Design Space AlUla, a dynamic space promoting collaboration across the design spectrum, opens next month during the arts festival in AlUla. 

 

Located in the AlJadidah Arts District, it is a focal point for showcasing the ancient Saudi city's wide ranging design initiatives contributing to the vision for AlUla, said a statement from Design Space AlUla. 

 

It provides exhibition, workshop and archive space, and is designed to foster collaboration among design professionals, students, and design enthusiasts, whilst strengthening AlUla’s legacy across the cultural sphere as a catalyst for creative inspiration and design. 

 

Design Space AlUla is a contemporary building made of corten steel, glass and polished concrete. The architecture, designed by Giò Forma Studio, is a homage to the breezeblock used widely across buildings in the surrounding AlJadidah Arts District, it stated. 

 

Shaped around a plaza, the luminous courtyard design is complemented by the exposed geometrical brickwork, taking the form of an intricate lattice façade, bringing further light and natural ventilation throughout the building, said the statement.

 

Design Space AlUla provides exhibition, workshop and archive space, and is designed to foster collaboration among design professionals, students, and design enthusiasts, whilst strengthening the ancient city’s legacy across the cultural sphere as a catalyst for creative inspiration and design, it added. 

 

According to experts, the new space will open with its inaugural exhibition Mawrid: Celebrating Inspired Design.

 

It will introduce the design thinking process behind 10 recent AlUla-inspired designs across design, architecture and urban planning. It will be the first in an ongoing expo programme, launching on February 15 and running until June 1.

 

Through its series of exhibitions, workshops and archive, under the direction of Sara Ghani, the Curator of the gallery’s inaugural exhibition, Design Space AlUla aims to engage with emerging and established design professionals, regionally and internationally, to explore design principles and creative design processes through the lens of the city’s natural and cultural landscape. 

 

"The space will be inclusive of all design disciplines from architecture and urban planning, to product and graphic design. It will support and engage with the design community, whilst highlighting the wider role of design in the region’s character, quality of life and wider economy," stated Ghani.

 

Projects explored in the exhibition include Giò Forma Studio/Black Engineering’s Maraya, a 9,740 sq m mirror-clad venue that blends with its awe-inspiring surroundings, echoing the natural textures and colours of AlUla; the plans for the renovation of Madrasat Addeera, AlUla’s first arts and design centre, by UK-based Hopkins Architects; Roth Architecture’s Azulik Eco Resort which draws inspiration from the stories of wind and erosion, ensuring the project seamlessly integrates with its natural surroundings; SAL Architects’ renovation of the historic Ammar Bin Yasser Mosque, which collaborated closely with the community to ensure a respectful and harmonious transformation; and AlUla’s Cultural Oasis District Masterplan, guided by Prior + Partners in collaboration with Allies and Morrison, each driven by the mission to cherish and protect the cultural and natural landscape that has made AlUla a place where communities, travellers, traders and pilgrims have, for millennia, wanted to live, pass through, rest, and exchange cultural traditions.

 

Other exhibitors include finalists from the second edition of AlUla Design Awards namely Imane Mellah, Teeb, Sara Kanoo and Shaddah Studio, and representation from the first edition of the AlUla Design Residency, a five-month programme in AlUla that brings together designers and experts on-site to work across multiple disciplines such as infrastructure development and architectural design.

 

The five design practices engaged in the residency are: Bahraini – Danish from Bahrain and Denmark, Hall Haus from France, Studio Leo Orta from France, Studio Raw Material from India, and Leen Ajlan from Saudi Arabia.

 

"Design Space AlUla commits to celebrating AlUla’s natural history, its cultural heritage, and vernacular materials - inspiring sustainable futures that are rooted in place," noted Ghani. 

 

"Our ambition is to fuel the design economy, provide resources to designers to explore and experiment, and be a place for visitors to research, explore and connect with the processes behind AlUla’s design journey," he added.-TradeArabia News Service