Center for World Culture Emerging - Saudi Aramco

DHAHRAN — Work progresses on the King Abdulaziz
Center for World Culture, and the physical embodiment of
the institution, the building itself, grows at its site near the
Saudi Aramco Exhibit.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah laid
the symbolic cornerstone of the Center in
May 2008. Facility design and engineering
were completed in 2009. Site preparation
and excavation were completed in 2010.
The main contract was awarded to Saudi
Oger and the first concrete was poured in
August 2010.
The Mosque design is done, and what
may be the complex’s most striking and
original feature – the main facility facade –
is in final fabrication design with a leading
German manufacturer.
When the steering committee met in
2011, it reviewed visions for the technology
the Center will house, before touring the
building site.
The facilities will comprise a multistory
complex of approximately 80,000 square
meters near the Saudi Aramco Exhibit in
Dhahran and will accommodate a 21st
century library, Discovery Zone (children’s knowledge center),
community education facility, creativity center, exhibition
halls, theater and multimedia theater, museum, mosque,
archive, special collections, dining facilities,
media center, a
volunteer center, and landscaped gardens.
Opposite page: The Cultural
Center, designed by Snohetta
of Norway, takes the shape
of pebbles randomly piled
together, suggesting the
region’s occupation with
geology. Left: Khalid A.
Al-Falih, Saudi Aramco
President and CEO, and Kjetil
T. Thorsen, Snøhetta Senior
Partner, discuss the facility
design at the Snøhetta office,
in Oslo, Norway. Below: An
image of the Cultural Center’s
Sky Lounge shows some of
the scenic design schemes
planned for the Center.
Winter 2011 15