Rub’ Al Khali, Saudi Arabia
Designed by Ahmed Al-Ali and his team at X-Architects, this project is a luxury 60 keys desert hideaway resort located in the Arabian Peninsula’s empty quarter, known as Rub’ Al Khal.
It is the world’s largest sand sea, holding about half as much sand as the Sahara Desert.
The terrain is covered with 250-meter-high reddish-orange sand dunes, interrupted with a white salt flat called ‘Sabkhas.’
The ultra-harsh environment and the vast emptiness impose a challenging question: what is the appropriate design for the desert?
One goes to the desert to become one with nature, experience solitude, and ponder about creation.
Scarcity intensifies our awareness of subtle differences.
One starts to notice the magical spectrum of light throughout the day.
At night, the desert transforms magically: the air is cooler, stars emerge like the Arabian Nights tale, and the darkness has infinite shades.
Exquisite indigenous plants are shaped beautifully and protect themselves from the extreme environment.
The wind becomes like a land artist, moving similar-sized sand particles and minerals in one zone to reveal the richness of its intense color.
To ensure that we intensify the experience of visitors with the surrounding, we created a constellation of architecture that is strategically placed on the vast terrain using its unique qualities.
For example, the architects’ embedded dune-shaped units in a “Roman Theatre” configuration offer a remarkable view of sabkhas, however, each unit remains private.
Other units grow vertically like a desert flower and are placed on the highest point of the site, offering uninterrupted views of the stars.
A “living room” hidden between “walls of sand” offers visitors a calm, serene and tranquil environment.
The desert flower Cistanche Tubulosa, indigenous to Rub’ Al Khali, inspired the elongated form and enclosure of the flower villa structure.
The elevated position of the villas gifts residents a complete view of Rub’ Al Khali’s expansive desert dunes and ensures complete privacy.
The structure’s vertical habitation emphasizes the relationship between desert dwellers and the starry sky.
A polymer fiber mesh encloses the structure partially to minimize exposure to sandstorms and harsh sun, collects water for the indigenous garden, and supports the structure.
The dune units are shaped in the form of sandbanks that resemble the existing texture of the terrain, leaving behind a trail of natural architecture that respects the site and context.
The architects’ proposal results as a minimal intervention to the context, rather than a direct interference that brings back a piece of the desert.
A vertical garden was incorporated to create an ecosystem that is served by the reuse of water and vegetation, and enhanced by the stepped back wall that seamlessly sinks into the existing sand dunes.
Project: Rub’ Al Khali Desert Resort
Architects: X-Architects
Design Team: Ahmed Al-Ali, Farid Esmaeil, Mohammad Abu Farha, Moeen Salam, Farah Abu Hamza, Khaled Abu Shahla, Asil Zureigat, Arvin Padayao, Adrian Duran, Mario Baez, Florencia Koncke, and Paolo Grussi
Client: Private
