The futuristic-looking new headquarters of the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre (KAPSARC) on the outskirts of Riyadh has received LEED Platinum certification—the first of Zaha Hadid Architects’ projects to receive the title.
KAPSARC is LEED-Platinum certified.
KAPSARC is a non-profit dedicated to studying energy and their environmental impacts.
The new 230,000 square-foot campus comprises five buildings and cuts a striking figure against its desert surroundings. Now recently opened, Architectural Digest shares photos of the building designed by ZHA.
“Even after the loss of its eponymous visionary, Zaha Hadid Architects continues to churn out unique, shapely structures in the style of its Pritzker Prize–winning founder,” AD writes. “By optimizing the campus’s shape and orientation and outfitting it with solar panels and wind-catchers, the firm achieved a 45 percent reduction in estimated energy use. 40 percent of the building’s construction materials were sourced from a 500-mile radius; 30 percent of them are recycled; and 98 percent of all the building’s wood is certified by the FSC. Additionally, all the building’s water is recycled and reused for irrigation throughout its site.”
The building was opened to the public for Saudi Design Week 2017, and the Honeywell Smart Building Awards program named the project Saudi Arabia’s ‘smartest’ building due to its many eco-conscious features, reports inhabitat.com.
The 230,000-square-foot campus comprises five buildings: the Energy Knowledge Center; the Energy Computer Center; a Conference Center with an exhibition hall and a 300-seat auditorium; a Research Library; and the Musalla, a place for prayer.
