FACILITY

Villa

The official statistics of Saudi Arabia indicates that the size of average residential unit in Riyadh is 500 m² and the average family size of each unit is 6 persons. The unit floor areas of High-End villas in Riyadh North are 1,200 m² (400 units) and 800 m² (400 units), 1.6 to 2.4 times larger than that of the average Riyadh residence unit, indicating that the interior and exterior design of High-End villas should meet the need of high-income families. The 500 m² (1,600 units) and 300 m² (1,600 units) floor areas of Middle Class villas provides 80% of all Riyadh North villas (3,200 Middle Class villas of all 4,000 villa units) considering the current housing shortage and increasing housing need in Riyadh area. The villas are designed in various size, style, and interior layout in order to meet varying needs of potential consumers. Yet the design qualities of all villas will represent most recent trends of the market in terms of space layout, finish, and style as well as privacy and other local and cultural requirements. The site plan of the villas is carefully determined so that High-End villas enjoy proximity to landscaped areas, water features, and golf courses whereas Middle Class villas obtain self- sufficient and convenient community life and a higher degree of social cohesion. The neighborhood plan of the villas will follow the principles of Gated Community design.

Category	Unit Floor (m2)	Number of Unit
High-End (A)	1,200	400
High-End (B)	800	400
Middle Class (A)	500	1,600
Middle Class (B)	300	1,600
Total		4,000

APARTMENT

The unit floor areas of apartments are 500 m² (1,200 High-End units), 400 m² (2,400 Middle Class units), and 300 m² (2,400 Middle Class units). These sizes are determined based on the official statistics (e.g., average 6 family members) and market’s preferred unit size to incorporate family, maids, and chauffeurs. The height of apartment buildings represents mid- to high-density multifamily living given the land use efficiency. Yet privacy of each unit is provided in various design considerations in building entry, foyer and unit entrance, and building interior circulation. Balconies and within-building public spaces will provide feeling of openness and compensate the high-rise group living. The exterior and interior design will illustrate residents’ high living standards even in Middle Class apartments. Recent intelligence and telecommunication technologies as well as safety measures will be provided.

Category	Unit Floor (m2)	Number of Unit
High-End	500	1,200
Middle Class (A)	400	2,400
Middle Class (B)	300	2,400
Total		6,000

COMMERCIAL

The high accessibility from both outside and inside the city makes the site a perfect location for hotels, office towers, shopping mall, and other commercial functions. Each office tower has self-sufficient functions. These buildings are expected to attract an IP TV broadcasting company, telecommunication industry, international financing organizations, and other major enterprises. The 5 star hotels will have carefully prepared accommodations for business persons from all over the world. Like other famous hotels in the downtown of Riyadh, the hotels will be used as an entertaining and social gathering place for business members and community residents. The shopping mall (Mega Mall) in Riyadh North will also accommodate high-end boutique shops, galleries, food courts (featuring different tastes of the world), and supermarkets (including an organic food market at the basement floor).

BUSINESS

The Business district of Riyadh North sits at the West side of the site, in proximity to the hotel district and sports facilities, facing Salbuk Road, giving residents and visitors the image of modernity and intelligence of the city. The high-rise office towers are composed of Media center, IT center, Design center, Build Material Center, and Commercial Offices. The shaded and decked corridor deck will provide comfortable and convenient pedestrian linkage between office towers and with neighboring hotels. Business and commercial buildings use Intelligent Building System (IBS). The IBS includes disaster prevention technology, intelligent building maintenance network, parking control, security system, and energy saving system.

PUBLIC

A variety of public facilities (post office, religious center, etc.) are planned and clustered within the community to provide needed public services for residents on a daily basis. Administrative Dormitory (housing for maintenance staff) is located in the commercial zone and demonstrates that this type of residential function can give life to the urban center during after-work hours. General Hospital will provide high-quality medical services 24 hours for all residents. Libraries located in residential areas are open to residents’ daily use to serve as an educational and cultural center. Small Clinics, along with Daily Mosques, are the center of community life and used as an important community setting. These public facilities are carefully designed in the master plan to be spatially proximate to residences, neighborhood parks, and pedestrian linkages.

RELIGIOUS

Mosques have symbolic and cultural significance in the master plan and their locations subsequently determined; Main Mosques on the city’s green axis with Ponds surrounding them; Semi Main Mosques at the core of the community centers; and Daily Mosques near neighborhood parks. Main Mosques, in particular, are landmarks of the city, visually as well as for religious purpose and located on the axis of Canal Park. Mosques spread evenly across the entire site with a Semi Main Mosque in every 500M radius and a Daily Mosque in every 250M. Daily Mosques serve as the center of each community; residents can walk to the mosques, and neighborhood parks and waterscapes are nearby.

