Occupying over 10 million square feet of land north of the capital Riyadh, the King Abdullah Financial District is a pioneering financial center for Saudi Arabia as well as all of the Middle East region.

WorksBureau was commissioned to design 3 parking garages for this ambitious project, totaling approximately 1.6 million square feet, varying in size, scale, and design. Sited in the outer rings of the city, these 3 buildings accommodate over 3,000 cars and form a unified “front door” for the King Abdullah Financial District. The building facades feature materials ranging from glass, metal and locally sourced stone. Interior lightwells allow sunlight to penetrate each of the 9 parking levels, 4 below grade, enriching the parking experience while providing easy and intuitive wayfinding.

Poulin + Morris developed a comprehensive environmental graphics and wayfinding sign program for each parking garage or “SkyPark,” guiding vehicles and pedestrians while providing consistent, dual-language (Arabic, English) information throughout. Project components include building identification; vehicular and pedestrian directional/wayfinding; as well as an overall public orientation system. Key interior elements which bind all project components and public spaces together are large-scale, color-coded wall graphics for parking level identification and wayfinding.

In keeping with the architectural material palettes of the buildings, glass, stainless steel, painted aluminum, and painted photopolymer were used for all sign types. The integration of graphic design with architecture was an essential element of this project, as was the selection of typography, materials, profiles, colors, and the like.

This project received a LEED Gold certification from the U. S. Green Building Council.