On November 25th, the “Diriyah Art Futures” in Riyadh – the first museum in the Gulf designed exclusively for digital art – will open with the major exhibition Art Must Be Artificial: Perspectives of AI in the Visual Arts, curated by Jerome Neutres and featuring guests from around the world. The building, created by Italian architects Schiattarella Associati, is the first public project launched as part of Vision 2030, the ambitious plan guiding Saudi Arabia’s economic, cultural, and social transformations in the coming years.

▼Project overview © schiattarellaassociati_ph_Hassan A Alshatti

This contemporary structure is set along the desert’s edge, north of Riyadh, near the UNESCO site of At-Turaif, the ancient capital of the Najd desert region and one of the Arabian Peninsula’s most important historic and archaeological sites.

▼Architectural night view © schiattarellaassociati_ph_Mohamed Somji

Commissioned and curated by the Saudi Ministry of Culture and designed by Schiattarella Associati, “DIRIYAH ART FUTURES” is led by Haytham Nawar and will house studios, exhibition spaces, research labs, artist residences, an auditorium, and a training center for new media and digital languages, in an area of 12,000 sqm.

▼Multi-functional building blocks © schiattarellaassociati_ph_Hassan A Alshatti

 
A future-oriented challenge, contemporary architecture that dialogues with Najd heritage and tradition.

“We wanted the architecture to feel as though it emerged from the earth,” say the architects. “This is our approach to design: harnessing natural values to create a contemporary language that resonates deeply with the location.”

▼Sketch plan © schizzo_DAF

▼Architecture born from the earth © schiattarellaassociati_ph_Mohamed Somji

▼Deep local resonance © schiattarellaassociati_ph_Hassan A Alshatti

The “DIRIYAH ART FUTURES” is not a compact building but rather a series of lean, distinct volumes that extend horizontally along the Wadi Hanifa ridge, an agricultural depression amid the desert plateau. Designed to reconnect the urban and agricultural parts of the wadi, restoring the balance between construction and nature, they alternate with narrow, deep passages that create shaded and cool zones, following traditional Najd architecture typical of the area — a “tailoring” work with specific objectives.

▼A dialogue between architecture and agriculture © DAF_Photo Antoine Horenbeek

▼Alternating body blocks and shaded areas © schiattarellaassociati_ph_Hassan A Alshatti