Dissertation_Dr Faisal Almubarak

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heritage in an era of technological openness to the outside world, especially to the building
technology. Individual structures, transportation and other land uses which comprise
modern urban forms, were first to exhibit the incorporation of new trends in
modernization. In short, the new architecture, though synthetic and spacious, became
synonymous with, and a symbol for, modernization.
The commodious suburban villa, set in an ample lot and served with wide paved and
lighted streets summed up the blend of property, union with the family, status and
modernity. On the city scale, the accumulation of these stern forms has created a
forbidding aura which has altered the quality of the contemporary built environment. Still,
the suburban villa, though lacking the picturesque setting of its Western counterpart, offers
a contrasting quality to the crammed substandard mud residences of the old communities
increasingly occupied by single casual laborers and other immigrants.
II.
BUILDING THE ROYAL CITY, I950S-1960S
A. King Saud (1953-1964): the 'Master Builder'
From a mere pre-industrial, placid burg, Riyadh expanded to a bustling hive of
incessant building and construction. From its primeval penury, the Capital became the
showcase of government pride, conveying a sense of legitimacy for the growing influence
of the government in an era witnessing the crumbling of monarchies in nearby Middle
Eastern countries. In the fiscal year of 1947-48 the annual national income was SR 215
million. By 1952-53 it rose to SR 758 million. By 1955, revenues reached SR 1,335
million. With the growth of the government treasury during the 1950s, the Capital was the
first to snatch its share of government allocation. It was the seat of the Royalty and the
government. "Riyadh and its Dependencies" occupied a budgetary category of their own
amounting to SR. 152 million, the highest among the thirteen official budget categories for
the 1952-53 fiscal year totaling SR. 758 million. This was best shown during the reign of
King Saudi who inherited the growing polity from his father. King Saudi sought the
modernization of the country, first and mainly in the physical sphere, hence starting a
tradition of Saudi urban "euthenics".