The King Abdullah Financial District is a new 55-million-square-foot mixed-use urban community in Riyadh. Among its public buildings under construction is FXFOWLE Architects’ Museum of the Built Environment (MOBE), which explores the role of social, economic, and environmental issues in the development of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the larger region. The museum will exhibit works related to the history of the arts and architecture on the Arabian peninsula, as well as document trends in sustainable thinking and their role in the future of the built environment. >>>

Starting point for the young Belgian architects were traces of a nearby former stronghold. The main design element consists of an enclosing wall with a recessed rising part, to which the modest and sober main house nestles and adapts.

The architects chose light grey precast concrete lintels as a reinterpretation of the old fortress walls of rubble stone. The relief of the oozing courses of grout reinforces its rough character. All three remaining facades are clad with dark grey fibre cement panels. The asymmetric roof features a deep-set window facing out to the south. >>>