Sunday 12 December 2010

Aga Khan Architecture awards - Wadi Hanifa in Saudi Arabia





The next Agha Khan award for architecture was given to the wetlands of Wadi Hanifa on the largest river next to Riyadh
Over 120 km, the Wadi was a dump, neglected for decades. The authorities decided to implement a change. With the help of  Moriyama & Teshina planners from Canada and Buro Happold, the Wadi since 2001 is on a rebirth mode. Alive.
The wetlands were designed to become a recreational area, it allowed the enhancement of agricultural land, and it has biological treatment plant to purify the water.
If all dumps were turned into gardens, would that make planet earth happier?
















Photos provided by the Agha Khan Architecture awards
Link to the website

1 comment:

Unknown said...

this reminds me of Betsy Damon's "Living Water Project" in Chengdu, China that was completed in 1998. It cleans the water using only natural methods of the main river that runs through the city of 9 million people as well as provides a lovely park of flowing water and greenery...