With its completion at the end of 2022, Tadawul Tower in Riyadh awaits only final interior work before its expected grand opening in a few months’ time. Designed by architects Nikken Sekkei, the 200-meter tall building is located in a prominent area in Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), the first such district of scale in the Middle East. The tower includes the Tadawul Head Office, Sky Lobby, the Tadawul Club and Learning Center, tenant offices, data center, conference center, and retail venues.
Tadawul Tower, formerly known as the Saudi Stock Exchange Headquarters, stands in the heart of the KAFD, among five other high-rises grouped around a plaza. The “Media Wall”, a large, high-resolution LED screen located in the Forum space of the ground floor Atrium, is one of the largest of its kind, and enables the Stock Exchange to use the location for IPOs and other events in a setting commensurate with its aspirations as a primary regional financial market.
A dynamic shape was generated by morphing a rectangular floor plate from the lower level of the tower structure into a pentagon shape at its top. The shape also accommodates the client office’s atrium in the center, creating an icon of timeless elegance for the Stock Exchange. The Tower’s low-rise portions are set back or protrude at the podium to accommodate pedestrian activity, housing grade-A tenant offices. The angled top blends in with the surrounding buildings’ varied heights. This form also allows an unobstructed view of other buildings in the city. With the centrally located atrium and head office facilities located in the upper portion of the Tower, the design maximizes natural lighting. The star-shaped roof louver protects machinery and the skylight from strong sunlight while symbolizing the structure’s role as the Middle East economy’s guiding star.
The project’s minimal energy use, relative to traditional towers in the region, is a major achievement for a high-level indoor environment. The Forum and Sky Lobby welcome visitors with design themes of “The Oasis” and “Sky Wadi” respectively. Both were inspired by regional nature and employ greenery and moving water in their interior landscapes. The project adapts high performance glass glazing with a low shading coefficient while maintaining high visible light transmittance (allowing more natural light). The project received LEED-CS Gold certification and succeeded in establishing a Tier IV-certified data center.
Taken together, these virtues make Tadawul Tower a one-of-a-kind Saudi success story – well before its grand opening — as it attracts high-profile blue-chip tenants. Global players in the tech, legal, financial, and management consulting sectors remain keen on the building’s international specifications, sustainability, floor efficiency, and sophistication, as they see that their needs have been incorporated into a world-class design.