AL KHAYMA SHOPPING CENTRE

A Tented Structure Creating

Al Khayma Centre represented the Kuwaiti Al Shaya Family’s first retail development, anchored and partnered by the first Carrefour Hypermarket in Saudi Arabia. The land parcel size and planning restrictions induced a spatial resolution of three levels of shopping with parking areas below and above the hypermarket. Having one single central space from which all visual and retail activity and energy emanates, meant this space required an architectural celebration necessary to reflect the raison d’ etre’ of the building.

An enormous tent like Teflon canopy was used to unify the multi-volumed space with huge clerestory windows allowing natural light to permeate even the lower ground floor shopping area. Lighting features, high shopfronts, transparent balustrades and polished reflective finishes in the tiles and stainless steel cladding all contribute to accentuating the entertainment capacity of the central space. Ultra contemporary retail principles of maximum natural light and transparency, accentuating surfaces and visual communication, have been used to allow the retail areas to be unified in one space and be visually accessible from any point on any level.

PROJECT VALUE

US$ 80,000,000

COMPLETION

OCTOBER 2015

LOCATION

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia