King Abdullah Metro Station by ZHA, Saudi Arabia
As the world's longest driverless transit system, the Riyadh Metro network spans over 176 kilometers across 6 lines and 85 stations, connecting key districts, business centers, and cultural landmarks in Saudi Arabia's capital city. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station (KAFD) serves as the key interchange on the network. The station's six rail platforms over four levels connect with bus and park-and-ride services to create an important multi-modal transport hub for the city, as well as new indoor and outdoor public plazas for the financial district.
The KAFD Metro Station is composed of a set of elements that are highly correlated through repetition, symmetry, and scale. The resulting configuration is a three-dimensional lattice defined by a sequence of sinewaves (generated from the repetition and frequency variation of the station's daily traffic flows), which act as the spine for the building's circulation. These sinewaves extend to the station's exterior clad in ultra-high-performance concrete panels.
The façade's geometric perforations reduce the solar gain as a contemporary reinterpretation of traditional environmental sheltering within the region's vernacular architecture. The composition of the station's façade echoes the patterns generated by desert winds in the sand. The KAFD Metro Station has achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification by the US Green Building Council.
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