HRH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, governor of Makkah, recently presented Saudi Aramco with the “Makkah Award for Architectural Excellence” for its work on the King Abdullah Sports City in Jiddah.
The award was accepted by Amin Nasser, president and CEO of Saudi Aramco, in the presence of HRH Prince Mishaal bin Majed.
Nasser spoke about the story of designing King Abdullah Sports City and said the design was shared with the late King Abdullah in 2002. At that time, the king instructed that the facility should express the Islamic spirit of Jiddah, since it is a gateway to the Two Holy Mosques.
The design also strived to reflect the vision of the Kingdom to be a leading Arab nation, according to Aramco.
“Saudi Aramco continues to support the progress of the nation and consolidation of progress in development and sustainability in our beloved Kingdom,” Nasser said.
Nasser said that since the Islamic culture was, and still is, a source of inspiration, the idea of the design symbolized a shining jewel clad with facades reflecting the local “mashrabiya,” an architecture form commonly found in the Western Region.
These facades provide shade throughout the interior corridors of the stadium.
Construction of the project took about one year, and was completed in 2014. On May 1 of that year, the city was officially opened by then-King Abdullah.
King Abdullah Sports City contains an international soccer stadium that can accommodate a capacity of more than 62,000, three separate soccer stadiums, four small indoor arenas that can also be used for soccer, six tennis courts, a large indoor arena for sports and other purposes, as well as a primary mosque and six smaller mosques.
