Architectural Cases

The Noor Riyadh 2025 festival, under the discerning eye of lead curator Mami Kataoka and curators Sara Almutlaq and Li Zhenhua, orchestrated a captivating journey through the city's diverse landscape. Their collective expertise wove together a narrative that spanned Riyadh's historical heart to its bustling modern transit centers, transforming the urban environment into an accessible gallery for light art. The festival's central theme, 'In the Blink of an Eye,' cleverly mirrored the transient nature of light, the rapid evolution of Riyadh, and the deeper cultural threads that bind the city's past and present. This approach positioned the festival as a dynamic platform for public interaction with memory, imagination, and daily life, illustrating the power of light to unite communities across different eras and geographies.

The exhibition commenced its artistic voyage in Qasr Al Hokm, the foundational site of Riyadh, where contemporary installations thoughtfully engaged with ancient architectural forms and the city's rich historical memory. The curators meticulously ensured that these new artistic expressions complemented the existing mud-brick structures rather than overshadowing them, establishing a meaningful dialogue between the old and the new. This initial phase grounded the festival in Riyadh's profound historical context, offering a contemplative counterpoint to its swift urban expansion. Moving forward, the King Abdulaziz Historical Center, housing the National Museum and the nation's archives, served as an intermediary point. Here, artworks delved into concepts of belonging, historical preservation, and cultural continuity, with light acting as a medium that illuminated and transformed collective narratives.

The festival's culmination at the stc Metro Station propelled visitors into Riyadh's technological future, featuring installations that harnessed drones, projection mapping, kinetic systems, and algorithmic design. This futuristic setting immersed attendees in an environment shaped by speed, connectivity, and digital experiences. The strategic placement of art in active metro hubs ensured that the festival reached a broad audience, integrating seamlessly into their daily commutes and routines. Across all locations, interactivity was a fundamental curatorial principle, encouraging active participation from the public. Many installations invited individuals to physically engage with the art, reinforcing the idea that public art is not merely to be observed but to be experienced and felt, thereby strengthening community ownership and transforming artworks into shared social encounters.

The Noor Riyadh festival stands as a profound testament to the fusion of heritage and innovation, showcasing how artistic endeavors can illuminate a city's soul while embracing its future. It demonstrates a commitment to making art an integral part of urban life, fostering a sense of shared experience and collective memory. By bridging the past, present, and future through the universal language of light, the festival encourages introspection on identity and belonging in an ever-evolving world, reinforcing the vibrant spirit of human creativity and connection.

In a triumph of modern engineering and design, Archermit has brought to life a visionary project within the Nujiang River 72 Turns Canyon Scenic Area in Tibet. This infrastructure marvel, meticulously crafted over six years of high-altitude construction, reimagines the challenging topography of the Sichuan–Tibet Highway into an engaging and accessible experience for visitors. The centerpiece is a spectacular glass viewing platform, extending 37 meters from a sheer cliff face, providing unparalleled vistas into the Nujiang Grand Canyon. This daring structure symbolically transforms the legendary hairpin bends of the 'devil's road' into a 'heavenly road' in the sky, inviting adventurers to confront the vastness of nature from a unique perspective.

The primary architectural feature of the site is a magnificent loop, suspended an astonishing 130 meters above the canyon floor, echoing the winding paths of the historic highway. Its transparent laminated glass surface creates a thrilling sense of immersion, allowing an unobstructed view of the depths below, while the red weathering steel cladding pays homage to Tibetan cultural traditions and harmonizes with the rugged beauty of the surrounding landscape. Beyond the main platform, the project incorporates additional attractions, including a glass bridge spanning 50 meters above the Nujiang River, a thrilling zip line, a 'steps of courage' bridge, and an imposing 666-step ladder carved into the cliff. These elements collectively honor the incredible resilience and ingenuity of the original highway builders, who overcame immense challenges with limited resources in the 1950s, battling landslides, unstable terrain, and harsh weather conditions.

The construction process itself was an extraordinary feat of human endeavor. Situated at an elevation of 2,800 meters, the canyon presented formidable obstacles such as a lack of flat ground, narrow access roads, frequent rockfalls, and relentless winds. The team faced the challenge of transporting large machinery, necessitating the development of custom drill bits to penetrate the diverse rock layers. Foundations for the viewing platform required 39 piles, each manually drilled 25 meters deep by workers secured by ropes. Steel components were ingeniously divided into 46 sections and transported across the river using temporary cableways, reflecting the resourceful spirit of the highway's original construction. This ambitious project solidifies its place as a new iconic destination along China's G318, the scenic route to Lhasa, further enhancing the region's allure alongside natural wonders like Ranwu Lake and Laigu Glacier.

This pioneering project is a testament to human courage and ingenuity, transforming a historically challenging landscape into a breathtaking and accessible experience. It celebrates the spirit of overcoming adversity, inviting visitors to reflect on the monumental efforts of those who paved the way while offering a thrilling encounter with nature's grandeur. The integration of traditional cultural aesthetics with modern architectural innovation creates a harmonious blend of past and present, inspiring a sense of wonder and respect for both human achievement and the natural world.