Al Faisaliah Tower is one of the two landmarks on the Riyadh Skyline, referred to some as the pen and by others as something out of Star Wars, whether you love it or hate it the tower does make for a dramatic silhouette against the desert sunset. With its gently curving columns framing office floors, mechanical levels, a spherical restaurant and finally communications dishes before coming together to form a point at the top, hence the reference to a pen. Unlike my previous visit to a Foster landmark, the Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt, this one is open to the public if one is prepared to spend a minimum of 100 Riyals in the restaurant or alternatively 35 Riyals to ride in the elevator which at approximately 8 Pounds Sterling is on a par with any of the visitor attractions in London, a view over Riyadh at 40 storeys is well worth a look.
On the ground the way into the base of the tower is less obvious, hidden behind the curving glass west facade along the drop off protected from the overhead sun by a series of deep louvres. A closer look at the planar glass wall reveals a shopping mall that like the rest of the city appears to be distinctly closed. A walk round to the South reveals a similar facade with opening times, it seems that nothing really happens until night time, and when it does it is ‘Families only’. A continuation of the walk around to the east side on Olaya Street reveals yet another curving glass facade beneath the louvres, but this one has doors that appear to be open. a young Indian guy is busy polishing them after brief enquiry and pleasantries it is into the cool air of the Faislaiah mall, lined with designer shops that appear the same in London, Birmingham, Dubai...except that there are no women, even in a lingerie shop the sales assistant is male. All around the shops are targeted at women, jewelry, lingerie, designer dresses, killer heels...which is a bit ironic really as women are not allowed to be seen in public without being completely covered in a black abaya, which considering the heat, the air temperature is 48 degrees Celsius, is the last colour you would want to wear outside.
At the top level of the mall an air conditioned glass corridor becomes a bridge that runs along the full width of the lobby before terminating at Kenzo Tange's Khozama Centre and King Faisal Foundation Headquarters, a masterpiece in Metabolism, raw concrete weathers well in this climate and still looks pristine as it did when opened in 1976. A brief walk around the shaded plaza the white concrete, deep shadows and planting in neatly ordered raised beds gives the sense of a modern university campus and for a while its is easy to forget that you are in Riyadh. The lobby of the Al Khozama Centre is a dramatic space, an inverted ziggurat to the North side, steps in to meet its partner a shear facade of glass, at the top of a six storey atrium where very little direct sunlight is admitted overhead. At the ends a clear glass wall protected from the sun allows light to burst into the space casting dramatic shadows and reflections off the glass.
Back onto the air conditioned glass bridge and into the Faisaliah lobby, and what a lobby! a wall of petals four storeys high, sloping down to meet the plaza, heavily filtered daylight gives a sense of protection from the heat. Outside Ferrari's are parked in full view of the restaurants that occupy the wings on either side of the green plaza that contains the base of the tower giving a tiny fragment of the glamour of Dubai . Beneath the plaza a ballroom the size of football pitch with a network of movable dividing walls that can sub-divide the space into any number of permutations.
Back beneath the bank of petals and into the lift lobby and up to the globe, the golden geodesic orb that is so distinctive on the skyline. The view from the globe reveals the true extent of the sprawl that makes up the city of Riyadh. Horizon to horizon, low rise blocks form an endless continuum of of villas, ranches and private resorts hidden away behind concrete walls, in an ever expanding grid relentlessly marching over the desert, obliterating any geographical features, each new block contributing to the constant drone of air conditioning units that release more heat and Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Riyadh has no real public transport system at present, so the grid is constantly alive with cars in an ever increasing stampede of people moving in and out of the city.
Closer to the base of the Tower the city fabric becomes a patchwork of vacant lots, construction sites, where portakabins forming site offices sit precariously at the side of a five storey hole in the ground, vertical faces cut out of the bedrock. Two parallel roads running North - South: King Fahd Road to the West and Olaya Street to the East form a strip that is home to Riyadh's towers, to the South, the Ministries with their fortified perimeters and signs politely telling you that photography is forbidden. To the North 2000 metres away is the Kingdom Tower, the counterpoint to Al Fasialiah on the skyline, elegantly reflecting the view of the changing city fabric in between. The two roads running to the north give an impression being torn from the city fabric where the edges have formed a wall of towers on either side. Further to the north visible only as a black mound in the beige continuum is the future of Riyadh, 300 hectares of office space under construction at King Abdullah Financial District, a symbol of the ongoing 'greening' of Riyadh.
