Mohammed Bin Salman Non-Profit City
- Client
- Misk Foundation
- Services
- Masterplanning, Landscape Architecture
- Sector
- Masterplan
- Location
- Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
A proposal for Riyadh’s planned non-profit innovation city
Mohammed Bin Salman Non-Profit City is a 344-hectare planned development in Riyadh commissioned by the Misk Foundation, an initiative established by HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to support education, entrepreneurship, and the creative economy under Vision 2030. In 2018, Benoy was invited to participate in an international design competition for the site, developing a landscape and urban design proposal. The programme encompassed a residential zone, hotels, offices and conference centres, and a cluster of cultural institutions focused on education, creative and digital media, technology, and the arts.
344 hectares
The wadi as central spine
A central wadi waterbody runs through the site, a natural asset whose ecological condition had deteriorated and whose potential as a structuring element for the development had not been realised. The landscape proposal placed the wadi at the heart of the masterplan, clustering the site’s cultural institutions along its edges to create a shared public realm that encourages interaction between different user groups throughout the day. The wadi’s water system would be enhanced and its banks planted with indigenous species, restoring its ecological function while establishing it as the primary public amenity of the new city.
A walkable, connected city
The landscape framework supports a walkable urban model, functional and flexible public spaces distributed across the site, asset clustering designed to maximise engagement between residents, visitors and the wider community, and a foundation for an integrated sustainable transport system as the city develops over time.
