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KACST Innovation Tower
KACST Innovation Tower
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Finalist, 2025 A+Awards, Commercial - Office - High Rise (16+ Floors)
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Other Projects by LAVA - Laboratory for Visionary Architecture
KACST Innovation Tower
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Finalist, 2025 A+Awards, Commercial - Office - High Rise (16+ Floors)
Type
STATUS
Built
YEAR
2019
SIZE
500,000 sqft - 1,000,000 sqft
The KACST Innovation Tower is a 17-storey office tower at the heart of the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST)—Saudi Arabia’s national science agency. As a site for the interdisciplinary development of technological transformation in Saudi society, LAVA developed a new organizational structure to enhance cross-pollination between teams, opening a new era of innovative collaboration in the region.
Composed around a set of atria, LAVA’s design responds to the common spatial organization issue of low interaction among employees through the conception of repeatable meeting units—or 'voxels.' The local architectural tradition of courtyard houses, or 'riads’, served as the blueprint, translating these cultural approaches to communication and design into a contemporary office tower.
Arranged through parametric planning, intricate stacks of five voxels rotate in interplay to fill the tower envelope. The resulting multi-level social environments cultivate informal, serendipitous encounters, blending spaces for interaction with areas for privacy and reflection, enhanced by thoughtful climatic, acoustic, and material treatments. This departs from the conventional approach of a single central atrium and hierarchical layout in tall office buildings and offers boundless spatial possibilities.
Alternately aligned toward the south and north, the atria additionally serve as sunshades and light diffusers across all levels and are core elements of the low-energy design. The façade’s parametric pattern of windows and fiber-reinforced concrete elements not only reflect the building’s spatial organization, the glass balustrades, full-storey glass walls, and interior glass partitions also reduce solar gain and manage light—holistically adapting the built environment to the local climate with optimized resource efficiency.
Majorly composed of locally sourced materials, the KACST Innovation Tower moves into a new paradigm by responding to the demands of future workspaces. As an iconic embodiment of Saudi Arabia’s innovative aspirations, the Innovation Tower is a new landmark in form and purpose for the region, rooted in the vast regional history of pioneering scientific achievement.
Composed around a set of atria, LAVA’s design responds to the common spatial organization issue of low interaction among employees through the conception of repeatable meeting units—or 'voxels.' The local architectural tradition of courtyard houses, or 'riads’, served as the blueprint, translating these cultural approaches to communication and design into a contemporary office tower.
Arranged through parametric planning, intricate stacks of five voxels rotate in interplay to fill the tower envelope. The resulting multi-level social environments cultivate informal, serendipitous encounters, blending spaces for interaction with areas for privacy and reflection, enhanced by thoughtful climatic, acoustic, and material treatments. This departs from the conventional approach of a single central atrium and hierarchical layout in tall office buildings and offers boundless spatial possibilities.
Alternately aligned toward the south and north, the atria additionally serve as sunshades and light diffusers across all levels and are core elements of the low-energy design. The façade’s parametric pattern of windows and fiber-reinforced concrete elements not only reflect the building’s spatial organization, the glass balustrades, full-storey glass walls, and interior glass partitions also reduce solar gain and manage light—holistically adapting the built environment to the local climate with optimized resource efficiency.
Majorly composed of locally sourced materials, the KACST Innovation Tower moves into a new paradigm by responding to the demands of future workspaces. As an iconic embodiment of Saudi Arabia’s innovative aspirations, the Innovation Tower is a new landmark in form and purpose for the region, rooted in the vast regional history of pioneering scientific achievement.
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