Al Sarab Park
Al Wurood District establishes a new model for urban living in Riyadh, a people-first neighbourhood that reinterprets the city’s rigid grid into a vibrant, layered and human-scaled environment.
As the first plot within a wider framework of 95 sites, the project acts as a prototype for future development, setting a benchmark for how density, public realm and mixed-use programmes can come together to create a cohesive and liveable district.
The masterplan challenges the prevailing car-dominated urban condition, introducing a network of green corridors, activated streets and interconnected public spaces that prioritise people, movement and space. At its core, the scheme is about coalescence, stitching together landscape, architecture and infrastructure to form a unified urban whole.
Riyadh's urban structure is defined by large-scale superblocks and wide vehicular routes. The proposal reframes this condition, breaking down scale into a series of walkable neighbourhood clusters organised around a central green spine. This approach creates a polycentric district where key destinations are within a comfortable walking distance, encouraging pedestrian movement and reducing reliance on cars.
The masterplan is driven by a series of green arteries that cut through the site, connecting the wider city into a central parkland heart. These landscaped routes are not decorative, but performative, shaping movement, microclimate and social interaction.
Terraced gardens, shaded walkways and planted courtyards create a rich, layered environment that responds to Riyadh’s climate while offering moments of pause, retreat and gathering.
The landscape becomes the primary organising device, with buildings emerging from and framing this green network.
The district is centred around human experience. Streets are reimagined as social spaces rather tan traffic corridors, with generous pedestrian routes, integrated cycling infrastructure and shaded environments that support year-round use.
A diverse mix of programmes, from play, learning and work to socialising, retail and cultural events, are embedded across the site, ensuring activity throughout the day and into the evening.
This layered programming creates a neighbourhood that is not only functional, but vibrant, inclusive and adaptable.
Derived from the erosion of the superblock, the masterplan fractures into a series of interlocking urban “stones”. Referencing the Giant’s Causeway, this tesselated landscape creates a new ground, where buildings, streets and public realm emerge as one continuous, sculpted field.
Derived from the erosion of the superblock, the masterplan fractures into a series of interlocking urban “stones”. Referencing the Giant’s Causeway, this tesselated landscape creates a new ground, where buildings, streets and public realm emerge as one continuous, sculpted field.
