudi culture minister and chairman of the commission’s board of directors, for his ongoing support and relentless efforts to promote Saudi culture both locally and globally.
Al-Solaiman announced that the event would be held biennially going forward.
Dr. Adrian Lahoud, the dean of the school of architecture at the Royal College of Art in London, also spoke at the event.
An accompanying exhibition was inaugurated that showcased the crucial role played by King Salman during his tenure as governor of the Riyadh region.
The exhibition highlighted the King’s vision, which is deeply rooted in historical understanding and pride in the Kingdom’s identity and its geographical and social qualities. This has led to diverse solutions and architectural creativity inspired by Saudi culture, SPA’s report noted.
It also explained the six values of the charter, along with displays of shortlisted and winning projects. It concluded with an interactive virtual experience of the charter’s book.
The award’s final shortlist included diverse projects from various regions of the Kingdom.
The judging panel selected nine projects for recognition, distributed across the award’s three categories as follows:
In the “Built Projects” category, the five projects recognized were King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, or Ithra, in Dhahran; Banyan Tree Resort in AlUla; Dar Al-Rahmaniah Building in Al-Ghat; KAFD Grand Mosque in Riyadh; and the Innovation Tower at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Riyadh.
KAFD DMC CEO Gautam Sashittal said: “Saudi Arabia’s architectural landscape is evolving, and KAFD is proud to be at the forefront of this transformation. From the very beginning, our vision has been to create a benchmark for architectural excellence.”
Winners of the “Unbuilt Projects” category were the Sports Track project in Riyadh and the Mihrab project, which serves all regions of the Kingdom by establishing prayer areas along travel routes.
The CEO of the Sports Boulevard Foundation said that the award “reflects the magnitude of the project’s achievement through its design and application of local identity and Salmani architecture in all its elements.”
In the category for university student projects, the winners were Abdulaziz Al-Talib from King Saud University who proposed a design for the King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language, and Sadeem Al-Jibreen from the University of Sheffield in the UK, who proposed a design for the Contemporary Neighborhood project.
