Mark Foster Gage

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TABLE OF CONTENTS INITIUM

Acknowledgments Foreword by Graham Harman Introduction by Mark Foster Gage I

SOJOURN TO SAUDI ARABIA 1 Meetings in Riyadh Historic Ad Diriyah II

THE CONTEXT OF ANTIQUITY

10 From Riyadh to Al Ula Ancient Mada’in Saleh Pristine ruins in sandstone On being purposefully lost in the desert III

DRAWING TERROIR

36 Sketches from the desert Selecting a site by helicopter Ideation through digital drawing IV

A VENERABLE GEOLOGY

60 Program requirements and deviations Sand, sandstone, sand and even more sand Sustainable engineering and analysis Power generation and infrastructure Reviving a historic stone carving industry Sketching architecture into rocks Modeling the site topography in clay Modeling the site topography with software V

ACCESS WITHOUT ROADS

86 Fusing the geometrical and the topographical Desert vehicle approaches to the resort Circulating through sandstone escarpments The still life: prayer towers and incense garden Hiding ancillary programs from view

VI

EVERY ROOM WITH A VIEW

110 Calculating residential unit arrays and stacks Sketch sizing residential unit interiors Rocks jutting into clean aesthetic interiors Digital models of unit types Selected floor plans in more detail Sketch revisions and material iterations Final renderings of suite interiors VII

REDISCOVERING ANCIENT DESIGN LANGUAGES 126 Dadanite and Nabatean design Bedouin and Saudi design A regional history of craft Mastering fractal recursion (FR) Mastering artificial intelligence (AI) From historic patterns to a new formal language VIII

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND FRACTAL RECURSION 140 Inventing a new language of architecture From history to 3D fractal sponges From 3D fractal sponges to deep 2D Fusing the old and new Translating AI and FR into 3D volumes IX

MULTI-USE TOWERS

194 Towers for observation and filtration Extrusions via AI and FR into vertical forms Iterations of towers to develop techniques Rebuilding selected towers in higher resolution Choreographing circulation knots Coiling circulation around towers X

ARCHITECTURE IN ITS HIGHEST RESOLUTION 232 Tennis exchanges between 2D and 3D High resolution 2D to 3D conversion techniques Architectural language prototypes The reception cube test Iterations to develop formal control 3D printing in metal to study intricacy Material research Next-generation stone carving

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XI

CORE WORKOUT

278 Circulation through central amenities core Circulation knots as Beaux-Arts marché Back of house circulation systems Reconstructed core with new design language Framing key guest vantage points Initial site sections Wall aesthetics for public spaces High-resolution façade languages Restaurant court development Shading and pools Circulation knots redesigned Materials for different building types Complex restaurant vaulting The aesthetics of circulation Integration with complex topography Fractal and AI ceiling and vaults The outdoor radiator vault Final core form set XII

BUILDING IN GEOLOGY

334 Rustications for isolated buildings Fractal/AI rustication Developing formal control of techniques Buildings nestled into ravines Geological and architecture interiors XIII

HIDDEN ARCHITECTURE MADE FOR SEEING 346 Remote desert viewing and shading structures Abstracted cultural visitation facility Interior outdoor spaces Hidden desert mini-pavilions XIV

AESTHETIC CHOREOGRAPHY

380 Framed views via circulation Selecting views for final images All elevations compiled Final aesthetic details considered An experiment with algorithmic etching In-house test renderings Final rendering collaboration

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COLORS, MATERIALS AND TEXTURES 404 Digital materials Monolithic material tests FR / AI interior tiling in 2D Reception cube interior tests Different color palettes for resort areas Circulation, bridges and arcades Vaulting from ancient Dadanite script XVI

THE PRESENTATION MODEL

428 Final CNC milled model base in high-density foam 3D-printed brass for public buildings Model photographs of final presentation Masterplan drawing of final model arrangement XVII

ISOLATED LUXURY VILLAS

438 A standardized but flexible villa system Sketches of a standard remote villa Observation towers for premium villas Topographical villa scenarios Final villa floor plans Final aerial view of a standard villa XVIII

FINAL BOARDING

454 Seven A1 final presentation boards Resort tower at sunset XIX

FINAL BOOKLET

464 The 53-page competition booklet Resort observatory at night XX

CODA

476 The final presentation experiences Life during a competition

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THE EDGE OF THE WORLD On an earlier trip to Saudi Arabia, I hired a driver to take me to Jebel Fihrayn, aka “The Edge of the World,” a rocky escarpment several hours northwest of Riyadh. This photograph shows our truck, the road, and the sublimely empty context of the drive. As the Kingdom only began

to allow tourist visas in 2019—three years after these photos were taken—this photo is a representative of the need for an updated tourist infrastructure as these historic and cultural destinations open up to the larger global community. At the moment, no Starbucks.

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50 SOME INITIAL IDEAS (TRIBUTE TO LEON KRIER) Here are simplistic drawings from my on-site sketchbook that were used to communicate our thoughts to the larger non-architect team. These were not part of the presentation process and were only for internal use, as we tend to eschew over-simplifying or infantilizing our design ideas. That is to say that our ultimate design may have been driven by such sketches, but it is in no way represented by them in

its final, complex, form. While we realize that simplistic sketches are all the rage to make architecture consumable in an Instagram world. We figured if such things need to be done, they should be done in the manner of the master himself, Leon Krier, whom I had the pleasure of teaching a design studio with at Yale.

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328 T H E L U N A R C A N O P Y: PAT T E R N A N D S T R U C T U R E These renderings highlight the design of the lunar canopy and show the complex patterning that is formed into vault shapes by being bent in two directions. The arch forms of the taller vaults rest on the arch forms on the lower vaults, thereby transferring their weight without the need

for additional columns. Our goal with this strategy was to minimize the columns required to touch the ground, leaving the garden level less obstructed and giving the lunar canopy the appearance of floating high above.

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390 UGLY SKETCHES: RECEPTION APPROACH These digital hand drawings show possible views of the approach sequence from the desert. The arrival sequence is choreographed to produce certain views of areas in a specific order. How to convey this idea about movement, in

a series of still images, proved difficult. We abandoned the above views, but continued with those of the recreational complex circulation, observatory and water filtration tower.

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391 U G LY S K E TC H E S : R E C R E AT I O N C E N T E R A P P R O A C H The above images show further development of the recreational complex tower, with the preliminary addition of material information. When determining these views, there are a vast array of variables—lighting type, direction, time of day, where the shadows are cast, what elements are emphasized, the focal length of the camera, etc.

While many architectural renderings seem to border on

downright deceit, we aim for photo-realism that shows the building as it would appear if it existed in reality given the information we have. As you can see in the above images, some of what we presented had to be guesswork as we didn’t have dimensional information for things like the foreground rock.

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