King Abdullah Financial District metro station, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Zaha Hadid

Is this Zaha Hadid's most futuristic design yet?

New Riyadh KAFD metro features skybridges and meshed Mashrabiya screens

Sky bridges and monorail connections form the basis of a Zaha Hadid metro station to be built in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station (KAFD) or transport hub is futuristic even by Hadid's standards and will link six lines under a series of undulating wave roofs. Curved and meshed Mashrabiya screens complete the design. Located on the side of the financial district, the 20,434 meter square KAFD Metro will have six platforms spread over four floors and two underground parking levels.

 

King Abdullah Financial District metro station, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Zaha Hadid
King Abdullah Financial District metro station, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Zaha Hadid

A collection of pedestrian pathways will be built inside the station in order to avoid congestion. Travelers will be able to access the monorail via a sky bridge. Hadid says that "the resulting configuration is a three-dimensional lattice defined by a sequence of opposing sine-waves which act as the spine for circulation around the building. These sine-waves are extended to the station's envelope so that the concept is also visible externally." The project is expected to be completed by 2017. Burro Happold and Davis Langdon, two global constructions and engineering consultancies and Newtecnic, a design service firm, have been chosen to commission the project. For more on how we design and build today, take a look at our Atlas of 21st Century World Architecture.

 

King Abdullah Financial District metro station, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Zaha Hadid
King Abdullah Financial District metro station, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Zaha Hadid