Riyadh's 500,000-square-metre Royal Arts Complex breaks ground

Construction has begun on King Salman Park Foundation’s Royal Arts Complex in Riyadh.

The project aims to highlight the cultural and social development of Saudi Arabia with the launches of the Museum of World Cultures, Royal Institute of Traditional Arts and National Theatre.

Spread over 500,000 square metres, the Royal Arts Complex is an integral part of the King Salman Park project, which was launched in 2019.

King Salman Park is projected to become the world’s biggest urban park covering an area of more than 16 square kilometres, and will be known as Riyadh’s “green lung” as the park aims to boost the global ranking of Riyadh among the “world’s top liveable cities”.

Within King Salman Park, the Royal Arts Complex will include a 2,300-seat capacity National Theatre, 110-metre-high Museum of World Cultures and the Royal Institute of Traditional Arts, which will comprise the Academy of Traditional Visual Arts, the Academy of Cultural Heritage and Restoration, and the Academy of Theatrical Arts.

In its sculpture pavilion, the complex will have three cinemas, two theatres, a library devoted to art and culture with a collection of more than 250,000 books, and an expansive exhibition hall to display the works of artists.

The complex provides multipurpose spaces such as an educational centre for the performing, cinematic and visual arts, and an outdoor amphitheatre.

Designed by the late Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill, the Royal Arts Complex promises to offer immersive experiences catering to culture and art in all its forms.

It will be the "centre of Riyadh’s art and culture scene, contributing to the creation of a rich and varied cultural legacy”, state news reported.

The design of the Royal Arts Complex combines natural elements and stories that represent the kingdom's past, present and future.

King Salman Park will have about one million trees, and a circular pedestrian walkway of up to of 7.2 kilometres, in addition to more than 11 square kilometres of open spaces.

Construction of the Royal Arts Complex began on Wednesday. The development is part of Vision 2030, among several other gigaprojects that aim to help diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy and reduce its dependence on oil.

Seven remarkable hotels opening in Saudi Arabia soon — in pictures:

Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara

Riyadh's 500,000-square-metre Royal Arts Complex breaks ground

Project at King Salman Park promises to become 'centre of Riyadh’s art and culture scene'

Seven remarkable hotels opening in Saudi Arabia soon — in pictures:

Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

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