Desert X AlUla 2026 returns to northwest Saudi Arabia with a fourth edition that scatters contemporary art across within the valleys, canyons, and oases of AlUla. Presented by Arts AlUla in collaboration with Desert X, the exhibition runs from January 16th to February 28th, 2026 as part of the AlUla Arts Festival. It brings new site-responsive sculptural commissions into conversation with the scenic desert.

The curatorial theme, Space Without Measure, shapes an edition that attends closely to scale, distance, and perception across a vast landscape. Works are positioned across Wadi AlFann and the surrounding oasis zones, where shifts in light and wind are a part of the experience. Desert X AlUla 2026 approaches the site as an active participant, asking visitors to move slowly and read materials in relation to desert and sky.

Agnes Denes, The Living Pyramid, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

site-responsive artworks scatter across the desert

Sustainable production methods inform Desert X AlUla 2026 at every level. Rammed earth, carved stone, and locally sourced wood appear across multiple projects, produced in Saudi Arabia through collaborations with regional artisans and cultural centers.

Partnerships with the locally-based arts and design center Madrasat Addeera and the AlUla Music Hub extend this emphasis on local knowledge, while consultation with the AlUla Native Plant Nursery guides the integration of plantlife into the ‘oasis’ environment.

The exhibition is co-curated by Wejdan Reda and Zoé Whitley, with artistic direction led by Neville Wakefield and Raneem Farsi. Their approach favors works that respond to specific conditions of AlUla, from ancient water routes to cultivated palm groves.

Bahraini-Danish, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

eleven participating artists for 2026

Among the Saudi artists participating in Desert X AlUla 2026, Budapest-born artist Agnes Denes contributes The Living Pyramid, a planted structure situated within the oasis. Continuing a project developed across multiple geographies, the work emphasizes cycles of growth and regeneration through its changing surface. 

Sound plays a central role in several commissions. The collective practice Bahraini-Danish introduces Bloom, a kinetic sculpture animated by sunlight and shadow. Its rotating elements register the passage of time across the day, producing a shifting visual rhythm that aligns with the desert’s cycles. Participation remains gentle and open-ended, inviting viewers to linger rather than perform.

Basmah Felemban’s Murmur of Pebbles enlarges geological fragments into carved limestone forms. Installed along pathways shaped by ancient rivers, the work draws attention to sediment, erosion, and time embedded within stone. Originally commissioned for a previous edition, the installation returns with renewed emphasis on scale and spacing under the current curatorial framework.

Basmah Felemban, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

In a nearby valley, Héctor Zamora’s Tar HyPar introduces percussion-inspired forms that respond to collective movement. Visitors activate the installation through sound, producing a low, resonant energy that travels across open ground.

Ibrahim El-Salahi’s Haraza Tree responds to acacia species found across the region, translating their resilience into sculptural forms that gather individually while standing as a unified artwork.

Mohammad Alfaraj contributes What was the Question Again?, a living installation centered on a palm structure assembled from grafted trunks. Referencing the agricultural landscapes of Al Ahsa, the piece reflects long-standing relationships between cultivation, storytelling, and renewal.

Héctor Zamora, Tar HyPar, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

Sara Abdu presents A Kingdom Where No One Dies: Contours of Resonance, a sculptural installation formed through layered rammed earth walls. Poetry and geology intersect within its surfaces, drawing attention to construction techniques shared across cultures and eras. The work reads through touch and proximity, its mass tempered by subtle shifts in tone and texture.

Future Fables by Vibha Galhotra encloses fragments of demolished buildings within a steel framework. The structure shelters traces of recent change, transforming debris into a place for reflection and shared narratives.

Several works in Desert X AlUla 2026 engage directly with ecological systems. Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons shows Imole Red, an installation inspired by AlUla’s sunsets and Yoruba spiritual traditions. Color and planting combine within a garden-like structure that acknowledges water as a sustaining presence within the valley. The work carries a sense of continuity between land, ritual, and care.

Ibrahim El-Salahi, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

Lebanese artist and composer Tarek Atoui presents The Water Song, continuing his research into listening practices initiated during the AlUla Arts Festival 2025. Instruments emerge partially from the ground, encouraging visitors to attune to subtle vibrations carried through soil and air. The landscape becomes an acoustic field shaped by movement and attention.

Nearby, rare sculptural works by the late Mohammed AlSaleem appear for the first time, including The Thorn and AlShuruf Unit. Created during the 1980s, these geometric forms extend upward with a measured sense of aspiration, shaped by desert horizons and celestial reference points.

Mohammad AlFaraj, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

Sara Abdu, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

Vibha Galhotra, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

Tarek Atoui, Desert X AlUla 2026, image courtesy Lance Gerber

works by Mohammed Al Saleem throughout the exhibition are on loan courtesy of Riyadh Art collection, The Royal Commission for Riyadh City

project info:

event: Desert X | @_desertx

location: AlUla, Saudi Arabia

on view: January 16th to February 28th, 2026

photography: © Lance Gerber | @lance.gerber

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Relic installation for Noor Riyadh in Saudi Arabia builds on Karolina Halatek’s previous site-specific piece in Metz, redefining the concept of a monument. The pyramid-shaped structure emits a sky-tracing beam of white light through mist and mirrored surfaces, creating a serene gathering place. As visitors approach the sculptural composition, they are reflected, illuminated, and transformed. The public artwork invites each person to acknowledge their own presence and significance, momentarily becoming a living monument and an active participant in co-creating history. Combining modern aesthetics and technology with evocative form, Relic serves not as a historical tribute but as a participatory space for reflection and transformation.

a pyramid-shaped structure emits a vertical beam of white light | image courtesy of Noor Riyadh Festival

Karolina Halatek Reimagines Monument as interactive Experience

Karolina Halatek’s works are catalysts for experience. Using light as her central medium, she creates site-specific installations that integrate visual, architectural, and sculptural elements. She studied Design for Performance at UAL (UK), Fine Arts at UdK Berlin, and Media Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, Poland, and took part in Olafur Eliasson’s Institut für Raumexperimente. The Polish artist is a PhD candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and a visiting researcher at the Lighting Lab, Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen. The installation was produced by TETRO+A agency and exhibited at the fifth edition of the Noor Riyadh festival titled ‘In the Blink of an Eye,’ Saudi Arabia, 2025.

