Al-Khobar is one of the largest cities in Saudi Arabia, located in the eastern province of the country bordering the Persian Gulf. Al-Khobar is also the main gateway to the neighbouring Bahrain, with the King Fahd Causeway linking the city to the island nation. Home of the Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, Aramco, Khobar’s development is spurred by the oil mining activities in the province.

In anticipation of the fast pace development of the city, ATSA Architects had produced a design proposal for a new mixed development in the heart of the city. The square shape site is located nearby a road junction and bordering many existing residential estates. Despite the large area of the site, only the north parcel is being used in the design proposal.

Inspired by the modern and simplicity urban living, the mixed development features six main components that constitute the whole development. It consists of a block of the hotel, two residential blocks, a shopping mall, a convention centre and a green park. A 20 storey building will accommodate a future five-star hotel while the two blocks of 15 storey buildings will be functioning as residential quarters.

Both the public spaces, the shopping mall and convention centre, will be linked to each other by a pedestrian bridge. The four storey shopping mall is planned to be located underneath the hotel block, meanwhile a detach five-storey block is placed adjacently. To complement the whole development, a patch of green area is proposed between the commercial and residential blocks, to inject a green footprint to the site.