EDUCATIONAL

Educational facilities in Riyadh North incorporate all grades of schools from kindergarten to college levels. Schools will provide global standards of education. Therefore, the facilities and buildings are designed to support the high-quality education and to serve with the most recent educational technologies. The location of the schools are determined to give easy and safe access from residences and climate controlled pedestrian environment for walking and biking and to serve as the core of the community. Many facilities of the schools will also be used for various community events and social gatherings that occur occasionally within neighborhoods. Outdoor spaces of the schools are designed to be spatially connected and combined with various open spaces of the neighborhood and the city so that residents’ outdoor activities and pedestrian circulations can occur and flow in and out of the school effectively. Architectural styles of the school design will include both modern and classic trends whereas the colleges are intended to have classical designs and to express an image of tradition in university education.

CULTURAL

The major cultural facilities of Riyadh North which include Cultural Center, Botanical Garden and Museum of History are designed to give functional and symbolic spaces to support various cultural and social events of both local and global characters. Design of the cultural facilities represents the ongoing concern of Saudi Arabians with the traditional cultures as well as their interest in international and futuristic trends. Museum of History will serve as a hub of maintaining the cultural heritages whereas Botanical Garden will be filled with both traditional and exotic plants. Therefore, the architectural designs of the cultural facilities will illustrate this dualistic orientation. The location of these cultural facilities are carefully determined so that each facility gives residents and visitors an easy access (pedestrian and automobile) and a visual focus. They are located on the city’s green axis (near Canal Park), and the buildings are clustered together for the users moving around easily to experience various cultural events in one district. Outdoor spaces near the buildings, along with the landscaped areas in Canal Park nearby, are designed so that exhibitions and performances of various sorts can occur in such spaces.

SPORTS-1

Riyadh North has a sports dome, a seminal sports facility, which has various phenomenal sport functions such as the largest ice rink in Middle East, basketball courts, tennis and squash courts, and swimming pools. All these facilities will be indoor and built to the international standard for major national and international sports events. In addition, an outdoor stadium accommodating up to 10,000 galleries will promote the community members’ sports activities, particularly football games, and accommodate national and international football matches. The aqua dome is especially a water specialized play facility for the residents of Riyadh North and visitors. This indoor dome play area will accommodate a variety of water play opportunities for children and adults, particularly for most recent and entertaining water games. Located at the entry area of the site, this large scale dome architecture will provide pleasing and attracting focus of interest. All these sports facilities will be grouped and placed in one large area to serve as one sports complex. The high accessibility from both outside and inside the city makes the area a perfect location for all sports activities which are linked together by pedestrian decks.

SPORTS-2

Riyadh North residents and visitors can enjoy horseback riding at the equestrian club, located in the sports complex district at the southern part of the site. The equestrian club focuses on public daily use, but it will also house horse-related cultural events such as horse festivals. Riyadh North provides car racing excitement as well. A 2km long car racing circuit facility will provide an national and international standard of circuit design and related buildings and equipments. This facility will be used by public racing mania as well as for racing competitions. Riyadh North also attempts a pioneering endeavor of planning an 18 hole golf course in the site. Considering the high expectation of golf players in Saudi Arabia, the course and the club house are designed in accordance with the international standards. Yet the facilities, located at the most outside of the site, will be quite open to the public. Another intimate sports facilities are fitness centers, each planned for use at the neighborhood or community scale. All together 6 fitness centers will be built within the neighborhood center where other community facilities are present and together serve residents’ daily health concerns.

LIGHT INDUSTRIAL

Light Industrial Zone located at the southeast part of the site offers land and facilities for industrial and research and development functions which include food, pharmaceutical factory, electronics, high-tech research, and solar cell factory. The land for Light Industrial Zone is 500,000m²; half of the land for PV Farm and solar cell plant and the other half allocated for buildings and structures for the industry purposes. PV Farm will generate 150 MWh of electricity everyday using 200,000 panels. PV farm intends to supply significant amount of electricity required for various facilities across the entire site (residential, commercial, and other public facilities). This industrial and production function within the city will provide the city a self-sufficient capacity providing employment opportunities and promoting the regional economy. The industry which will occupy the zone will be oriented to recent clean industrial technologies and alternative energy development. Considering the unique function of the industrial zone, the character of which differ significantly from the other functions of the site (residential, commercial, etc.) and the industrial transportation coming to the zone, the traffic circulation and access/road system for Light Industrial Zone is planned to operate independently close to the site entryway and the site’s main road.