Contextual Intelligence / Concept and Narrative

The Astrolabe

Riyadh

Program

Cultural

Status

2nd Stage Competition

Practice Area

Design Advisory and Concept Development

Area

25 ha

CONTEXT

Astrolabe was developed for an invited competition commissioned by the Royal Commission for Riyadh City, with support from our partner Squint/Opera. While initially framed as a gateway structure, the studio reframed the brief as a broader spatial and cultural proposition. Positioned at the western edge of the city, the project explores the idea of arrival, proposing the gateway as both a landmark object and a spatial system, a terrain of orientation, reflection, and civic potential.

Aerial CGI of the Riyadh West Gateway showing Tyen Masten Studio's circular concrete ring system embedded in the desert edge landscape.

A field of rings and walkways inscribed into the desert edge, reimagining the gateway as landscape rather than object.

Site plan showing the full 25-hectare layout of the Astrolabe proposal with topographic contours, radial axes, and spatial distribution of built elements.

Site-wide view of the physical model placed on plinth, illustrating the project's conceptual clarity and spatial resolution across desert terrain.

Architectural elevation drawing of the Riyadh West Gateway, depicting the main concrete ring and its structural composition at civic scale.

A civic gateway composed as a field of rings, walkways, and observatories aligned to the rhythms of the desert.

Close-up of the Astrolabe physical model highlighting the embedded ring structures and sectional topography of the Riyadh desert edge.

DESIGN INTENT

The design draws its conceptual and organisational logic from the astrolabe, a historical instrument used to chart time, space, and celestial position. Its geometry establishes a spatial framework, inscribing circular forms into the desert landscape to create a field of alignments and thresholds. The project avoids monumentality in favour of a layered encounter with territory, cosmology, and civic scale.

Conceptual diagram showing the organisational logic of the Astrolabe project, based on radial geometry and programmatic alignment within the desert site.

The geometry draws on Islamic instruments and spatial traditions, aligning movement and program with cycles of time and terrain.

Roof plan of the Riyadh West Gateway showing structural layout, formal logic, and alignment with solar orientation.

Aerial view of the physical model showing the full extent of the Astrolabe site, its radial geometry, and the terrain-led design approach.

Section drawing cutting through the main ring structure, illustrating spatial layering, program zones, and material articulation.

Street-level CGI showing approach toward the gateway rings from the city, with the architectural form registering against the desert horizon.

RESOLUTION AND OUTCOME

Architecturally, the scheme is composed of cast concrete rings, steel bridges, and textured landforms, calibrated to the site’s topography, views, and solar movement. Embedded programs, including observation platforms, visitor facilities, and shaded walks, are organised within a continuous spatial system. The resulting ensemble is both infrastructural and atmospheric, offering moments of pause and collective orientation within the vastness of the surrounding desert.

Mid-range CGI showing two primary concrete rings establishing programmatic scale and spatial orientation across the Astrolabe site.

Programmatic elements are embedded within the landform, including a visitor centre, shaded pathways, and an observation platform beneath the main gate.