mist and mirrored surfaces frame a sky-tracing column of illumination | image courtesy of Noor Riyadh Festival

the piece encourages collective engagement and shared experience | image courtesy of Karolina Halatek

the installation forms a quiet gathering point within the festival | image courtesy of Karolina Halatek

light and mist subtly transform each person entering the space | image courtesy of Karolina Halatek

the work invites visitors to recognize their own presence | image courtesy of Karolina Halatek

participants momentarily become part of a living monument | image courtesy of Karolina Halatek

Relic blends contemporary aesthetics with technological precision | image courtesy of Karolina Halatek

the work acts as a participatory space rather than a traditional monument | image courtesy of Karolina Halatek

project info:

name: Relic for Noor Riyadh

artist: Karolina Halatek | @karolinahalatek

location: Qasr Al Hokm Metro Station, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

materials: steel, stainless steel, acrylic

dimensions: 300 x 600 (base diameter)

event: Noor Riyadh Festival | @noorriyadhfestival

production: TETRO+A | @tetro_agency

special thanks to: Nouf Almoneef | @nouf.almoneef, Riyadh Art | @riyadhartofficial, Matthieu Debay | @mattdebay, Nicolas Roziecki | @hyvn, Matteo Messina | @mttmex, Adrien Jolivet | @adrisocialbot, Gabriel Ducolombier | @rielgabzz, Lavínia D. Freitas | @lavinfreitas, m5iw | @m5iw

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: christina vergopoulou | designboom

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The eighth edition of Tanween, Ithra’s event celebrating design, wrapped up at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) in Dhahran on November 22, 2025, closing six days of exhibitions, hackathons, talks, and guided tours which explored the concept of ‘Design the Unspoken.’ Hosted from November 17–22, the annual design event gathered designers, educators, and creatives from across Saudi Arabia and the globe, with contributions from Snøhetta, Isola Design Group, Iwan Maktabi, BrickLab, Rizo Masr, eL Seed, Saudi designer Lujain Abulfaraj and many more.

During the closing ceremony, Ithra Programs Manager Noura Al-Zamil announced the most significant development yet: from 2026, Tanween will return and expand as Ithra Design Week, marking a new chapter for the center’s role in the regional and international design landscape.

Ithra announces Tanween will return in 2026 as Ithra Design Week, marking the event’s growing role in the design ecosystem | all images courtesy of Ithra

the RETURN that extends beyond ithra’s walls

The 8th edition confirmed why Tanween has become Ithra’s flagship design platform. Over six days, the event delivered over eight exhibitions, seven hands-on workshops, 10 panel discussions, four design hackathons as part of Tanween Challenges, walk-in activities, guided city tours, and the Tanween Design Market. Ithra’s celebration of design invited participants to look beyond obvious briefs and address unarticulated needs, behaviors, and social shifts.

The shift to Ithra Design Week signals a structural evolution: design activity will be integrated across the museum, library, cinema, Ithra’s space for creativity and innovation, and more, while new initiatives will extend beyond Ithra’s walls to activate public spaces across the Eastern Province and deepen connections with both local and international creative communities.

Ithra Programs Manager Noura Al-Zamil announces the most significant development yet: from 2026, Ithra’s Tanween will be expanded as Ithra Design Week

tanween’s six days of HIGHLIGHTS

The fast-paced design hackathon, known as Tanween Challenges, formed the core of this year’s program, inviting designers to develop solutions for communities underserved by design. The Global Impact Challenge, one of the tracks in the program supported by Production Partners UNESCO and RCQE, was awarded to Walaa Sharaf, Arwa Omar, Farah Alkurdi, Maryam Alkhateeb and Zaina Mayet. The Product Design Challenge recognized Meryam AlQarah, Redah Alali, Fatimah Bazroon and Abdullah Aldohailan, while the Urban Spaces Challenge selected Sara Alhothali, Saif Alnuimi, Aleksandra Tadel, Abdulrahman Alshehri and Naif Alajaji.

Winners of the Visual Communication Challenge included Rahaf Qurashi, Mohammed Altohami, Raneem Al-Raddadi, Zaid Sbeitan and Abrar Abusham. Their prototypes will move into further development and will be showcased as part of the inaugural Ithra Design Week in 2026. Two pavilions developed through this year’s hackathons will also be permanently installed in Khobar parks in collaboration with the Alfozan Social Foundation, extending Tanween’s impact into public life.

Tanween concludes after six days of 7 hands-on workshops, 10 panel discussions, over 8 exhibitions, 4 design hackathons and more

Additionally, a highlight of the Tanween Majlis – Tanween’s dynamic talks program – brought together leaders of international design weeks to discuss how such platforms shape public culture and creative industries. Speakers included Natasha Carella, Director of Dubai Design Week; Gabriele Cavallaro, CEO and Co-Founder of Isola Design Group; Fahad Al Obeidy, Director of Design Doha Biennial; and Bisher Tabbaa, Co-Director of Amman Design Week. Moderated by Tanween Lead Shahad Alwazani, the conversation underscored Tanween’s role as a meeting point for practices across the Arab world and as a catalyst for deeper regional collaboration.

Reflecting this expanding network, Tanween’s 8th edition welcomed Dubai Design Week and Isola Design Group as creative partners, with Gulf International Bank joining as a strategic partner, Retal and the Architecture and Design Commission as signature partners, and Iwan Maktabi, Bricklab, Rizomasr and Mujassam Watan serving as official exhibition partners. This collaborative framework will continue to drive the new Ithra Design Week, presenting it as a platform where designers, studios and institutions can co-create across disciplines and geographies.

Ithra design week will integrate design across Ithra facilities, including the museum, library, cinema, Ithra’s space for creativity and innovation, and more

During the closing ceremony, Ithra Programs Manager Noura Al-Zamil emphasized the significance of the transition: ‘After eight years of Tanween, Ithra Design Week represents a new chapter in fostering creativity and collaboration—bringing together designers, communities, and ideas to expand our impact across Saudi Arabia and beyond.’

