Historic and Heritage

Al Doho Historic Village Landscaping

Arriyadh - KSA

DESIGN PRINCIPAL | Eduard Gevers

PRINCIPAL / PROJECT MANAGER | Eduard Gevers

STAFF | Yulka Koleka, Daniel Neisser, Anastasia Leonenko, Olga Moroz

Al Doho Quarter, is the only remaining area from the history village of Riyadh, situated in the South Eastern corner of the original city boundary, flanked on two sides with the old city walls. GLA were invited to develop the overall landscape area, consisting of three areas; the narrow passages in between the buildings, the plaza area and a public green open space, with access to the Metro station, below. We were able to convince the client to develop this area as a public open space, rather than to use this as a construction site as originally intended. The approach for the landscape design was twofold. The character had to resemble an oasis of palm trees and green crops below. We reintroduced the historic towers to be reconstructed in their original locations, while the wall alignment was marked on the ground. To link the park to the Metro station located below, we introduced a terraced sunken garden. Flood gates were position at all entrances, to protect the Metro station from any possible 1 in 100 yr flooding. The purpose was also to create a garden on the Metro entrance level, instead of a narrow passage leading one to the top instead. Overall, the sunken garden, together with the surrounding green space provide a public opens space with an oasis like character. Additional features included a tactile model to show what the area looked at and story boards with reference to the purpose of the towers and gates located in there in historic times.