King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture

Like a mirage, the gleaming grey monolith rises from the shimmering desert sand. As you approach the sculptural complex, however, you soon realise that the sight is very real indeed. The imposing King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, brings together four museums, a library, a cinema, an auditorium seating 930 people and several exhibition halls under one roof. It thus provides a platform for a wide range of events. As the client, the Saudi Aramco Oil Company aims to promote cultural development in the Kingdom through a diverse range of offerings.

The exhibition design for Gallery 4 is distinctive in its organic forms and seamless transitions between the individual thematic areas. The main challenge here was how to create large-scale wall structures without clear rectangular geometries.

The use of solid surface material enabled us to produce the curved shapes with precision and to join them together to form a continuous, uniform finish. The result was a wall design that links the various exhibition areas and enhances the overall spatial effect.

Based on the preliminary design, the complex geometries were developed in technical detail, broken down into individual components and manufactured with precision. The large-scale wall structures were then prepared on site to ensure they were ready for installation, then fitted with care.