(1981) Minhal Holiday Inn

client : HRH Prince Faysal Bin Khaled
typology : Hospitality
services : Architecture
where : Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Retrospective 1981-1990 video: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CPxSImAji4m/

This hotel is located on the old airport road of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is built on 8000 sqm land and has 275 rooms and suites. It also has all the necessary facilities of a five stars hotel, from conference rooms to ball rooms, dining rooms, restaurants and also a swimming pool.

The hotel has very wide floors and is only 5 stories high. The architectural concept is of a Middle Eastern character. In plan, it is laid in a similar manner to traditional houses. It has a middle courtyard surrounded by the hotel blocks and away from the main street. It provides privacy, intimacy and a sense of a welcoming home. It contains gardens, sitting areas and restaurants, all around the central swimming pool. All rooms overlook this middle courtyard. The plan helps maintain the comfort of all guests by keeping all spaces as far away as possible from the noise of the busy airport road.

In volume, the building blocks are simple and elegant. The design is a modern expression of traditional Islamic architecture in form and in aesthetics. This is illustrated with the use of large walls and cladding of natural stone of only two colors. This cladding is laid in horizontal courses without interrupting the vertical movement of different openings around the facades. It is part of one total volumetric composition that makes the whole complex a complete unit.