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.