As Tanween closes its final edition under its original name, it leaves behind a legacy shaped by eight themes: Disruption, Play, The New Next, Tools, Collaboration, Scale, Fail Forward, and Design the Unspoken. Together, they form the foundation for Ithra Design Week, a renewed platform where design, culture and learning converge, and where the creative community will continue to grow in scale, ambition and impact.

the platform will also grow beyond Ithra’s walls to activate public spaces across the Eastern Province and connect local and global creative communities

as Tanween concludes, it leaves behind a foundation of ideas, relationships, and outcomes nurtured across its eight previous editions

project info:

name: Tanween | @ithra

dates: 17-22 November, 2025

location: 8386 Ring Rd, Gharb Al Dhahran, Dhahran 34461

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From 20 November to 6 December 2025, the world’s largest light art festival transforms six major locations across the Saudi capital into an illuminated citywide gallery. Curated by Mami Kataoka, Sara Almutlaq, and Li Zhenhua, Noor Riyadh brings together 59 artists from 24 countries to present 60 artworks, including more than 35 new commissions, under the theme ‘In the Blink of an Eye.’ With international and local artists like Shinji Ohmaki, atelier oï, Ayoung Kim, Muhannad Shono, and Ziyad Alroqi, the festival explores Riyadh’s rapid transformation, inviting visitors to witness moments of change through large-scale installations across Qasr Al Hokm District, King Abdulaziz Historical Center, stc Metro Station, KAFD Metro Station designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, Al Faisaliah Tower, and JAX District.

Noor Riyadh 2025 brings together 59 artists from 24 countries to present 60 artworks (Between light & stone by Nebras Aljoaib) | all images courtesy of Noor Riyadh

from the historical center to iconic metro stations

Since its launch in 2021, Noor Riyadh has showcased over 550 artworks and welcomed more than 9.6 million visitors. It forms part of the wider Riyadh Art initiative, one of Vision 2030’s four original mega projects, which integrates public art across metro stations, parks, and civic spaces. The festival accelerates the city’s cultural visibility and supports the growth of Saudi Arabia’s creative economy through community engagement, workshops, and educational programs. The 2025 edition’s vibrant Preview Night at stc Metro Station, gathers artists, cultural leaders, and the public beneath immersive projections that ripple across the station’s polished surfaces. The event signals the festival’s ambition: to connect Riyadh’s historic core with its futuristic metro network through bold experiments in light, motion, and architecture. Executive Director Khalid Al-Hazani describes Noor Riyadh as a ‘living expression of the capital’s evolving identity, capturing the convergence of heritage and progress.’

Noor Riyadh’s six locations create distinct atmospheres, each shaped by its architectural and cultural context. In the Qasr Al Hokm District, installations engage with mudbrick geometry and traditional courtyards, generating quiet encounters with time and memory. At the King Abdulaziz Historical Center, light interacts with palm groves and heritage buildings, bathing familiar landmarks in kinetic radiance. Meanwhile, the newly opened KAFD Metro Station becomes a stage for luminous public interventions embedded in the financial district’s glass-and-steel skyline.

drone performance Synthesis by László Zsolt Bordos & Christophe Berthonneau

highlights from noor riyadh 2025

The historic Qasr Al Hokm District becomes a key site where ancient architecture interacts with contemporary light-based forms. A major highlight is James Clar’s When the Sky Reaches the Ground (2025), presented as a strikingly angular sculpture built from neon within a scaffold-like grid. The installation appears as a lightning bolt frozen mid-impact, capturing the speed of energy paused in physical form. Clar’s work reflects on communication systems, technological acceleration, and the narrative potential of suspended time.

Around the corner, Swiss collective Encor Studio introduces Sliced (2025), a corridor of perforated black textile where beams of light, sound, and drifting mist dissolve boundaries between solid space and vaporous atmosphere. Projected right onto the historic Al-Masmak Fort, Abdulrahman AlSoliman’s Place of History’s Inscription (2025) animates the artist’s cubist interpretations of Saudi ritual and geometry. The moving-image work fragments form and space, echoing the cadence of communal movement through disciplined, rhythmic abstraction. Together, all 16 installations render Qasr Al Hokm as a district where heritage architecture becomes a living collaborator.

Sliced by Encor Studio

At the King Abdulaziz Historical Center, Noor Riyadh introduces 24 immersive installations that reinterpret natural forces and celestial cycles through light and sound. Some of the highlights include Wang Yuyang’s Light, Floating Down Like a Feather (2025) that suspends fluorescent tubes in a digitally choreographed cascade, simulating the drifting motion of a feather in air. Each illuminated segment flickers with algorithmic timing while an adjacent computer generates new falling trajectories, turning physics into poetry.

Meanwhile, Belgian collective Traumnovelle presents Troppo Fiso! (2025), a seven-chapter light narrative conceived for a mud-brick courtyard. Drawing from an original long-form performance by a vinyl DJ crew, the Riyadh iteration pairs a recorded score with synesthetic light movements that crescendo into a total spatial immersion. Italian collective fuse* transforms lunar data into an enveloping visual cosmos with Luna Somnium (2025), where generative sound and projected imagery turn the hall into a drifting lunar dreamscape.

Light Float Down Like A Feather by Wang Yuyang

Renowned Japanese artist Shinji Ohmaki expands his celebrated series with Liminal Air Space-Time (2025) with thousands of fine threads suspended in shifting color gradients. Air currents animate the installation into waves of motion, turning the hall into an ephemeral architecture of drift, breath, and quiet transformation. Moreover, Saudi artist Nebras Aljoaib contributes Between Light and Stone (2025), a suspended boulder framed by luminous vertical panels. The composition creates a tension between geological weight and technological glow, echoing the balance between rooted heritage and rapid urban evolution.

With Light to Home (2025), Chinese artist Zhang Zengzeng adds a community-centered installation, using children’s drawings from Riyadh and China and reinterpreting them as glowing sculptural forms overhead, forming a canopy of collective imagination and cross-cultural collaboration. 

Liminal Air Space-Time by Shinji Ohmaki

Still within the King Abdulaziz Historical Center, Alex Schweder’s Clockwise Invitations (2025) transforms inflatable architecture into a responsive, breathing environment. Fans inflate and deflate chambers in shifting rhythms, allowing visitors to co-create the spatial choreography through movement, proximity, and presence.

