Aspen — New York — Como — Dubai
Internal area
Completed
Status
2023
Completed
8,400
Plot
Location
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Type
Desert retreat — new build
Scope
Architecture, interiors, landscape
Palette
Rammed earth · Local sandstone · Brass mesh · Palm wood
Overview
A weekend retreat for a Riyadh family, twenty minutes beyond the city edge. The brief asked for sleeping for fourteen, a majlis that works for both family nights and formal receiving, and interiors that stay comfortable when the shamal blows.
The brief
Seven bedrooms, majlis, dining for sixteen, pool court, staff rooms, majlis garden. Full privacy from neighbouring plots; framed views only to the escarpment.
Palette
Case notes
How it
was built.
Five notes from the job — the constraints that shaped the plan, and what the structure, interiors and landscape did about them.
A flat plateau plot exposed on three sides. Soil testing showed the site's own earth suitable for rammed-earth walls, so the structure literally comes from the ground it stands on.
600 mm load-bearing rammed-earth walls on a ring beam; steel only where the majlis spans 10 m. Sandstone rainscreen to the weather faces; brass mesh screens filter low sun.
Palm-wood joinery, lime plaster, stone floors with radiant cooling. The majlis sits one step down with a double-height volume and a single high window tracking the sun.
Walled courts with one olive tree each; gravel and stone only — no lawn. Night lighting kept low and warm to protect the dark sky.
Thermal mass plus night purging handles most of the cooling load; high-efficiency VRF tops up peak weeks. Solar thermal for hot water; pool shaded by the house itself.
Star-court at dusk — sandstone, brass mesh
Timeline
Team
Architecture + interiors
SELA Studio
Earth-wall specialist
Subcontract package
MEP engineer
Riyadh practice
Landscape
SELA with local nursery
Project data
