Rue Kothari time travels for ICON in AlUla to discover how the past is informing a progressive view of tomorrow’s design
Photography courtesy of Teeb featuring AlUla Terrains: Dates Serving Set by Teeb
Words by Rue Kothari
Cheap travel and the web have successively brought the world closer, but sometimes I feel not close enough. We still struggle to understand each other’s cultures and traditions, we continue to place barriers where there are none, and more than ever we value our individuality above society.
The news, chat groups and institutions foster the divide, feeding into the mythology that our difference is something to fear. I can tell you first- hand it is not. Living and working in the Middle East for over 25 years has brought sharply into focus how bonded we actually are, through our humanity, our values and our interests.
Working in the design industry has allowed me to rub noses with the world, most recently in AlUla, an oasis city in the Medina Province of Saudi Arabia that first hit the news with the opening up of Hegra, an ancient city that lay dormant for over 2,000 years. Built by the Nabataeans, this civilisation carved its existence into the very rocks of the desert. The discovery ignited the archaeological community – and with it a new demographic of tourists eager to get a first-hand look at this world wonder.
Photography by © Shaddah Studio featuring Tawa, Shaddah Studio, 2023
This new curiosity in AlUla was swiftly addressed by Desert X, a site-responsive art exhibition with the monumental landscape as the canvas. Images from the event went viral. Creatives from all corners of the globe flocked to interact with the artwork – pieces that dwarfed them, in an environment that dwarfed the art. It was, and still is, a highly entertaining and humbling experience.
Four years later and I find myself in AlJadidah, at the heart of AlUla’s Cultural Oasis District, an area that is being regenerated and reinvigorated with the help of both local and regional expertise. The occasion is the opening of the Design Space AlUla, a hub and showspace for AlUla’s design endeavours, from large- scale masterplanning and ambitious architectural projects to the development of design education through its school, the Madrasat Addeera.
From the macro to the micro there is an extreme attention to detail, a need to forge integrity into every execution and a clear understanding that this approach is essential in earning the respect of an industry where everybody is discerning.
Photography by Shoayb Khattab featuring Design Space AlUla, AlJadidah Arts District
The space launched with an exhibition, Mawrid: Celebrating Inspired Design, which featured 10 leading projects, including Maraya, the mirrored monolith in the desert that reflects its environment to the degree that it sometimes disappears into it, and furniture developed through the Design Residency, a programme inviting young designers to explore a creative response to AlUla’s natural materials, colours and textures.
While many of the big works are still in progress, visitors could interact with beautifully constructed models and engage with the stories behind the development via a programme of talks. Young architectural studios like SAL Architects told a compelling tale. Founder Salwa Samargandi had first come to AlUla as a design student, fascinated by the preservation of regional heritage. Five years later, at only 32 years old, she is renovating key community assets, from mosques to gas stations.
Her process has been one of participatory placemaking, involving local people to advise on sensitive, mindful development. Not only do the aesthetics bear the hallmarks of someone who’s invested in the human experience, but their adaptation properly answers the needs of a contemporary lifestyle.
Photography courtesy of Imane Mellah
From humble spaces to remarkable icons – Roth Architecture showcased its plans for Azulik, a resort dedicated to the demands of the eco-traveller. The design is classic Roth, a wild, organic, sweeping structure that emerges from the sand like a futuristic echo of the prehistoric rocks that surround it. Unlike its otherworldly building though, the team working on the project, Manuel Fernandez Corral and Juan Valencia, were surprisingly down to earth.
Like everyone I met that weekend, they were authentic, open and utterly passionate about their work – from established European talent Sabine Marcelis and Paul Cocksedge right the way through to emerging Saudi brands Teeb Made and Shaddah Studio. For one whole weekend we all toured, ate, gawped and laughed together like old friends. Any scepticism or nervousness was whipped away like the desert sand, and our voices rose above form and function to connect on the one thing we all loved – design.
The story originally appeared in ICON 215, Spring/Summer 2024. Get a curated collection of design and architecture news in your inbox by signing up to our ICON Weekly newsletter