All while Edwin van der Heide’s Intersections in Light and Sound (2025) brings experimental sensibilities to the district, programming lasers and audio to sculpt the air and architecture into a synesthetic field where sound becomes visible and light becomes tactile. The installation invites audiences into a dynamic perceptual encounter with the surrounding environment. Just behind it, Swiss design trio atelier oï brings its signature balance of engineering and poetry to Aura (2025), where different discs carry a subtle tint, collectively forming a gradient that shifts as light passes through. In this delicate equilibrium, every breath of wind becomes a collaborator, completing a dialogue between human creation and the natural world. 

Luna Somnium by Fuse

Within the dramatic geometry of KAFD Metro Station, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, two major public artworks enrich Noor Riyadh’s installations. Alexander Calder’s Janey Waney, a monumental kinetic sculpture, takes center stage. Its bold, colorful forms animate the concourse with shifting silhouettes, embodying Calder’s pioneering spirit in mobile and kinetic art. Nearby, Robert Indiana’s LOVE (Red Outside Blue Inside) adds a universally recognizable symbol of connection and optimism — its mirrored surfaces catching and refracting festival lights throughout the district. These permanent sculptures act as anchors for the festival’s contemporary interventions, reinforcing KAFD as a landmark where art, architecture, and motion intersect.

The 2025 edition expands this mission through diverse material languages, from drones and inflatables to lunar data and neon grids, revealing a city transformed by light, imagination, and shared experience.

The Vision Grid by Vali Chincisan

Troppo Fiso! by Traumnovelle

The new Riyadh Metro stations play a starring role in Noor Riyadh’s urban narrative. At stc Metro Station, dynamic installations interact with the station’s sharp angles and reflective materials, evoking the city’s futurist ambitions. It is here that Noor Riyadh presents one of its most technologically ambitious pairings: László Zsolt Bordos’ Synthesis (2025) and Christophe Berthonneau’s Synthesis Drone Show, curated by Richard Castelli. The station’s façade is transformed into an illusionistic, ever-shifting field of geometric light where surges of illumination make the structure appear to hover, turning its surfaces into a sculptural skin of pure energy. Overhead, Berthonneau’s synchronized drones extend the composition vertically into the sky, weaving real and virtual motion into a choreographed aerial ballet. Together, the works fuse architecture, projection mapping, and airborne choreography into a single living environment, supported by a soundscape by Czech composer Ondřej Skala.

Inside the station, dynamic and delicate kinetic installations introduce intimate counterpoints to the large-scale performance. Wu Chi-Tsung’s DUST 002 explores light as subtle atmospheric motion, channeling granular illumination across surfaces like drifting particulate, while Shun Ito’s Cosmic Birds (2023) composes orbital flocks of wire armatures and pinpoint LEDs. A former dancer, Ito brings choreographic sensitivity to the kinetic sculptures, their arcs tracing celestial rhythms that hover between model and constellation. Together with Guillaume Cousin’s ‘Le Silence des Particules (2018)’ pulse of the perfect ring of mist, Shiro Takatani’s Dumb Type ST\LL for the 3D WATER MATRIX who choreographs a symphony of animated water and light, and other fascinating works, the stc Metro Station into a nexus of scale, from monumental to microscopic, grounded in motion, precision, and light.

Dumb Type ST\LL for the 3D WATER MATRIX by Shiro Takatani

Le Silence Des Particules by Guillaume Cousin

Aura by atelier oï & WonderGlass

Intersections In Light and Sound by Edwin van der Heide

Clockwise Invitations by Alex Schweder

Dust 002 by Wu Chi-Tsung

Cosmic Birds by Shun Ito

When the Sky Reaches the Ground (a moment frozen) by James Clar

The Light To Home by Zhang Zengzeng

project info:

name: Noor Riyadh 2025 | @noorriyadhfestival

organization: Riyadh Art

curation: Mami Kataoka, Li Zhenhua, and Sara Almutlaq

dates: 20 November – 6 December, 2025

location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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The 8th edition of Tanween, held at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) in Dhahran in 2025, returns with the theme ‘Design the Unspoken.’ Ithra’s annual celebration of design includes workshops, challenges, exhibitions and a grad show, to design markets, panels, and immersive two-day programs with global experts, Tanween gathers designers, artists, researchers, and enthusiasts from around the world. With contributions from entities such as Snøhetta, Concéntrico, calligraffiti pioneer elSeed, award-winning Saudi designer Lujain Abulfaraj, and top international universities, the annual program (17-22 November) reinforces Ithra’s growing position as a global platform for design dialogue, and cultural exchange.

To see the full program overview, follow the link here!

Tanween is back at Ithra with workshops, challenges, exhibitions and a grad show, to design markets, panels, and immersive two-day programs with global experts | all images courtesy of Ithra

workshops, panels, and full days spent with global experts

The Tanween Workshops offer eight interactive sessions designed to spark experimentation and broaden creative practice. Open to both professionals and amateurs, the workshops immerse participants in new design perspectives, encourage unconventional thinking, and strengthen technical and conceptual skills. Each session blends hands-on activities with guided exploration, enabling participants to test new materials, processes, and ideation methods that stretch the boundaries of their existing practice.

Another core element of the event is the fast-paced design hackathon, known as the Tanween Challenges that bring together 90 shortlisted participants from across the MENA region and the world for six intensive days of design investigation. Divided into four tracks — the Global Impact Challenge, Urban Spaces Challenge, Product Design Challenge, and Visual Communication Challenge — each sprint invites multidisciplinary teams to propose original, resource-conscious solutions rooted in design. Winners are recognized at the closing ceremony, after which their projects move into development with production partners and are featured in the 2026 Tanween Challenges Exhibition.

open to both professionals and amateurs, the workshops immerse participants in new design perspectives

Each challenge narrows its focus to a pressing issue or context, beginning with the program’s most socially driven track. Addressing severe educational disparities in marginalized areas, the Global Impact Challenge welcomes 30 participants to reimagine equitable access to learning. Designers, educators, researchers, and innovators develop early-stage concepts supported by expert mentorship, focusing on sustainable, entrepreneurial models that empower both students and schools. The challenge encourages turning infrastructural limitations into platforms for opportunity, reshaping education into a transformative force for underserved communities.