On the ground the way into the base of the tower is less obvious, hidden behind the curving glass west facade along the drop off protected from the overhead sun by a series of deep louvres. A closer look at the planar glass wall reveals a shopping mall that like the rest of the city appears to be distinctly closed. A walk round to the South reveals a similar facade with opening times, it seems that nothing really happens until night time, and when it does it is ‘Families only’. A continuation of the walk around to the east side on Olaya Street reveals yet another curving glass facade beneath the louvres, but this one has doors that appear to be open. a young Indian guy is busy polishing them after brief enquiry and pleasantries it is into the cool air of the Faislaiah mall, lined with designer shops that appear the same in London, Birmingham, Dubai...except that there are no women, even in a lingerie shop the sales assistant is male. All around the shops are targeted at women, jewelry, lingerie, designer dresses, killer heels...which is a bit ironic really as women are not allowed to be seen in public without being completely covered in a black abaya, which considering the heat, the air temperature is 48 degrees Celsius, is the last colour you would want to wear outside.
At the top level of the mall an air conditioned glass corridor becomes a bridge that runs along the full width of the lobby before terminating at Kenzo Tange's Khozama Centre and King Faisal Foundation Headquarters, a masterpiece in Metabolism, raw concrete weathers well in this climate and still looks pristine as it did when opened in 1976. A brief walk around the shaded plaza the white concrete, deep shadows and planting in neatly ordered raised beds gives the sense of a modern university campus and for a while its is easy to forget that you are in Riyadh. The lobby of the Al Khozama Centre is a dramatic space, an inverted ziggurat to the North side, steps in to meet its partner a shear facade of glass, at the top of a six storey atrium where very little direct sunlight is admitted overhead. At the ends a clear glass wall protected from the sun allows light to burst into the space casting dramatic shadows and reflections off the glass.
Back onto the air conditioned glass bridge and into the Faisaliah lobby, and what a lobby! a wall of petals four storeys high, sloping down to meet the plaza, heavily filtered daylight gives a sense of protection from the heat. Outside Ferrari's are parked in full view of the restaurants that occupy the wings on either side of the green plaza that contains the base of the tower giving a tiny fragment of the glamour of Dubai . Beneath the plaza a ballroom the size of football pitch with a network of movable dividing walls that can sub-divide the space into any number of permutations.
Back beneath the bank of petals and into the lift lobby and up to the globe, the golden geodesic orb that is so distinctive on the skyline. The view from the globe reveals the true extent of the sprawl that makes up the city of Riyadh. Horizon to horizon, low rise blocks form an endless continuum of of villas, ranches and private resorts hidden away behind concrete walls, in an ever expanding grid relentlessly marching over the desert, obliterating any geographical features, each new block contributing to the constant drone of air conditioning units that release more heat and Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Riyadh has no real public transport system at present, so the grid is constantly alive with cars in an ever increasing stampede of people moving in and out of the city.
Closer to the base of the Tower the city fabric becomes a patchwork of vacant lots, construction sites, where portakabins forming site offices sit precariously at the side of a five storey hole in the ground, vertical faces cut out of the bedrock. Two parallel roads running North - South: King Fahd Road to the West and Olaya Street to the East form a strip that is home to Riyadh's towers, to the South, the Ministries with their fortified perimeters and signs politely telling you that photography is forbidden. To the North 2000 metres away is the Kingdom Tower, the counterpoint to Al Fasialiah on the skyline, elegantly reflecting the view of the changing city fabric in between. The two roads running to the north give an impression being torn from the city fabric where the edges have formed a wall of towers on either side. Further to the north visible only as a black mound in the beige continuum is the future of Riyadh, 300 hectares of office space under construction at King Abdullah Financial District, a symbol of the ongoing 'greening' of Riyadh.
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