King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture

Booster Blog

King Abdulaziz center for world culture

Making drastic changes to the landscape in Dhahran is the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture. Shaped like neatly arranged pebbles in gigantic proportion, the center is nearing completion.

The center is designed by Snøhetta, who won a competition for the design in 2007. Commissioned by the oil company Saudi Aramco, it will offer 100,000 square meters of cultural facilities. These include an auditorium, a cinema, a library, an archive and a museum. The 930 seat auditorium will host operas and classical music performances, as well as speeches. More than this, designers say it will stand as a cultural landmark globally.

The library is open-access with 200,000 books in stock, whilst an exhibition hall will host travelling exhibitions and conferences. Thus, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture will soon become a bustling home of the arts, attracting international attention.

Upon closer inspection, the surface of the huge ‘rocks’ is covered in lengths of metal piping that follows the contours of the building.

Certain areas are left exposed, revealing the metal structure beneath.

The project is set to be complete before the orginal completion date. Check out the video for a closer look.