Coming soon > Architecture > Contemporary Architecture in Saudi Arabia
Contemporary Architecture in Saudi Arabia cover image
UK £50.00
US $70.00
Hardback with jacket
208 pages
350 illustrations
34.6 x 28 cm (13.75 x 11.25 in)
ISBN: 978-1-8589-4714-3
Published in the UK March 2025
Published in the US April 2025
Contemporary Architecture in Saudi Arabia

Christopher Masters

Contemporary Architecture in Saudi Arabia surveys the Kingdom’s remarkable architectural achievements over the past half-century and explores some of the exciting building projects due for completion in the coming decades. Since the early 1970s, there has been unprecedented construction in the Kingdom, much of which has involved high-profile architects and engineers from Saudi Arabia and around the world. They have produced buildings that are often highly innovative in their style, sustainability and use of materials, while drawing on the country’s rich architectural heritage and taking account of environmental and climatic factors. Through detailed case studies, this new book shows how innovation has been combined with an interest in conservation and urban regeneration, as well as a concern for the social and human impact of architectural and planning decisions. From commercial developments and government buildings to mosques and cultural and leisure facilities, a wide variety of projects are featured. While some have a strong basis in vernacular styles, others are daring, visionary designs of unrivalled scale, among them NEOM, an ambitious development incorporating a smart, car-free city known as The Line. All projects embody an aspiration to improve society through architecture and environment, to create cities that are fit for the challenges of the future. Lavishly illustrated with plans, drawings and photographs, this timely volume turns the spotlight on a field of architecture that is increasingly gaining international prominence.

 

A superb building-by-building survey of contemporary architecture in Saudi Arabia, the first such book of its kind

Includes case studies of over 30 outstanding projects from the last 50 years, as well as previews of buildings under way as part of the Vision 2030 programme of investment

Among the featured international and Saudi architects are Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Beeah, Bjarke Ingels Group, Foster + Partners, Henning Larsen, HOK, Omrania and SOM

An introductory essay outlines the built heritage of the Kingdom and the rapid economic and architectural developments of recent decades

Published in association with OR Media Books

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Author Profile

Christopher Masters is a writer on art and architecture whose acclaimed work includes a book on Salvador Dalí and, for Merrell, a study of the Renaissance and the series Windows in Art (2011) and Windows in Architecture (2023). His articles have frequently appeared in national newspapers, and he has also contributed to a wide range of other publications, from The World of Interiors and Condé Nast Traveller to Modern Painters and The Burlington Magazine. Based in London, he is an expert on modernism in the Middle East, with an interest in the connections, as well as the contrasts, between East and West.

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