The Global Impact Challenge leads the program, inviting 30 participants to rethink educational access in marginalized communities by transforming infrastructural gaps into opportunities for sustainable learning solutions. Meanwhile, the Visual Communication Challenge celebrates Saudi Arabia’s multicultural landscape, tasking designers with creating campaigns that highlight cultural overlap, strengthen community identity, and build inclusive narratives through digital and physical storytelling. Both tracks emphasize empathy, research, and creative strategies that connect design with everyday social realities.

a core element of the event is the fast-paced hackathon known as the Tanween Challenges that bring together 90 shortlisted participants from across the MENA region and the world for six intensive days of design investigation

Building on this people-first approach, the Product Design Challenge turns toward regional heritage by asking designers to develop a functional gadget inspired by the date palm. Participants explore tools that ease agricultural workloads, respond to harsh environmental conditions, and honor the deep relationship between farmers, land, and palm. In parallel, the Urban Spaces Challenge addresses rising social isolation by reimagining shade as a catalyst for connection. Teams design pavilions that encourage presence, interaction, and shared experience, drawing on global research that positions loneliness as a growing public health concern.

Across all four tracks, participants prototype ideas, test concepts, and refine their solutions with expert support. Winning projects are celebrated at the closing ceremony and then move into development with production partners before being showcased in the 2026 Tanween Challenges Exhibition.

Eli Synnevåg and Mayur Mehta from Snøhetta  during their Tanween Majlis panel discussion

a day with Snøhetta 

Another major highlight of Tanween’s 8th edition is the ‘Day with an Expert’ program, which goes beyond conventional instruction, offering three intimate, two-day mentorships with leaders in the global creative field. Participants shadow experts, join site visits, engage in advisory sessions, prototype ideas, and share a networking dinner. Each experience is framed around professional growth, reflective practice, and transformative dialogue.

Led by Eli Synnevåg and Mayur Mehta, ‘Think the Snøhetta Way’ immerses participants in the studio’s distinctive approach to architecture and landscape through conceptual mapping, sensory exploration, and speculative interventions on the architectural landmark Snøhetta originally envisioned for Ithra. Alongside this, Saudi designer Lujain Abulfaraj offers a two-day creative reset focused on intuition and childhood imagination, supported by drawing exercises, moodboarding, and a discovery visit to Bait Barq Studio. Completing the trio, artist elSeed guides participants through the creative and strategic foundations of large-scale public work, including a field visit to observe a mural coming to life in Al Khobar. Across all sessions, dialogue, mentorship, and hands-on exploration help participants connect design thinking with personal growth and community impact.

the Tanween Majlis hosts 10 panel discussions featuring thinkers and innovators from around the world. from left to right: Shahad Alwazani (Tanween Program Lead), Natasha Carellais, Gabriele Cavallaro, Fahad Al Obaidly, Bisher Tabaa, and Mariana Wehbe

Other activities include The Tanween Majlis, which hosts 10 panel discussions featuring thinkers and innovators, as well as international design week leaders such as Natasha Carellais – Director of Dubai Design Week, Gabriele Cavallaro – CEO and Co-founder Isola Design Group, Fahad Al Obaidly – Director of Design Doha Biennial, Bisher Tabaa – Co-director Amman Design Week, and Mariana Wehbe – Director of Public Relations and Creative Events at We Design Beirut. Through these conversations that examine evolving landscapes across design disciplines, visitors are given the space to ask questions, debate ideas, and gain insight into emerging practices. In addition, Tanween’s six exhibitions guide visitors through a multifaceted exploration of contemporary design.

Additionally, set as a global launchpad for emerging talent, the Grad Show presents standout work by graduates in graphic, fashion, interior, product, and architectural design. Nominated by top universities worldwide, these emerging talents enter the professional landscape through Tanween’s platform, connecting with industry stakeholders and expanding networks across the region’s rapidly growing creative economy. The showcase shines a light on new design vocabularies, experimental research, and the next generation of innovators.

Last but not least, the Design Market brings together a curated selection of objects, from 3D-printed pieces and contemporary jewelry to fashion, graphic prints, and collectible décor. Designed as an immersive marketplace, it celebrates craftsmanship and experimentation while offering visitors a place to discover statement pieces, shop limited editions, and experience the region’s expanding design culture.

the workshops encourage unconventional thinking, and strengthen technical and conceptual skill

participants get to test new materials, processes, and ideation methods

each session blends hands-on activities with guided exploration

the Design Market brings together a curated selection of objects, from 3D-printed pieces to collectible décor

Tanween reinforces Ithra’s growing position as a global platform for design dialogue, and cultural exchange

designed as an immersive marketplace, it celebrates craftsmanship and experimentation

project info:

name: Tanween | @ithra

dates: 17-22 November, 2025

location: 8386 Ring Rd, Gharb Al Dhahran, Dhahran 34461

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From November 17 to 22, 2025, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) presents the 8th edition of its annual design event, Tanween. A highlight of the MENA region’s design landscape with global relevance, Tanween 2025 brings together designers from Saudi Arabia and around the world to experiment, collaborate, and develop ideas that have real impact. This year’s program explores one of the most pressing mandates for contemporary creatives — the power of empathy — under the theme Design the Unspoken.

from November 17 to 22, 2025 Ithra hosts the 8th edition of its annual design festival, Tanween | image © Yasir Alqunais, all images courtesy of Tanween

DESIGNing CULTURAL CHANGE

Ithra is a globally recognized cultural and creative destination in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, home to programs and initiatives that nurture curiosity, creativity, and innovation. Since its opening in 2018, Ithra has become a distinguished architectural landmark that houses the Idea Lab, Library, Theater, Museum, Cinema, Great Hall, Energy Exhibit, Children’s Museum and Ithra Tower. Tanween is Ithra’s flagship annual design event, where dialogue quickly moves into practice, and ideas take shape through workshops, design challenges, and exhibitions.

