Addirriyah Contemporary Art Center in Saudi Arabia by Schiattarella Associati

Article source: Schiattarella Associati

The Rome-based architectural office Schiattarella Associati was awarded twice: “Concept Winner” at this year’s ICONIC AWARDS and Honorable Mention at the AAP 2016 for the Addiriyah Contemporary Art Center project in Saudi Arabia.

The ICONIC AWARDS, a design competition under the aegis of the German Design Council, are held annually to recognize outstanding architectural projects and design products. Amongst media partners in 2016 competition, Atrium, Dezeen, World-architets.com.

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

• Architects: Schiattarella Associati
• Project: Addirriyah Contemporary Art Center
• Location: Addirriyah, Saudi Arabia
  
• Software used: Autodesk Revit, Autocad and Rhino
• Client: Arriyadh Development Authority
• Year: 2015-2016

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

The Concept Winner award, collected in Munich last October 4^th by Amedeo Schiattarella on behalf of Schiattarella Associati, was the only one assigned to italian firms. The expert jury for this year’s Iconic Awards: Michel Casertano, Marco Dessí, Louise Kiesling, Corinna Kretschmar-Joehnk, Andrej Kupetz , Silvia Olp, Stefan Weil.

The American Architecture Prize celebrates the best of modern architecture from around the world. Its mission is to advance appreciation of quality architectural design worldwide with an esteemed jury of architects and leaders in the architecture world. Media partners in this competion: New York Times, Washington Post, Dexigner, Architecture Admirers, Architecture Week.

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

Addiriyah Contemporary Art Center project, awarded to Schiattarella Associati in 2014 following an international competition held by the Arriyadh Development Authority, has been finalized in the last year and is in the process of entering tender for its building.

The Art Center fulfills the Client’s need for a space where the young contemporary Saudi Art can express itself at 360 degrees.

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

Labs for experimenting, small shelters for the artists, vast exhibition areas: many are the functions it will host in favor of collectivity enabling to be closer to the many and diverse contemporary and artistic languages.

The project perfectly fits in Schiattarella Associati’s vision, where the architectural intervention is always aware, respectful and perfectly integrated with historical, cultural and landscape context.

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

The site peculiarity dense of historical memory and nature both tampered with but still present although hidden, has requested through more than one survey, an accurate study of the ancient urban configuration, its geometries, its colors, its materials and the behavior of light and its shadows as well.

The chosen location is found along the slope of a rocky escarpment, where there was an ancient village that followed the linear layout of the Wadi, on top of a sort of natural terrace running from north to south and dominating the surrounding countryside above a number of farm lands and a luxuriant palm grove, next to the edge of the modern town.

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

Art Center is conceived in the role of harmonic definition of border, its task is to mark continuity between natural and built environment.

By dismantling the existing retaining wall, in order to restore the hill’s natural shape, the Art Center becomes a permeable building complex offering pedestrians the possibility of a walkway connection to the Sculpture Park along the valley floor.

The complex is designed as a urban fragment: a system arranged around an urban space continuously connected to the course of the town.

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

Spaces between the constructed volumes, in terms of their size and configuration, would hearken back to those of old Addiriyah, with its narrow streets and small-scale squares. The rigorous logic of the geometry changes in sequence of the natural course of the landscape. Nature indicates the form of the manmade structures, rather than the opposite.

Likewise in this project central role is given to the void: it’s meant as a functional and intermediate place, the one which will really be used by all end-users at the Art Center. The project  is a commitment towards collectivity, where each structural, stilistic and formal selection is always aimed at fostering experiences, exchanges and relationship.

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

Another innovative project for Schiattarella Associati, which boasts a long history dating back to 1970s and a know-how linked to some of the most important  projects of the last years such as the Seoul Metropolitan Museum and the Children Museum in Kyonggi.

Many important projects in Italy as well amongst which the Spanish School of Archaeology and the Pediatric Ward at the Umberto I Hospital.

Image Courtesy © Schiattarella Associati

Tags: Addirriyah, Saudi Arabia

Categories: Art Center, Autocad, Autodesk, Revit, Rhino

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 5th, 2017 at 6:31 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.