The green transition of Western economies, by now more announced than completed, has led some oil-producing countries to diversify their activities. For example, tourism has been the main resource in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, for years, and more recently other countries in the Persian Gulf, such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia, have begun a transformation based on massive investments in sectors such as construction and sport, with the aim of refreshing an image linked almost exclusively to hydrocarbons.
In particular, Saudi Arabia has set 2030 as the year of its leap into the future. In fact, it is when it will host the soccer World Cup and, in the same way that it happened in Qatar for the 2022 edition, the Saudi royal family has prepared an ambitious plan to present itself to the world as a country at the forefront. The program is based on a virtually unlimited financial availability that is finding outlets in football, both abroad and in its domestic league, but also in a series of futuristic architectural projects.
If everyone already knows the adventures of The Line, a longitudinal metropolis that will extend for 170 kilometers in the desert between the Red Sea and the city of Tabuk, designed to house nine million people, the dream of Saudi Prince Mohamed Bin Salman and presented as an ecological paradise about whose real sustainability there are no shortage of doubts, in 2030 New Murabba should also see the light of day, near the capital Riyadh. Another model of a utopian city in whose center will rise an enormous golden cube 400 meters on each side: the Mukaab. In other words, a futuristic building designed to offer immersive experiences, thanks to technologies and holograms capable of transforming it into an oceanic abyss or a Martian landscape.
The construction works of these architectural and urban feats are underway, but there are some smaller projects that have already been carried out, among them, Maraya is gaining unanimous recognition, the largest building in the world covered with mirrors, which in a few years it has become an icon of modern Saudi Arabia. It is located in the Ashar valley, a few minutes from the historical sites of Al-Ula, in the northwestern region of Medina, where it was a stop on the incense route, a crossroads of ancient civilizations and which today aspires to become a a benchmark for cultural events and international meetings.
Maraya has been the first project developed by the Journey Through Time Masterplan, a government program aimed at transforming the Al-Ula region into a living museum to share its cultural heritage with the world. In fact, the area is a World Heritage Site, surrounded by the ruins of the Nabataean empire and thousands of years of history. The mission assigned to the architects was precisely to create a structure capable of blending harmoniously with its surroundings, to become another, modern, outdoor work of art.
The result is a gigantic cube of mirrors, striking but silent, respectful of the landscape in which it is inserted, a multifunctional structure used as a concert hall, community center, innovative exhibitions and even weddings. The construction of Maraya, which means mirror or reflection in Arabic, was completed in just 76 days, in 2019, thanks to the efforts of a thousand people, and its official activity began at the end of 2020. Although the pandemic has delayed its start-up, You have already seen the performances of artists such as Alicia Key, Andrea Bocelli, Enrique Iglesias or John Legend.
The project is signed by the Italian studio Giò Forma, with the collaboration of Black Engineering and Gap engineering, and in 2020 received the prestigious Architizer A Awards. In addition to the large concert hall, other facilities include a panoramic rooftop terrace, a conference center, exhibition space (including an infinity room installation by Yayoi Kusama), VIP areas, and a restaurant by well-known British chef Jason Atherton.
Maraya is a multipurpose theater, inside which there is a large 40x15 meter stage, placed in front of a main auditorium with capacity for 500 seats, plus five boxes with space for another 60 spectators. Behind the stage, a large 800m2 retractable wall can be opened to reveal the rugged rock formations, which are illuminated at night and produce colorful reflections, allowing shows to take place directly above desert level, blending scenery and entertainment.
The exterior consists of a parallelepiped steel structure one hundred meters on each side and 26 meters high, completely covered by 9,740 m2 of mirrors. Guardian Glass produced a total of 3,000 pre-strengthened panels locally, adapting its UltraMirror product to withstand harsh conditions such as wind, sandstorms and extreme temperature fluctuations. The subtle curvature of the façade makes the building appear like a shimmering mirage from a distance, but as visitors get closer they can see a perfect reflection of themselves.
"The past and the future meet at the same time and place: the mirror just adds another layer of perception," said architect Florian Boje, a specialist in scenery and land art. "The mirror - he added - is a way of creating a dialogue between nature, history and the future." For the architect, "this singular building leads us to reflect on the unmistakable geological environment in which it is immersed, on the radical abstraction of the surrounding landscape and unusual human forays into nature. The reflections instill a sense of enveloping balance: a deep connection between human and natural heritage."
The Maraya Concert Hall is destined to be one of the venues of choice for the world's top artists, at the same time, the Saudi government hopes to develop the economy for local residents and businesses through an ambitious corporate events strategy. “The goal was to put Al-Ula on the world cultural map,” said Alberto Bounous, development director of the Royal Commission for Al-Ula.
Surrounded by canyons, dunes, imposing sandstone mountains, rock monoliths designed to house funerary monuments carved in stone, this desert region reveals to visitors its rich and unprecedented cultural heritage preserved in time, to which, today, this hieratic is added. mirrored monolith, one of the symbols of Saudi Arabia's ambitions in a world less and less dependent on oil.