‘Tanween is designed as a dynamic and active ecosystem, not just a showcase,’ says Shahad Al-Wazni, Tanween Lead. ‘Every element moves designers from dialogue to practice, fostering collaborations, prototypes, and new directions in their work.’

designboom joins Tanween to discover the voices left unheard under the theme ‘Design the Unspoken’ | image ©

The architectural art installation Flamenco Essence: The Lavender Pavilion made its debut at the 11th edition of Dubai Design Week (November 4-9) before being presented at Tanween, underscoring the event’s role in fostering international collaboration and cultural exchange. Commissioned by Ithra and designed by Spanish firm Izaskun Chinchilla Architects, the pavilion creates a space for interaction and reflection, built with sustainability in mind, with lavender (khozama) serving as a shared visual and cultural element between Saudi Arabia and Spain.

This year, Isola Design Group and Dubai Design Week join Tanween as creative partners, contributing across panels, co-curated exhibitions, showcases, and mentorship programs. These partnerships strengthen cross-cultural collaboration, allowing local and international designers to co-create, exchange ideas, and see concepts move from discussion to tangible outcomes.

Tanween serves as Ithra’s most impactful annual event dedicated to design

how tanween FOCUSes ON EMPATHY, SOCIAL IMPACT, AND INCLUSION

Tanween 2025 encourages designers to look, listen, and respond to what is often unspoken, exploring needs, frictions, and human experiences often overlooked in conventional design processes. The theme, Design the Unspoken, invites designers to use their practice as a tool for empathy, social impact, and inclusivity — reaching groups traditionally underserved by mainstream markets. This approach positions Tanween not just as a display of aesthetics but as a space for addressing social, cultural, and infrastructural challenges.

Over six days, Tanween offers a multidisciplinary program with hands-on experiences, mentorship, and collaborative design challenges that move ideas from discussion to tangible outcomes. The event includes panel discussions at the Tanween Majlis, design exhibitions, workshops, the Day with an Expert program, fast-paced design hackathon known as the Tanween Challenges, interactive experiences and a vibrant design market.

The event transforms Ithra into a living design hub, where global experts and emerging designers collaborate, test ideas, and bring creative solutions to life, fostering dialogue, skill-building, and cross-cultural exchange.

Tanween 2025 focuses on shifting design’s lens away from the obvious, challenging participants to look at problems, needs, or frictions that are overlooked in conventional processes | image © Aqeel Alsaihati

the six-day event signals a significant shift in how design is being positioned in the MENA region | image © Aqeel Alsaihati

the event’s importance for global exchange is further reinforced by its creative partnership with Isola Design, which features across Tanween’s programs | image © Aqeel Alsaihati

the theme is an invitation to use design as a tool for empathy, social impact, and inclusivity | image © Hassan Almulla

Over six days, Tanween offers a multidisciplinary program and hands-on learning experiences for professionals, students, and design enthusiasts alike | image © Hassan Almulla

the comprehensive program includes large-scale interactive exhibitions and installations | image © Aqeel Alsaihati

the festival turns the Ithra campus into a living design studio | image © Yasir Alqunais

Tanween 2025 sparks productive and impactful dialogues between global voices and local emerging talent | image © designboom

event info:

name: Tanween | @ithra

dates: 17-22 November, 2025

location: 8386 Ring Rd, Gharb Al Dhahran, Dhahran 34461

registration: https://www.ithra.com/en/special-programs/tanween/Tanween-2025-Design-the-unspoken-page/register-attend

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Once hailed as the most radical experiment in twenty-first-century urbanism, THE LINE, (find designboom’s previous coverage here), a 170-kilometer-long mirrored megacity slicing through the desert, stands at the center of Saudi Arabia’s shifting architectural agenda. Conceived as the backbone of NEOM, the $500-billion development in the country’s northwest, it promised a car-free, carbon-neutral city contained within two parallel walls rising 500 meters high, an ambitious vision that faces an unexpected test of endurance.

According to multiple recent reports, Saudi Arabia is entering a period of reassessment for its vast Vision 2030 portfolio, a suite of architectural megaprojects valued at more than $1 trillion. Behind the futuristic renderings and bold rhetoric, officials have acknowledged that the pace and cost of construction have become unsustainable amid falling oil prices and growing budget deficits. THE LINE, once envisioned to stretch 170 kilometers across the Tabuk desert, has now reportedly been scaled back to a few miles of initial construction as the government redirects resources and timelines across its development landscape.

all images courtesy of NEOM unless stated otherwise

rethinking Futuristic Urban Ambitions Amid Spiraling Costs

According to Reuters, the kingdom’s $925-billion sovereign wealth fund is redirecting its focus after construction delays and spiraling costs across the country’s so-called gigaprojects. Insiders cited in The Sunday Times describe a ‘course correction,’ with THE LINE reportedly scaled back to only a few miles of construction, a fraction of its original length. The slowdown signals a broader reconsideration of Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s master plan to diversify the economy beyond oil and to recast Saudi Arabia as a global hub for innovation, tourism, and culture.

Architecturally, THE LINE was designed to condense urban life into a single continuous structure, a stacked ecosystem of housing, public space, vertical farms, and transport systems, all linked by high-speed transit. Renderings released by NEOM in 2022 showed the glistening mirrored facade of the structure reflecting the surrounding desert and sea. The project’s radical linear geometry challenged conventional city planning, proposing density without sprawl and mobility without cars.

a 170-kilometer-long mirrored megacity slicing through the desert

Investment Into AI, Gaming, and Future-Ready Cities

Yet as oil revenues fall and public spending tightens, other megadevelopments, including the Trojena mountain resort, planned host of the 2029 Asian Winter Games,, the Sindalah luxury island, and the $50-billion New Murabba district in Riyadh, have also faced delays or scaling back. ‘We spent too much,’ one official admitted to The Sunday Times. ‘We rushed at 100 miles an hour. We need to reprioritise.’ The Independent notes that the slowdown does not signal cancellation but rather a moment to ensure that the architectural ambition of the kingdom aligns with economic reality.

