One of the sources consulted for this report sent a text message after speaking with this newspaper: "Your questions show a certain skepticism about the projects in KSA [Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to its initials in English]. I did not want to take this as a provocation but rather explain what is not explained." And ultimately, the message hits the nail on the head: not when it talks about provocation but when it mentions skepticism. It is difficult to understand outside of Saudi Arabia the succession of news about buildings hundreds of kilometers long, luxury resorts, 2,000-meter towers, amusement parks shaped like flowers, art schools excavated in rocks, and sumptuous metro stations. Throughout Europe, there are uncomfortable looks at this ensemble. Saudi Arabia does not fit well in a world where the discussion about the city denounces waste, it returns to a small scale and defends the construction of proximity. What then is "what is not explained"? Is there something we are missing? Do we have prejudices?
Let's try to focus that critical view in a few paragraphs. A decade ago, Salman bin Abdulaziz became King Salman with an agenda of structural changes. The sovereign understood that the wealth of hydrocarbons could have an expiration date in a moment of climate panic and was concerned about the low competitiveness of his economy compared to that of his Emirati neighbors. He was also alarmed by internal instability: Saudi Arabia had a very young population (average age of 28; in Spain, we are close to 46), educated and connected to the world through social networks, but strangled by anachronistic laws and social codes. Was a new Arab Spring possible? The King entrusted the nation's direction to his son Mohamad Bin Salman, then in his twenties, through various government positions (since 2022, he has been the prime minister) and, above all, with the management of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign fund that invests oil wealth.
With that tool of almost unlimited resources (the PIF moved $3 billion in 2024), father and son have supported the legal, social, economic, and architectural transformation of Saudi Arabia. They have launched the necessary investments to silence the conservatives' euphoria and have deactivated the segregation of women and the medieval code of customs that governed life. They have also expanded the country's economic specialty. Saudi Arabia was a monoculture based on crude oil exports and its derivative industry, with little qualification. Now the kingdom presents itself as the best imaginable country for the wealthy, a state as secure as a dictatorship but as friendly as a resort with the bluest seas, favorable taxation, business facilities, innovation, and new emotions every month. A World Cup, a place to ski in the desert, the world's most modern airport... In this economy of permanent highs, architecture would be the beautiful facade and the artistic justification for change. Hence, in summary, the skepticism; hence all the why? and what for? with each new PIF project.
And that's the end of the critical view.
Metro station in the King Abdullah Financial District of Riyadh, by the Zaha Hadid studio.
"Working in Saudi Arabia is for an architect in 2025 the same as working in Florence during the time of Brunelleschi," says Pablo Bofill, co-director of Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura. "It's the moment and the place. Saudi Arabia is a haven for creativity, a place where it is possible to invent and create. In Europe, with the exception of Albania, all projects are difficult, there are always conflicts, we always clash with very complex regulations. In Saudi Arabia, it is possible to do what is not possible in Europe."
Bofill's studio has been linked to the Shushah project, an island that will host hotels, museums, and marinas around a large natural coral, to Sindalah (another island-resort in the Red Sea), and to Utamo, an artist residence excavated in the desert rocks as if it were a work of land art. However, the Spanish firm's major Saudi project is the Royal Arts Complex of King Salman Park in Riyadh. The park is the new green space in the capital and occupies the reforested land of the former airport, in the city's geographical center. The area the Spanish firm is working on covers 500,000 square meters and will include an opera theater, an outdoor auditorium, faculties, workshops for artists, libraries, and two museums. "We are very lucky to be part of this change."
Siranna, a hotel in the desert promoted by the public company Neom and designed by Woods Bagot.
How does a Barcelona firm end up working in this "Florence of the 21st century"? Bofill talks about "large agencies that seek expatriates and attract them to their competitions" and mentions other Spanish professionals who have established themselves in Saudi Arabia: architecture and engineering firms such as Rafael de la Hoz, Idom, and Typsa have entered what seems to be a trusted supplier circuit for the kingdom. In reality, his studio has worked on that position for over a decade. In 2014, the Taller won the competition for a religious city that was never built. Since then, its professionals have adapted to the demands of the Saudi client. "Their essence is not to stop. Not to stop and to do, and that fits with our philosophy," explains Bofill. "At the same time, their idea of architecture has become complex. Saudi Arabia does not want us to create from scratch, it wants us to consider its history. It does not ask for pastiches, it wants us to create a dialogue between the past and the future. In King Salman Park, we have the reference in Salmani architecture. In contrast, the Diriyah project is based on Najdi architecture."
An explanation: Salmani architecture is an aesthetic code drafted by an institution called the King Salman Chamber of Architecture and Design (hence its name) and recommends criteria of restraint and adaptation to the historic city. Najdi architecture, on the other hand, is a popular tradition based on clay that has its epicenter in Diriyah, a city neighboring Riyadh full of historical architecture. One of the five mega-projects of the Public Investment Fund consists of turning the ruins of Diriyah into a model city developed around its heritage.
In Bofill's words, there is a detail that may go unnoticed but is important: when he talks about his projects in Saudi Arabia, he refers to a singular client, even though it may have many names and faces: the fund, the kingdom, the prince, his agencies, his public companies... It doesn't matter: Saudi Arabia has embarked on its transformation as a centralized and state initiative, and that is the difference that sets it apart from its neighbors Dubai and Abu Dhabi, where private enterprise took the lead in the takeoff.
Bofill speaks of an "institutional paradigm shift." "The client is extremely well organized. Everyone knows what the goal is, what good is being pursued, and what is expected of architects." Unlike the clumsiness attributed to state promoters in Europe, that client called the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is rich and precise and has an overall vision called Vision 2030. "And, at the same time," Bofill continues, "it remains a state and has responsibilities. The biggest confusion regarding Saudi Arabia is equating it with Dubai, which did respond to a hyper-capitalist and mercantile logic."
Juan Roldán is another Spanish architect linked to the transformation of Saudi Arabia. His life is in Sharjah, one of the city-states of the United Arab Emirates, where he teaches at the American University, but since 2022, he has advised the kingdom on projects, competitions, and informative exhibitions related to Vision 2030. His opinion is similar to Bofill's: "There is a demographic difference. In the Emirates, the percentage of the population with a passport is 12%. Emiratis are few, landowners, and have life almost resolved. When Dubai's expansion began, it turned out that the locals had no need for public space. The street was what led from garage door to garage door, and what was inside was what mattered. One day they discovered that their city was a 16-lane highway. Now they are trying to correct it, but it is not easy."