Architecture on SAUDI VISION 2030 Intelligence Platform

The Architects Who Stayed: BIG, Zaha Hadid, OMA, and the Moral Calculus of Building NEOM

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Architecture is a profession that operates on commissions. The client provides the brief and the budget. The architect provides the vision and, implicitly, the legitimacy. A rendering by Zaha Hadid Architects transforms a construction project into a cultural event. A design by Bjarke Ingels Group transforms a developer’s ambition into a magazine cover. The exchange is understood: the architect provides aesthetic authority, and the client provides the cheque. The question of what happens beneath the rendering — who builds it, under what conditions, and at what human cost — is one that the profession has historically treated as outside its scope.

The Mukaab

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Definition

The Mukaab (Arabic: “the cube”) is a planned 400-metre-tall, 400-metre-wide, 400-metre-deep cube-shaped mega-structure in the al-Qirawan district of northwestern Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Announced in February 2023 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it is the anchor landmark of the New Murabba development and would be the largest building in the world by volume if completed. Construction was suspended in January 2026 amid a broader recalibration of PIF giga-project spending.

Overview

The Mukaab is designed to contain approximately 2 million square metres of interior floor space across hotel, residential, retail, entertainment, and cultural uses. Its interior concept features a 300-metre spiral ziggurat tower and the world’s largest AI-powered immersive dome display. The design draws on Najdi architectural traditions and is developed by AtkinsRealis, with AECOM and Jacobs appointed for detailed engineering. The project is owned by New Murabba Development Company (NMDC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund.

The Mukaab: Inside Saudi Arabia's $50 Billion Cube and Why It Was Suspended

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Mukaab: Saudi Arabia’s $50B Cube and Why It Was Suspended

On 28 January 2026, The Mukaab was suspended before superstructure work began, turning the 400-metre cube at the centre of Riyadh’s New Murabba into the clearest test of Saudi giga-project reprioritisation. Excavation had reached 86 per cent and more than 10 million cubic metres of earth had been moved, but no official cancellation followed: the project moved from headline icon to delayed, capital-constrained megaproject.

What Is Jeddah Tower?

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Jeddah Tower (formerly known as Kingdom Tower) is a supertall skyscraper under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, designed to be the world’s first building to exceed 1,000 metres in height. When completed, it will surpass the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai to become the tallest man-made structure in history. The tower is the centrepiece of Jeddah Economic City, a large-scale mixed-use development on the Red Sea coast north of central Jeddah.