Amid this recalibration, Saudi Arabia is channeling new investment toward sectors like artificial intelligence, gaming, and data infrastructure, technologies that may still influence NEOM’s evolution. Jerry Inzerillo, CEO of the $63-billion Diriyah heritage redevelopment, described THE LINE not as a failure but as ‘a laboratory for what quality of life might look like in 2040.’ 

conceived as the backbone of NEOM

the project promices a car-free, carbon-neutral city

contained within two parallel walls rising 500 meters high

THE LINE has reportedly been scaled back to a few miles of initial construction

NEOM Stadium | image courtesy of Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup 2034 bid

the slowdown signals a broader reconsideration of Vision 2030

the project is set to reach a fraction of its original length

Oxagon

the Trojena mountain resort has also faced delays or scaling back

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In recent days, dramatic images and videos of a football pitch hovering 350 meters above the desert have gone viral online, sparking global fascination and confusion. The visuals depict what social media users call Saudi Arabia’s Sky Stadium, a futuristic arena seemingly nestled atop a skyscraper. While many international outlets have circulated the renderings as part of the Kingdom’s World Cup 2034 preparations, sources mention that these viral visuals are AI-generated concept art, not released by NEOM or the Saudi Ministry of Sport.

The viral renderings appear to exaggerate a real project described in Saudi Arabia’s official 2034 World Cup bid (find designboom’s previous coverage here): the NEOM Stadium, planned within THE LINE megacity. Unveiled in July 2024 alongside Saudi’s formal bid submission to FIFA in Paris, the NEOM Stadium is envisioned as the world’s first sky stadium, an elevated venue suspended roughly 350 meters above ground, seating around 46,000 spectators. According to the bid book, it will run entirely on renewable wind and solar energy, and after the tournament will serve as a permanent home for a NEOM-based professional football club. Construction is expected to begin in 2027 and complete by 2032.

image via @CWMiddleEast

mega-ambitious plan for fifa world cup 2034

The NEOM Stadium forms part of Saudi Arabia’s sweeping plan for the 2034 FIFA World Cup, the largest edition ever staged in a single nation. Under the slogan Growing. Together., the country’s official bid unveiled 15 advanced stadiums across five host cities — Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abha, and NEOM. Eleven of these venues are entirely new, while four existing ones will be refurbished and expanded to meet FIFA standards.

Among the headline projects are King Salman International Stadium in Riyadh, to seat 92,000 and host the opening and final matches; Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium in Qiddiya, featuring a three-sided bowl overlooking the Tuwaiq cliffs; and Aramco Stadium in Al Khobar, a whirlpool-inspired design along the Arabian Gulf, all designed by Populous. Each of these projects emphasizes sustainability, accessibility, and legacy reuse, aligning with the Saudi Green Initiative and Vision 2030 goals.

While the Sky Stadium concept has been officially acknowledged through the Saudi 2034 bid documents, no separate press release or construction launch has been issued for a skyscraper-top venue like those seen in AI videos. As of late 2025, Saudi officials have not confirmed any new details beyond the bid documentation. The spectacular imagery circulating online remains fan-made speculation, visualizing the futuristic ambition of NEOM rather than depicting an approved architectural design. In other words, the NEOM Stadium is real, but the floating, city-top version trending online seems to not yet be part of its built reality. The official plan remains a conceptual proposal, awaiting further design development within the broader construction of THE LINE.

NEOM Stadium

King Salman International Stadium

Qiddiya Coast StadiumKing Fahad Sports City Stadium

King Fahad Sports City Stadium

New Murabba Stadium

King Khalid University Stadium

Aramco Stadium

South Riyadh Stadium

Prince Faisal bin Fahad Sports City Stadium

Jeddah Central Development (JCD) Stadium

King Saud University Stadium

project info:

name: Sky Stadium

event: Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup 2034 bid | @saudi2034

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In Riyadh, creativity is reshaping the very fabric of the city as Noor Riyadh, the world’s largest festival of light and art and part of the Riyadh Art program, is transforming the Saudi capital from 20 November to 6 December. Curated under the theme ‘In the Blink of an Eye,’ the fifth edition of the festival captures Riyadh’s rapid urban transformation through over 60 large-scale, light-based installations by both local and international artists. 

Before the main lights of Riyadh come alive, Noor Riyadh joins forces with the Fondazione Querini Stampalia to present a capsule exhibition in Venice from October 19 to November 23, 2025. Installed within the iconic Carlo Scarpa-designed spaces, the show offers international audiences an early glimpse of Noor Riyadh 2025, underscoring the enduring dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Italy.

globally recognized as the largest light art festival in the world, Noor Riyadh 2025 returns from November 20 to December 6 (PALACE OF LIGHT by Robert Wilson, created for Noor Riyadh 2021 at the At-Turaif World Heritage Site | all images courtesy of Riyadh Art

the light festival spreads across riyadh

Since its launch in 2021, Noor Riyadh has attracted over nine million visitors and evolved into one of the world’s most ambitious public art platforms. Each year, the festival invites artists from across the globe to craft site-specific installations and immersive experiences that reimagine Riyadh’s public spaces, from parks and plazas to bridges and transit corridors.

The 2025 edition is curated by Mami Kataoka (Curatorial Advisory Lead), Sara Almutlaq (Curator), and Li Zhenhua (Curator). Their curatorial approach embraces kinetic sculpture, interactive environments, and technology-driven works to reflect the movement and energy of the city. During these days, walkways glow underfoot, while towering kinetic sculptures rotate and shimmer, mirroring the rhythms of daily life and the city’s swift evolution.

under the theme ‘In the Blink of an Eye,’ this edition celebrates Riyadh’s pace of transformation (Earth by SpY, Noor Riyadh 2022)

from the metro to the center in the blink of an eye

The theme, ‘In the Blink of an Eye,’ reflects Riyadh’s astonishing pace of growth and transformation – at light speed. The festival’s artworks bridge the past and present, connecting history to a futuristic infrastructure. In the historic core, installations illuminate centuries-old landmarks, inviting reflection on memory and place. Meanwhile, Riyadh Metro stations act as cultural nodes, hosting large-scale works that visualize the rhythm of daily life in the city. Through these experiences, light becomes a vehicle for storytelling, tracing movement, connection, and the dynamic evolution of a modern metropolis.

