Ad diriyah Art Center
Any architectural design should be grounded and rooted in the site where the work is to arise. To this end, the visits to Ad diriyah were of critical importance to understanding how nature?s all-important role in the surrounding territory sees it serving not only as the setting for farming and as the underlying visual landscape, but also as the irrefutable framework for the placement, the configuration and even the material essence of the architecture.
The area set aside for the project is along the slope of a rocky escarpment that follows the linear layout of the Wadi, atop a sort of natural terrace that runs from north to south, dominating the surrounding countryside from its perch above a plain filled with farmland, gardens and a luxuriant palm grove. We are near the edge of the modern town, at the point where, under the plans drawn up for its development, the urban zones comes to a conclusion, bending in with the natural environment. courtesy of Schiattarella Associati
We feel that the new building, with its high visibility from elsewhere in the surrounding territory, should make the most of its role as the town?s boundary while, at the same time, serving to restore the balance and establish ties between the developed area and the natural setting.
courtesy of Schiattarella Associati
With this project we intend to restore the continuity between the project area and the bed of the Wadi, both by demolishing the existing retaining wall, so as to return...