Cambridge Seven Associates, Inc. (C7A) has been successfully working in the Middle East for nearly 20 years. The firm’s first cultural attraction in the Middle East, The Scientific Center of Kuwait, led to several new commissions in the academic and commercial sector and launched C7A’s successful architecture and exhibit design practice in the Gulf Region. Patti Intrieri, AIA, Principal of Cambridge Seven Associates, will present insights on the firm’s experience working in the Gulf Region, with a particular focus on two attractor projects for the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), developed by the Rayadah Investment Company and designed by C7A.

By comparing AIA standard phases of design practice to those generally used in the Gulf Region, she will demystify essential aspects of working in the Gulf Region. Specific items will include how to begin and grow an international practice, evaluate and strategize how to pursue international work, contract negotiation, developing and managing design teams, shaping the scope of services, payment and cash flow issues, working with international contractors, achieving intended design objectives, and navigating a different business and legal environment outside of the United States. Using the KAFD Geo-Science Museum and Aquarium as case studies, the workshop will include a review of the integrated architecture and exhibit design process. This workshop is geared towards design professionals interested in securing and successfully executing design services in the Gulf Region.

Throughout the Gulf, development of world class social infrastructure has become a top government priority. With a goal to prepare youth for today’s increasingly competitive Gulf job market, educational facilities that meet standards of international best practices are a prominent item in this agenda. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has embraced the idea of developing and constructing a Future Schools Program and like similar social infrastructure initiatives in the region, the Leadership of schools programs will be juggling the competing challenges of aggressive timelines, budgets, program and sustainability to design and construct facilities that can be truly called “Future Schools.”

This presentation will consider the baseline practice of K-12 schools in KSA and outline how design and construction must advance to achieve excellence in quality of academic facilities that can thereby be considered Future Schools. In addition to fundamentals of international best practices in K-12 sustainable schools design, a case study will be presented of the Abu Dhabi Education Future Schools that recently was named Most Sustainable Project in the GCC.

The course is designed to provide an understanding of fire rated glazing in architecture. It will point out fields of applications as well as explain properties and types of fire rated glazing. Learning Objectives are:

1. Why do we need Fire Resistant Glazing?
2. What are Fire Resistant Glazing?
3. Types of Fire Resistant Glazing
4. Suitable Framing Systems
5. Innovations

Our ability to create spaces that are meaningful, spaces that have quality and character, depends on our ability to define space with buildings and to employ the vocabulary and rhythms of architecture in order to inform us of who we are? In our cities, these spaces fall into the category of the public realm. These are communal spaces where we enjoy being in and give us a sense of belonging. Once we can identify with them as “our space”, “our street “or ”our square” then we start to care about them. This is the basis of community and civic life. The basis of civilization. The public realm has to inform us not only where we are, geographyically but also where we are in our culture. Where we’ve come from, what kind of people we are. Therefore the public realm has two vital roles. It is the dwelling place of our civilization and civic life as well as the physical manifestation of our identity. When we deny our cities of this meaningful sense of place then the quality of civic life and communal life is compromised and we run the risk of being alienated from our communities as well as ourselves. As architects, urban planners and developers we must recognize the responsibility inherent in the task of creating our built environment. A responsibility if taken seriously will allow us and the next generation to be proud of our cities and proud of who we are.

Looking at the bigger picture

In recent years, modern urban development in the Middle East has surged with many iconic buildings now exisiting as landmarks in major cities. However, in some cases they have been designed in isolation as standalone entities. We believe buildings should reflect their environment, their function and the human scale. We need to take a holistic approach to designing communities and the buildings within them. This is about encouraging urban developments with a design relationship, where buildings communicate with each other.

With regard to affordable housing, we have a good opportunity to create thriving communities. In designing new developments, we need to think of ‘communities’ rather than individual houses. If we do not take a holistic approach, we run the risk of creating housing developments which are unsustainable and may develop into future urban blight.

The Presenter will introduce a project currently in its early design stages, for which CH2M Hill is the “program manager”. The Badiyah Nature Center, with a site approximately 200 acres, is located in Hafar Al Batin northeast of Saudi Arabia. It will be a natural park and Visitor Center with a focus on the history and culture of the native Bedouins. The project will be designed in line with the Estidama Pearl rating systems (i.e., recycle water system, photovoltaic technology for energy & power, etc.). A fully integrated sustainable design elements and energy-efficient features are applied to the building design and site development.

The Presenters will show two desert projects in Riyadh which were inspired by the desert, and designed for desert conditions. The first is the Grand Mosque in the KAFD (King Abdullah Financial District), under construction, and the focus is “Architectural Design from the Desert”. The second is Tuwaiq Palace, the embassy club in the Diplomatic Quarter, with the focus being "architectural design for the desert".

Throughout the Gulf, development of world class social infrastructure has become a top government priority. With a goal to prepare youth for today’s increasingly competitive Gulf job market, educational facilities that meet standards of international best practices are a prominent item in this agenda. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has embraced the idea of developing and constructing a Future Schools Program and like similar social infrastructure initiatives in the region, the Leadership of schools programs will be juggling the competing challenges of aggressive timelines, budgets, program and sustainability to design and construct facilities that can be truly called “Future Schools.”