With each edition of Noor Riyadh, we witness how light becomes more than a medium – it becomes a mirror of the city’s transformation. “In the Blink of an Eye” captures the pace at which Riyadh is evolving, not just physically, but culturally. This festival is about more than illuminating spaces; it’s about connecting people, stories, and ideas across time and place. It reflects our ambition to make creativity a lived experience for all,’ says Nouf Almoneef, Director, Noor Riyadh.

the festival offers a visual journey that links the city’s historical past with its bold, technological future (Submergence by Squidsoup, Noor Riyadh 2021)

As a preview to the main program, Noor Riyadh extends its reach to Europe with a capsule exhibition at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, running October 19–November 23, 2025. Set within the iconic spaces designed by Carlo Scarpa, the presentation introduces international audiences to the festival’s forthcoming theme and curatorial vision featuring four artists also participating in Noor Riyadh 2025.

Ayoung Kim highlights the Riyadh Metro as both infrastructure and cultural platform; Wang Yuyang explores Riyadh’s illuminated technological development; Abdelrahman Elshahed bridges Venice and Riyadh through calligraphy; and a tribute to the late Safeya Binzagr (1940–2024) introduces Italian audiences to one of Saudi Arabia’s pioneering modernists.

Noor Riyadh extends its reach to Europe at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice set within the iconic spaces designed by Carlo Scarpa

Noor Riyadh 2025 is curated by Mami Kataoka (Curatorial Advisory Lead), Li Zhenhua (Curator), and Sara Almutlaq (Curator) (I see you brightest in the dark by Muhannad Shono, Noor Riyadh 2022)

The festival is part of the broader Riyadh Art program, one of the city’s four mega projects launched under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which aims to embed creativity into the everyday life of the capital. To date, Riyadh Art has brought together more than 500 artists and delivered over 6,500 community engagement activities, contributing to a growing collection of public artworks across the city.

Notably, the Riyadh Art Collection includes major works by artists like Alexander Calder, Jeff Koons, and Robert Indiana, whose sculptures are now iconic landmarks at metro stations and city squares. Additionally, new commissions like ‘Echoes of Land’ by Davide Rivalta invite urban communities to re-engage with nature through public bronze forms in Riyadh’s parks. These installations form part of a long-term vision: to make art accessible, participatory, and integrated into everyday life.

the festival unfolds across two distinct yet interconnected narratives (Earthtime 1.26 Riyadh by Janet Echelman, Noor Riyadh 2023. )

In 2026, the narrative shifts from light to material in Tuwaiq Sculpture, returning under the theme ‘Traces of What Will Be.’ Set within Riyadh’s Tahlia District, once home to the city’s first desalination plant, the symposium transforms an industrial landscape into a creative workshop. The program allows visitors to observe sculptors working live, chiseling, welding, and shaping works from local stone and reclaimed metal.

These materials, chosen for their embedded histories, link geological time with industrial memory. The resulting sculptures are being permanently installed across key districts, including Qasr Al-Hukm, forming a dispersed museum that maps Riyadh’s evolution in stone and steel. 

through the festival, light becomes both medium and metaphor (Future Herbarium by Laurent Grasso, Noor Riyadh 2023)

kinetic sculptures and interactive environments trace the movement of people, visualize connectivity, and reflect Riyadh’s dynamic evolution (Infinity Mirror Room—Brilliance of the Souls by Yayoi Kusama, Noor Riyadh 2021)

the theme honors the city’s past while embracing rapid change, using light to spark new perspectives in science, society, and self (Amplexus by Grimanesa Amorós, Noor Riyadh 2022)

walkways glow underfoot, while towering installations rotate and shimmer (Submergence by Squidsoup, Noor Riyadh 2021.)

Noor Riyadh invites residents and visitors to experience the capital in a new, illuminated dimension (Ghosts of Today and Tomorrow by Ahaad Alamoudi, Noor Riyadh 2022)

project info:

name: Noor Riyadh 2025 | @noorriyadhfestival

organization: Riyadh Art

curation: Mami Kataoka, Li Zhenhua, and Sara Almutlaq

dates: 20 November – 6 December, 2025

location: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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The Indonesian Consulate Building in Jeddah by Ibrahim Joharji Architects contributes to the architectural landscape of diplomatic facilities in Saudi Arabia, where design carries both functional and symbolic roles. Diplomatic buildings are not only workplaces but also representations of national identity, requiring architecture to mediate between protocol, security, and cultural expression. The project is structured around a hierarchy of use, organizing spaces for diplomats, administrators, and staff through layered circulation systems. This spatial framework embeds distinctions of function and authority into the overall plan.

Navigating multiple regulatory frameworks, the design responds to the Saudi Building Code and incorporates references to Indonesia’s architectural heritage, which spans 28 recognized styles. Elements of the Rumah Gadang roofline were reinterpreted in a contemporary form, while triangular geometries derived from the peci, an Indonesian headpiece, were integrated as motifs of dignity and structure.

Indonesian Consulate in Jeddah by Ibrahim Joharji Architects | all images courtesy of Ibrahim Joharji Architects

Architecture as a framework for diplomacy and urban presence

The facade design combines cultural influences from both Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Parametric patterns inspired by Indonesian Batik were interwoven with Islamic geometric references, producing a layered skin that operates as both shading and cultural signifier. Material choices were evaluated for their environmental impact. Reinforced concrete provides the necessary security measures, while facade systems, finishes, and mechanical components were selected to improve energy performance and reduce the building’s carbon footprint.

The Indonesian Consulate in Jeddah, by Ibrahim Joharji Architects Studio, illustrates how diplomatic architecture functions at the intersection of culture, regulation, and sustainability. By combining symbolic references with practical performance, the building establishes a framework where architecture supports diplomatic presence while contributing to the urban and environmental context.

a diplomatic building balancing function and cultural identity

triangular geometries inspired by the peci headpiece

facade patterns draw from Indonesian Batik traditions

islamic geometric references integrated into the skin

the facade operates as both cultural and climatic mediator

project info:

name: Indonesian Consulate Building – Jeddah
architects: Ibrahim Joharji Architects | @inj_architect

lead architect: Ibrahim Nawaf Joharji

client: Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia – Jeddah

location: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

built area: ~5,800 sqm

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