The Culture Square Project in Jeddah: Rethinking the Relationship Between Heritage and Contemporary Architecture

Culture Square: A Meeting Point Between History and Art

As part of the ongoing efforts to revive Jeddah’s historic waterfront, Culture Square stands as a significant model for analyzing the city’s urban transformations. It is not merely a public space, but rather a convergence point between historical memory and contemporary art, reflecting a delicate balance between heritage and renewal.

Reimagining the Maritime Surroundings

The project redefines the northern edge of Lake Al-Arbaeen, which overlooks the historic Al-Balad district. This strategic location provides an opportunity to understand how modern projects can be integrated into a historical context while preserving the site’s distinctive characteristics.

Sustainable Urban Transformation

As part of a broader vision to transform the lake’s surroundings into a sustainable, mixed-use urban center, the design emphasizes enhancing the urban experience for visitors, whether through the natural landscape or cultural and artistic activities. This illustrates how public spaces can serve as catalysts for social interaction while simultaneously contributing to the preservation of the city’s historical identity.

An Architectural Dialogue on the Water’s Edge

Anchored along the new public promenade, two prominent buildings rise on the lakefront, one hosting the Red Sea International Film Festival, and the other housing the teamLab Borderless Museum of contemporary art. This spatial arrangement offers a case study in how modern architecture can engage in dialogue with the historic fabric of the city.

Blending Heritage with Modernity

Together, these two structures create a new cultural skyline for Jeddah, where the city’s profound artistic heritage interacts with global contemporary creativity. Although these are modern architectural forms, they transcend their traditional functions to become catalysts for social and cultural exchange.

Enhancing the Urban Experience

These spaces provide visitors with an opportunity to explore the relationship between the old city and contemporary architecture, emphasizing the balance between preserving historical identity and enriching modern artistic experiences. Such projects demonstrate how architecture can play a vital role in strengthening the cultural vibrancy of urban environments.

The Square as a Living Civic Space

The square is designed as a vibrant urban space, functioning as a transitional zone between land and lake, and between public realm and cultural institutions. This design reflects a refined architectural understanding of the role of civic squares in fostering social and cultural interaction.

A Walking and Interactive Experience

The promenade flows through open plazas, shaded pathways, and reflective pools, creating a layered experience for visitors. The diversity of spatial elements encourages exploration and lingering, turning the square into a dynamic platform where people can engage with both the surrounding environment and contemporary art.

Jeddah’s New Cultural Façade

Through this design, the square becomes a cornerstone of Jeddah’s new cultural waterfront, merging urban vitality with aesthetic experience while maintaining a strong connection to the city’s architectural heritage and historical identity.

Inspired by Architectural Heritage

The design draws its cues from Jeddah’s architectural DNA, reinterpreting the city’s traditional Roshan, the iconic wooden lattice screen, in an innovative and radical way. This approach highlights the dialogue between architectural heritage and contemporary innovation.

Light and Materials as Design Elements

Inside the building, copper-crafted Roshan panels illuminate the interiors with a warm, futuristic glow. The metallic surfaces capture and diffuse natural light, transforming spatial perception throughout the day and adding a dynamic, sensory quality to the visitor experience.

Reimagining Architectural Legacy

Through this bold use of materials, centuries-old architectural elements are transformed into a visionary modern experience. A shimmering network of patterns, light, and reflections emerges, expressing the balance between cultural legacy and architectural progress, making the space a living example of history fused with innovation.

Merging Tradition and Modernity

Externally, the architectural design blends the richness of Jeddah’s traditional façades with the logic of contemporary spatial organization. This fusion reflects an advanced architectural understanding of how to preserve a site’s historical identity while introducing a new architectural experience.

Materials and Techniques as a Medium of Interaction

Locally handcrafted wood meets advanced fabrication methods, evoking a dialogue between solidity and transparency. This harmonious rhythm mirrors the pulse of the old city while placing it within a distinctly modern context, allowing visitors to engage both visually and sensorially with the surrounding spaces.

Balancing Craftsmanship and Modernity

Every detail of the project, from the façades to the interior spaces of the cinema, embodies a carefully calibrated balance between traditional elements and modern technology. Handcrafted materials coexist with advanced construction systems, reflecting the designers’ commitment to merging artisanal craftsmanship with innovation.

Architectural Transformation of Traditional Motifs

Traditional ornaments are reinterpreted into contemporary geometries, giving the spaces a modern character without severing their link to heritage. This interplay between the old and the new establishes a new architectural language for the region, one that envisions the future while remaining rooted in local tradition.

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The Culture Square project in Jeddah can be viewed as a clear attempt to integrate architectural heritage with contemporary urban requirements.
Among its strengths, the project demonstrates a tangible commitment to providing diverse public spaces and reinterpreting traditional elements, such as the Roshan, in ways that add visual depth to interior environments. This approach enhances the visitor experience and emphasizes the relationship between light and materiality.

However, several considerations emerge that could serve as valuable learning opportunities for future developments.
First, while the project presents visually striking façades and a well-studied spatial distribution, the density of modern and experimental elements may reduce the clarity of the connection between traditional façades and the surrounding urban context, particularly for non-specialist visitors, potentially limiting their understanding of the city’s architectural heritage.
Second, the integration of new buildings along the lakefront introduces challenges in managing circulation and social interaction within the public realm, especially during peak times, underscoring the need to reassess the relationship between mixed-use activities and pedestrian flow.
Third, the emphasis on innovative materials and dynamic lighting could increase long-term maintenance costs, calling for practical solutions to ensure the project’s sustainability.

From a broader architectural perspective, the project can serve as an example of experimental approaches to merging heritage with modernity, while highlighting the importance of studying how each design decision impacts both the urban experience and the public’s understanding of heritage.
Ultimately, this model may inform future strategies for engaging visitors in comprehending the dialogue between historic and contemporary architecture, ensuring a lasting balance between aesthetics, functionality, and sustainability.

Project Location

Prepared by the ArchUp Editorial Team

Don’t miss the chance to explore more from Architecture, Projects, and Architectural News on the ArchUp website.