This presentation will consider the baseline practice of K-12 schools in KSA and outline how design and construction must advance to achieve excellence in quality of academic facilities that can thereby be considered Future Schools. In addition to fundamentals of international best practices in K-12 sustainable schools design, a case study will be presented of the Abu Dhabi Education Future Schools that recently was named Most Sustainable Project in the GCC.

The King Saud University (KSU) located in North West district of Riyadh has an initiative to adopt the idea of Riyadh Knowledge Corridor (RKC),in Prince Turki Road; KSU takes part to set up new Riyadh’s Knowledge node which were given priority status for public/Private investment such as KACST, ITCC and KAFD.

For this overall vision, KSU has launched the Riyadh Techno Valley (RTV) project within its campus strengthening its efforts to develop a knowledge society.

As part of the global economic trends it indicates that Science Parks are the forefront for developing a knowledge-based economy. A new generation of parks - 4th generation Science Park - is moving back towards the city center and addressing the critical new priorities of compactness, accessibility, diversity and flexibility. To be sustainable, and smart science and technology parks have now evolved into 'knowledge communities' and respond to a combination of business, educational, social and environmental needs.

The new urbanism design of RTV Campus Development Plan is to live work and play community, create destinations”. This promotes a sense of place and ownership for the Knowledge Workers of RTV. The aim of RTV plan is to achieve one or more of its objectives by designing RTV as a smart, intelligent community within the overall vision to create the RTV that fosters an environment of innovation and collaboration between knowledge-based institutions and industrial partners.

Keywords: Knowledge-based economy; New Urbanism; Science Park

Everyday many people from all continents of the globe enter into buildings for the purpose of work, play/entertainment, and/or business appointments. It is the responsibility of the interior designer to understand the impact that the built environment has on the people using these environments. We all use buildings as places of business, whether it is a work environment such as an office building or relaxing environment such as a theatre or spa. Increasing the awareness of the way the basic events occur in different building types requires consciously thinking about them and analyzing how the built environment contributes to the various events.
Learning Objective:

• Enlighten students to the impact environment of a building in relationship to the events that happen within that space.
• Establish the importance of a well designed space with attention to wayfinding, emotional impact and overall design.

In 1987 the High Commission for Development of Arriyadh considered Wadi Hanifah as an environmentally protected zone and as one of its main development programs . The main target was to establish a balance between the valley and the surrounding urban activity by enforcing urgent measures to eliminate the sources of pollution and most of the industrial activities, halting removal of soil and stopping dumping waste, defining wadi bed boundaries and limiting placement of utilities services, monitoring its environment and issuance of guidelines and regulations.

In 2001, after an international competition, the ADA started work with the Canadian architecture and engineering firm Moriyama & Teshima, in partnership with the UK engineering firm Buro Happold, to create a visionary Master Plan for the restoration and the development of the Wadi to be used as a rule for all future development there. The rehabilitation project was the basis upon which the rest of the strategic plans was to be built.

Implementation began in 2005 with the clean up of the wadi, in which, for example, 2.5 million cubic metric tons of debris was removed. Flood control work with major re-profiling and re-grading and roadwork followed.

The Water canal has been constructed for permanent water flow, A large area was designated for the bioremediation process, and provided with a series of pools, fountains and a large volume of air flow to speed up the bio process. This section has become an attractive landscape feature within the Wadi.

As part of the Development Program, a series of open spaces and parklands were created, and a major landscape restoration and planting program was implemented.

Ongoing- Work continues today with other phases of the Wadi Hanifah Restoration and Development Project.

Our tour will visit a recently completed area, the Namar and Laban Dam Parks.

TOUR PART 2

DIPLOMATIC QUARTER (DQ)

The Tour of the DQ will depart from the last stop of the Wadi Hanifah Tour, and will provide an overview of the DQ, a quick tour of Al-Kindi Plaza, brief stops at several embassies, and a stop at one of the many parks. We will end with a tour of the magnificent Tuwaiq Palace and its gardens.

More about Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter

In the 1970’s, the King decreed that the Foreign Ministry and all diplomatic missions should move from Jeddah to the capital city of Riyadh, a huge undertaking. Founded solely for the purpose of creating the perfect environment for international/Saudi relations to flourish, the Diplomatic Quarter is unique among the diplomatic communities of the world. The original master plan by Speerplan laid the groundwork for an environmentally sensitive, integrated garden community adopting the aesthetics of local architectural traditions, in harmony with both the city and surrounding Wadi and desert areas. More than a quarter of a century after its inception, it is now home to over 50 embassies, numerous schools, parks and award winning public spaces, and serves as a showcase for some of the world’s greatest architects, including Pritzker Prize winner Kenzo Tange of Japan, Wassim ben Mahmoud of Tunisia and Carl Nyren of Sweden. The DQ is also known for its beautiful gardens, designed by Bodeker Partners. The Diplomatic Quarter boasts two Aga Kahn Awards, one for the landscaping and central Kindi Plaza, the other for the majestic Tuwaiq Palace.