Visiting the Architectural Design Delight Of Saudi Arabia: Al Ula

What is Al Ula?

Al Ula is a city in Saudi Arabia covering around 30 000 square kilometers with a population of 5000 only. Situated in the Median Region, this city has survived many historical periods dating for more than 150 000 years. Magic in the desert valley, Al Ula incorporates extraordinary architecture models of tombs, rocks, and monuments that hold profound history. Travelers, who used to exchange goods between many Arabic countries like Egypt, took Al Ula as a trading crossroad and an escape to enjoy the beauty of nature and its magnificent resources. Today, Al Ula stands as a major source of discovery of mind-blowing architectural designs, some carved by nature and some human-made.
 

Elephant Rock

A huge rock is standing in the beautiful desert of Al-Ula, whose shape is that of an elephant, the only elephant that can be seen in the Middle East. The Elephant Rock is a destination for tourists to sit and relax while having a cup of coffee and some delicious desserts. Many architects were inspired by this rock to build future alike models and plenty of tourists come along just to contemplate this fancy natural scheme. 

Sharaan

Transforming Al-Ula natural beauty into a touristic powerhouse is the main purpose behind the work of the well-known architect who built the Abu Dhabi louvre, Mr. Jean Nouvel. This project, called Sharaan, is a pristine landmark with an ambitious vision of bringing Al-Ula to the top of the world’s famous touristic attractions. Sharaan is a luxury resort that shall be completed in 2024, offering customers the real experience of living inside the rocks. A mix of villas, residential domains, entertaining places, hotel elegant bedrooms (bed design), spas, and restaurants (modern kitchen design), room decor, this resort is expected to bring millions of visitors into a city that is enormously underrated and to open the opportunity for more than 30 000 jobs there. 

Maraya

Extending the boundaries of architecture plans and blending structural designs with natural splendor, Maraya is a building so extinguishable that it gained the Guinness World Records. This glass cubed construction has been done with the most innovative technologies, reflecting by its mirrored shape, the landscape around it. It looks like a painting (wall painting design) that keeps altering with its surrounding natural environmental changes. Maraya is a concert hall, made with advanced lights, seating, walls, and other equipment. It holds a capacity for more than 400 audiences and artists from all over the world to come to perform inside it.

Hegra

A Unesco World Heritage site, Hegra used to be the homeland of the Nabataeans. A long time ago, it was the center of the exchange and trade activities, connecting pilgrims and hajjis from different Arabic countries. What distinguishes it the most, are the monumental shapes that were carved into its rocks by the Nabateans and that were lately party modified by other communities. Fantastic architectural designs were born from these rocks. The Hegra tombs have given deep value to Al-Ula city, elevating its charm to another level and blending between its past civilizations and its human-made rock formations.