Saudi Arabia to build its first opera house in push to develop arts and culture projects

Saudi Arabia is planning to build its first opera house in a focus on arts and culture as part of its Vision 2030 programme to transform the kingdom.

Located in the historic Diriyah district, the Royal Diriyah Opera House will be designed by Norwegian architectural company Snohetta, in collaboration with Syn Architects in Riyadh, and is expected to open in three to four years, said Zenul Khan, senior architect at the European firm.

The building in Diriyah – the 300-year old heritage district and the birthplace of the kingdom, near the Unesco World Heritage Site of At-Turaif – will be inspired by the Najdi architectural style and the Wadi Hanifah, which is on the western edge of historic Diriyah.

"What you can expect to see is something that truly belongs to this place, you cannot take it out or replicate it in another place, it belongs to Diriyah," Mr Khan said on Thursday.

"It's inspired very much by the Wadi and Najdi values ... the Wadi also provides some very basic materials, which we see around us everywhere: mud, stone and palm. So our opera [house] echoes these very basic materials ... the same ones that have been used throughout history in this region."

The Royal Diriyah Opera House will be a key project in the second phase of the Diriyah master plan, which will include a planned 20,000-seat performance arena and a contemporary arts museum. It will be built by Diriyah Company and operated by the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC).

Covering an area of 45,000 square metres, the opera house will be composed of four venues, Mr Khan said.

The first is a world-class, 2,000-seat opera venue that will stage a broad variety of performance genres. The second is an "adaptable theatre", an experimental venue where the seats move and the stage can be moved to adapt to different types of performance. Stacked on top of these is a third venue, a multi-purpose hall connected to an outdoor terrace that can be a performance area or used for conferences and weddings.

"What differentiates this opera from others we've worked on is the fourth venue at the very top, which is an outdoor amphitheatre," Mr Khan said.

Snohetta has completed the concept design phase of the opera house and will begin detailed design in January until June, he said.

"It's a fast-moving train," Mr Khan said of the speed of progress on the project.

It will be a non-resident opera house, which unlike resident venues does not have an arts company that runs and owns performances.

“Here, we will be inviting throngs of international guests and this will bring a massive influx of arts, culture and creativity to Riyadh and we believe that’s a pretty big advantage,” Mr Khan said.

Diriyah Company's chief executive Jerry Inzerillo said the new building would soon join the ranks of well-established venues such as Sydney Opera House, one of the world's most recognisable structures, which marked its 50th anniversary in October.

“I am sure in a few short years, The Royal Diriyah Opera House will be as epic as that great establishment,” he said in a video presentation on Thursday night.

Jasper Hope, an adviser for the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, said the Saudi opera house would set the stage for a “new era” of performing arts in the kingdom.

“It’s going to be a destination,” he said. "It will be a place where talent from across the kingdom can be nurtured, invested in and celebrated. And it will be a place where the best of the rest of the world can come to perform to new audiences here in Riyadh.

“If this were an opera production, we would be somewhere in the overture phase, before act one. There is a long way to go but it’s a very exciting production we’re involved in.”

Diriyah’s first hotel set to open

The Diriyah Company on Thursday also marked the soft opening of Bab Samhan, the first of Diriyah's 42 hotels that is set to open to guests early next year.

The 135-room luxury property is built in the Najdi architectural style in the north of Diriyah. Surrounded by Wadi Hanifah and the Bujairi Terrace. It is also close to the Unesco heritage site of At-Turaif.

Built in the style of the mud palaces of 300 years ago in Samhan in Diriyah, about 1.5 million mud bricks were used in its construction.

The hotel will open early next year after the completion of building a pathway connecting the hotel to the wadi, restaurants and spa, Diriyah Company chief executive Jerry Inzerillo said during the opening ceremony.

Ceremonial ground-breaking for four more additional hotels was announced on Thursday including The Ritz-Carlton, the Address Diriyah, Capella Diriyah and Four Seasons Hotel Diriyah.

The Diriyah Art Futures, a centre dedicated to new media and digital arts, also opened on Thursday. It features an exhibition space, art school, 14 studios and an art retail space.

Rome-based architecture firm Schiattarella Associati designed the building to reflect Saudi's cultural identity and architecture, its chairman Amedeo Schiattarella said in an interview.

"The sense of the porosity of the houses, the light and shadow, the importance of the wind, the courtyard where the families meet to gather" were inspirations for the building, he said.

"What's the sense of going to Dubai or San Francisco or China and you have the same architecture and you even don't know where you are? The culture and arts and thinking are completely different ... there's a diversity, there's a richness."

The Diriyah Company has spent 30 million Saudi riyals ($8 million) on various projects this year and expects to spend at least the same amount in 2024, Mr Inzerillo said.