The King Abdullah Financial District is one gigantic construction site right now, and the public isn’t allowed anywhere on to it, so I have tried photographing it from various perspectives, but there is inevitably some obstacle in the way, or it’s too far away, or it has to be a drive-by shot and terribly distorted. I think when it’s finished it will be spectacular with all these innovative buildings plus a metro station designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid that promises to be quite amazing http://www.dezeen.com/2013/05/16/king-abdullah-financial-district-metro-station-by-zaha-hadid-architects/ I wish we were going to be here when the project is completed, but that probably won’t be until around 2017, and for sure they won’t let us back in as tourists just to see it!
The KAFD will consist of 59 towers in an area of 1.6 million square meters for multiple uses. It is considered to be a "window to modernity" in the kingdom since there will be no separation of the sexes in the complex, unlike everywhere else and especially in ultra conservative Riyadh. A very interesting article that discusses this project and others is here http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/arts/design/13desert.html?adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1368285519-dDLdOrrJq0dBnkPfnS4Qjw&_r=0
Night light in Barcelona, posted earlier:
