No. 071

SANAA Plaza

CommercialAl Narjis, Riyadh340 m²2025Architecture, Lighting, Landscape

A building that covers a quarter of its plot and gives the rest to people, under a single concrete shell.

SANAA Plaza by day, the white shell over its glass volumes

Seventeen Spaces

The plot's boundaries hold only seventeen parking spaces, and the code ties each space to a fixed area of restaurant and café use. The building therefore cannot exceed 405 m² without requiring a basement. The project accepts the ceiling: it builds 340 m² and turns three quarters of the plot into a plaza and an oasis.

Ground floor plan: three glass volumes, the plaza and the oasis — Ground floor plan

Diagram: three volumes on the plot — Three volumes, one service block behind

Diagram: the volumes and the rear service block — Three volumes, one service block behind

Three Volumes and an Oasis

Three volumes of curved glass, their inner facades radiating from the centre of the plot and their positions tuned to sightlines from the street. They carve a plaza facing the street and an oasis at the centre, while a single rear service block holds the central kitchens for all five brands.

Diagram: the volumes placed on the sightlines from the street — A plaza on the street, an oasis at the centre

Diagram: the plaza and the oasis carved between the volumes — A plaza on the street, an oasis at the centre

The plaza between curved glass volumes under the shell

Planted beds crossing the stone floor at the plaza's edge

The oasis at the centre, trees among the volumes

Shade

A light white concrete shell drapes over the volumes and the spaces between them, pierced where the volumes rise through it. It is not counted in the built-up area, yet it makes the plaza and the oasis usable and conceals the rooftop equipment. Beneath it, a sculptural red staircase climbs to the terraces.

Diagram: the shell laid over the volumes — One shell, opened by the volumes

Diagram: the shell pierced where the volumes rise through it — One shell, opened by the volumes

Under the shell: its soft white underside and a column

The sculptural red stair climbing to the terraces — The red stair

A red counter inside a glass volume, the oasis beyond — The red stair

SANAA Plaza at night, the glass volumes lit under the shell

What the code would not allow as walls is built as shade.

Facts

Project: SANAA Plaza
Type: Commercial
Scope: Architecture · Lighting · Landscape
Year: 2025
Location: Al Narjis, Riyadh
Site area: 900 m²
Built area: 340 m²
Status: Concept
Plot: On Al Diwan Street, open to three streets
Areas: Built 340 m², against a code limit of 405 m²
Parking: 17 spaces
Programme: Five restaurant and café brands around central kitchens
Materials: Curved glass · white concrete shell · Riyadh stone floors crossed by planted strips at 45° · a red stair

Drawings

“Architecture is the thoughtful making of space.”
Louis Kahn

Seventeen Spaces

Three Volumes and an Oasis

Shade

Facts

Drawings

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