The City will gather media and production companies and experts from photographers, directors and sound and light engineers etc. in one location, and provide them with the facilities they need with the latest technologies. The city will have studios, sound stages, shooting sites and backlots with high standards for various production needs. The city will also include the first official media production institution in Saudi Arabia, and it will provide different majors that will support the media industry.
The city will not be as a closed complex, but will involve people to live the experience and the process of the media production, by provide for them a public park, and allow them to visit shooting sites and studios. The city will also have a premium theater and an events hall to held regional and local festivals, competitions and events.
The design characterize by its fluidity and dynamicity. It focus in creating intersecting paths, routes and volumes in forms that are dynamic to express the sense of motion. The project act as a connection between the city and the sea, and it integrate nature into the building as an extension of surrounding greenery. The design reflect the future face of the city.
The building form represent movement in a dynamic way, it can be seen differently from every direction. The building act as a connection between city and sea and it’s divided into two parts; public and private. Between these parts an open space was created to have an interaction between the people. As a connection between these two parts the office tower located, and it was located to the street side to grab attention and create interest. The tower was designed in a sloped shape to allow air to pass throughout the site and not block it.
The Project is divided into the buildup area includes; office tower, studios complex, theatre centre, educational institution. And the outdoor area includes shooting locations, public park, plaza, amphitheatre and marina.
The building was placed in the middle of the site and separated the public zone (park) from the private part (outdoor shooting area). The park was design in a way to connect the city to the sea with a walk way and different activity spaces. Due to the change in the topography of the site (which is about 8m), the site was design in a ways to separate vehicles paths from the pedestrians paths. An elevated open area was paced in the middle of the building to move the people easily from the ground level (street level) to the lower level (sea level) and linked with ramp and stairs to the lower level.
The project used 4 types of structure systems. The outer skin used space-frame at the tower zone and portal frame at the studios and theater zone. For the slaps for both the tower zone and the studios zone, a column and beam structure system was used. The middle zone used the single truss system.
Sustainability was took in consideration in the project. Since the building use a lot of energy due to its function, and photovoltaic cells system was placed at the tower outer skin to collect sun energy and convert it to electrical energy. To minimize the building’s energy use a controlled lighting system was placed at the outer skin of the tower to minimize heat gain, and passive natural ventilation was applied in the design to minimize the use of ventilation systems. A water recycle system was adopted in the design to reduce the use of clear water. Also, the green spaces was maximized in the design with addition to water features to reduce heat island effect. Interior hanged gardens was added to the interiors to purify the air and add a good since to the place.
