After announcement of development plans last year by Saudi’s Crown Prince, the New Murabba Development Company released insights on the progress of The Mukaab and the larger New Murabba last month. Design insights into The Mukaab have now also been revealed – alongside design updates on the New Murabba.
The New Murabba and The Mukaab
The New Murabba is envisioned to be Riyadh’s next mixed-use downtown. Spanning 19 million square meters in land area at the intersection of the King Salman and King Khalid’s roads, The Murabba is expected to host at least 80 entertainment and cultural centers. Alongside this will be over 400,000 residential units in 18 residential complexes.
At the heart of the mixed-use downtown city is The Mukaab. It will stand as a giant monumental cube at the center of the downtown city. This giant cube does not fall short of distinct exclusive features.
Not only will it serve as an iconic landmark, but will also feature residential units, hotels, offices, and commercial spaces. It will provide a fully-featured digital and holographic experience to its visitors and residents. It has also been hailed as a modern depiction Najid architecture – taking its construction model after the Murabba Palace.
Upon completion of the 400 meter tall cube skyscraper with a roof spanning 16 hectares, which is reportedly able to fit 20 Empire State buildings, The Mukaab will be the largest building in the world. It will be large enough to fit up to 250,000 people inside at any given time.
Approaches behind the New Murabba and The Mukaab
Sustainability – which is inline with current global needs on the environment and ecosystems. The New Murabba will be the world’s second climate-controlled indoor city.
Influence on culture – The Mukaab and The New Murabba, at large, will feature the exposition of world cultures to visitors and peoples all around the world.
The human-centric approach will see that the project is as beneficial and inclusive to, and of all people as possible. It will ensure their fulfillment with focus on culture, education, entertainment, and exquisite infrastructural designs. The smart transport systems included for the project will also add a feather to the human-centric cap the project manager says it possess.
A look inside The Mukaab
The Smart Cities Expo World Congress 2024 in Barcelona, Spain had the New Murabba showcase their urban development plans. The CEO of New Murabba, Michael Dyke, pointed out the use of advanced technology and their implementation in urban cities’ infrastructure. Some notable tech features talked about include sensors and IoT devices to monitor almost everything in the urban city; from air quality, to traffic patterns. Alongside this was the look inside The Mukaab.
Technology is still at the center of the in-workings of the world’s largest building. The tech application in the Mukaab has been dubbed, “A Technological Symphony”. The focus is on the senses and the immersive sensations that visitors and residents will get to experience.
The Mukaab’s “Technological Symphony”
Part of the amplified and immersive visual advances to be made include state-of-the-art lighting, blending artistry and, diverse performances and displays. The acoustics will also be “excellent”, featuring a high-end audio system for “acoustic brilliance” – giving a new feel to the entertainment experience inside the Mukaab. The facade of The Mukaab is out-of-the-world in a sense, futuristic to put it more simply. This will be exorbitantly, but frugally, amplified inside The Mukaab. Blending sight, sound and touch will be expressed in harmony.
Other updates on The Mukaab
The Mukaab will also feature interconnected retail space spanning 350,000 square meters in its basements. The architectural marvel operating 24/7 will also house the world’s largest immersive dome. It will stand 380 meters high, and span a diameter of 340 meters. It will also have a tower larger than the Eiffel Tower at its center.
These conceptions are a testament to just how much urban cities will evolve in the coming decades. The Murabba has been termed, “futuristic”. The Mukaab – an integral part of the futuristic city – is testament to this both literally and metaphorically.
Progress on the project
In a October press release, the project manager announced that 86% of earth excavation on-site is complete. This exact area covered is reported to be 10 million cubic meters. With 900 workers on-site daily, and 250 excavators present, the pace set for the project is promising although the completion dates have not been explicitly announced – with word around being 2030, as the project is part of the Saudi Vision 2030. This project is pivotal in the Saudi Vision 2030 as it will create 334,000 jobs, and also add $48 billion (180 billion Saudi Riyals) to the kingdom’s non-oil GDP.
Along side the main project, a temporary bridge will also be constructed over the King Khalid’s road. The bridge will facilitate truck movement to and from the site, and is expected to reduce truck movement on the nearby public roads by around 800,000 counts.
Other promising features of the project will include smart transportation and sustainable infrastructure.
Insights on the New Murabba
New Murabba is set to become one of the top 10 most livable cities in the world. The urban city will have 18 diverse communities with over 27 million square meters of developed assets. The number of homes in the downtown city has been estimated to be over 10,000. The number of hotels will be around 9,000, and over half a million square meters of retail and entertainment. New Murabba will also have a 45,000-seat stadium, 4 sq. km of parkland, and 4 sq. km of dedicated infrastructure.
The new downtown city will also feature Wadi-Front living spaces, linear and public parks, and a “mobility loop”. The Murabba will also feature 4.5 sq. km of green space – 2 ½ times larger than Central Park in New York.
A 15-minute concept has also been used to describe the efficiency expected in the downtown city, with access to amenities and essentials being within 15 minutes of reach. The Murabba will also be served by two major freeways, the King Salman in the East-West, and the King Khaled in the South-North.
Insights into the city from the project manager also mentioned dedicated areas for flora and fauna. This is expected to foster it’s sustainability approach. Alongside this will be features like the bioswale drainage and integrated storm-water management.
Call for project partners
Despite the call for partnerships from industry players by the CEO in a recent interview, progress on the project is being made steadily.
The call for more partners to join the development journey of the PIF owned-and-funded development initiative is from what Michael Dyke calls, “a finite level of capital”, and the, “high expectations in terms of the return on that investment”. He made this statement in reference to the capital flow to the project from the PIF.
This will however not set the project off-track as optimistic reassurances were made by the CEO.
Partnerships calls were included in the following sectors:
- Rights and Sponsorships
- Financial Partnerships and Fund Structures
- Development Partnerships
- Public Private Partnerships
- Technology and Smart Cities Partnerships
- Green and Sustainable Development Partnerships
The projects’ second and third phases
The second and third phases of the new downtown city will feature the completion of the eastern and western sides of the city and the communities around it; while the latter of the phases will see the completion of the master-plan. Dates around the phases have however not yet been made public.
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