The Public Realm: A People-Centered Vision for Riyadh
Qasr al Hokum, Rasem Badran
“Let everyone look at the space around them. What do they see? Do they see time? They live in time after all; they are in time. Yet all anyone sees is movement.” -Henri Lefebvre; The Production of Space (1)
The environmental quality, sociability, equity, and accessibility of urban open space is one of the most definitive and controversial topics of our time. In many cities in the United States, for example, the public realm is moribund, having fallen victim to the automobile, social media, and a weakening of social ties. As a graphic metropolitan case study of this demise, Los Angeles never really had places, or physical spaces for people to interact, other than on its beaches or freeways.
The late architect Charles Moore wrote a very influential article called “You Have to Pay for the Public Life” which wasn't referring to construction budgets, but the commitment that leaders must have to the mission of creating a vibrant urban environment. (2)
What is evident is that few leaders today have been willing to take on that responsibility, to the extent that King Salman did, while he was Governor of Riyadh, and the results speak for themselves.
Charles Moore also founded a firm in Los Angeles in the late 1980’s, and it has since been a primary force behind the New Urbanism movement, which is now trying to reverse the current trend toward social isolation now occurring in their own city and across America,. They have been struggling to change the rigid laws that legislate against mixed use planning, in difference to the segmented land use plans initiated by the Congres International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) in 1926, which have had such a profound impact on global urban form. In addition to reintroducing mixed use into the urban context, the New Urbanists have also advocated restricting automobile traffic and promoting more pedestrian-friendly circulation, which is tied directly to a shift away from CIAM style segmental land use zoning that allocates separate areas for residential, industrial, recreational and religious uses, conforming to Modernist idea of design at whatever scale, as an empirical, scientifically based experiment, in which all functions are allocated to a program. This is then tested as a hypothesis, with the various forms that result are then organized according to a bubble diagram of efficient proximities.
As a more humanistic alternative, the New Urbanists propose that new public space be the driving force behind urban plans, with all other considerations falling into place after that. And, place is the operative word, because creating a sense of it is the primary goal of New Urbanist planners. Rather than being exclusive to them, however, there are many parallels between their strategy of taking a people and environmentally centered approach and those that are consistently found to be the operational model adopted in the design of public space by King Salman during the time that he was Governor of Riyadh and then implemented by the Arriyadh Development Authority throughout the capital.
The Hay Assafarat, Qasr al Hokum, King Abdulaziz Historical Centre, Salam Park and the Bujairi Quarter, as the most recent of these projects, which have each proven to be very popular with the public offer a clear, syncopated trajectory of this model over the entire time of King Salman’s Governate, and share several critical characteristics that have ensured that success.
The first, and inarguably most important thing all share is being a constellation of spaces concentrated around a Mosque, as not only a religious institution, but also a community center, with also serves a political, educational, legal and commercial purpose. The Mosque within the al Kindi Plaza in the midst of the Diplomatic Quarter, the Iman Turki Bin Abdullah Mosque in the Qasr al Hokum, which is the paradigm of all of each of those social roles, the King Abdullah Mosque at the fulcrum of the KAHC, the Midi Mosque near the Salam Park and the Abd al Wahhab Foundation at the edge of Bujairi in ad Diri’yah, are the lodestones within each of these public spaces.
The second constant is sensitivity to and skillful adaptation of the natural environment, or physical context. The clearest example of this principle is the Hayy Assafarat which takes full advantage of its proximity to the Wadi Hanifah, or more accurately located where it is because of the Wadi, and the fact that in 1994, the Arriyadh Development Authority implemented its Strategy for the Wadi Hanifah, which was a comprehensive development program intended to regenerate the valley and develop it as a environmental and recreational resource. The ADA reversed the degradation of the Wadi by both conserving and augmenting the existing landscape, improving the quality of the agricultural land there and providing an extensive drainage system to nourish it, creating an ecologically appropriate treatment facility that has augmented the water resources of both Riyadh and the rural areas around it, and providing recreational areas for local residents. (3)
The results of these efforts, which included the removal of tons of construction debris and the re-integration of inlets that had been cut off by a random network of roads has been dramatic. This valuable wetland habitat has now been reclaimed for the people and represents a larger ecological parallel to the recovery of the past that was taking place at the same time in the Hayy Assafarat on the escarpment above it. This indicates the extent of the preparation that goes into each of these plans.
The configuration of the Diplomatic Quarter layout was then predicated on the possibility of taking advantage of cool, convective air currents rising up from the Wadi, in the same way that the long axis of main Majis of the Alhambra was aligned with the edge of its escarpment for the same reason.
In his Master plan for the Qasr al Hokum, Rasem Badran used the urban context in the same way, by creating a hierarchical series of courtyards to generate natural ventilation, and using landscaping to maintain it, as he also did in his planning of what he has referred to as the family of spaces of the Darat as one half of the King Abdul Aziz Historical Center. The north-south axis central, park that joins it to the National Museum the eastern side of the complex, also guarantees that the landscaped spine will remain in shade for the entire day, following the pattern of Islamic cites such as Cairo, in which the same tactic was used in orienting the Sharia Al Mu'izz which is the main thoroughfare of the medieval city..
The Salam Park, which encompasses a total of 25 hectares, has been conveniently located and designed , by both Omrania and Aukett Associates.to serve all residents of the city. It is divided into a palm grove, a hillside zone, the lake area, and an ecological zone, to satisfy all interests and, as is the case with the other examples mentioned here, is the result of a careful selection of local materials to ensure that it reflects the regional environment and culture, rather than being a foreign implant. This theme is reinforced over and over again throughout the projects initiated by King Salman and carried out by the Arriyadh Development Authority. That level of care has ensured the popularity of this Park which receives nearly 800,000 visitors each year.
Bujairi, which is the latest of these projects to be built, popular for the same reasons, in that it has easily accessible generously sized green spaces, designed using local materials and plant types, nearby, and as in all other cases, there is a clear separation between automobile and pedestrian circulation, with easy access to parking.
The use of local stone and planting has been intentionally accentuated at the King Salman Park in Ban Ban, located on the northwest side of King Khaled International Airport 22 kilometers from Riyadh. The valleys and rock formations, here intentionally represent a typical Najdi landscape, giving it an austere, otherworldly beauty.
1. Lefebvre, Henri. The Production of Space, Donald Nicholson Smith Translator, Blackwell, Oxford, 1987. p.263.
2. Charles Moore, You Have to Pay for the Public Life, Ed, Kevin Keim, MIT Press, 2001.
3. Bodeker, Richard. 1996. “Gardens in the Desert: A Landscape Architect in Saudi Arabia”. In Sustainable Landscape Design in Arid Climates. William Reilly (ed). Geneva: Aga Khan Trust for Culture.