Um Alhamam is an old district in the city of Riyadh, mainly characterized by dense and even urban blocks on an irregular grid which coexist with diverse surrounding urban episodes. The triangular site is in the borders of the neighborhood, on the eastern sharp corner, facing an important infrastructure that runs parallel to Olaya Road, the axis of the recent urban growth.

The site is entirely occupied by a two storeys building with a typical local architecture which needs to be refurbished and enlarged in order to accommodate a mix of serviced apartments with facilities for temporary stays in the city.

Based on the existing presence, the strategy introduces a monolithic yet vibrant volume made of a series of stacked volumes, whose irregular stepped form emerges continuously from the neighborhood.  The new geometry is based on a modular tridimensional system, which repeats and yet variates, producing a rich articulation and unexpected and dynamic relationships with the context. The new volume is punctured by a series of regular openings which produce an altered rhythm due to the stepped blocks. The architectural envelope is enhanced by the light pink brick seamless façade, which also gives an overall and long-term high aesthetic value and material quality.

Internally the vertical and horizontal additions allow a new configuration of the spaces; playing with the new volume, typological variations are introduced within the repetitive scheme of the stacked floors. The residential program occupies most of the building with a mix of typologies that slightly change and grow at each floor; the corner and the top floor are eroded by the duplex units with patios and the public programs with a generous triangular terrace.

A complete furniture system has been designed for all the rooms; it’s made by a series of elemental and regular units which can be aggregated and adapted according to the space and the uses. A bright color palette of laminates combined with natural maple wood add extra variations to the system and gives a spark to the neutral tones of the architecture and interior finishes.