RIYADH
CAMP
مخيم الرياض
A camp drawn
into the wadi.
A day-and-night camp on open desert ground below the Al-’Urmah escarpment, north of Riyadh. Instead of a grid of tents, the design follows the land: one curving sand loop leaves the car park, threads past the reception and the majlis tents, opens into a round gathering court, and continues to an amphitheatre, a yoga deck, a food-truck court and the start of the hiking trails. The old falaj shafts on the site are kept as landmarks along the way. Everything is light — canvas, timber, rope and woven Sadu — so the camp sits on the sand rather than in it.
The site reading, the camp layout and landscape design — arrival, car park, paths, zones, shade, seating and lighting — the design visualisations, the technical drawings and the BOQ (bills of quantities) were prepared by Mohamed Bider for AMSY Group.
- Site reading
- Camp layout & zoning
- Landscape & paths
- Shade, seating & lighting
- Visualisation
- Technical drawings
- BOQ — bills of quantities
Curving sand loop linking every part of the camp.
Zones: arrival, reception, majlis, gathering court, amphitheatre, yoga, food court, trails.
Round gathering court at the heart of the plan.
Designed for the day, the sunset and the night under the stars.
Below the
escarpment.
The site lies on a broad wadi floor north of Riyadh, beside the road and facing the long cliff of the Al-’Urmah escarpment — open ground with low desert shrubs and a line of old falaj shafts.
- 1Riyadh Camp — site survey, September 2025
- 400 m walking radius
- Setting
- Wadi floor below the Al-’Urmah escarpment
- Access
- Directly from the road, with a looped arrival drive
- On site
- Old falaj shafts, desert shrubs, open sand
The site today.
The drone survey of September 2025: an open plot beside the road, the escarpment on the horizon, and the stone-lined falaj shafts that the layout keeps as features.
Studies.
The camp zoned along one loop, taken apart in layers, cut through and modelled on the ground. Select a study.
Materials
& colours.
Sand and stone from the site, weathered timber posts and decks, natural canvas shade, Sadu weaving and red leather for the majlis, natural rope, black steel for lights and frames, and the grey-green of the desert shrubs.
Arrival.
The camp announces itself from the road with a carved stone sign, then a timber gateway and a hiking start point lead walkers out towards the escarpment.
The camp.
From above, the loop and its zones; on the ground, the majlis lounges, the gathering court, the yoga deck, the food-truck court, play and the framed views of the escarpment.
After dark.
At night the camp is lit low — lanterns in the majlis, warm light on the food trucks, a glowing sign at the road and a ring of path lights under the stars.
Scope
Site survey and reading, camp layout and zoning, landscape and path design, shade structures, seating, play, viewpoints, signage and lighting concepts, design visualisation, technical drawings and BOQ.
Status: design, 2025.
Design: AMSY Group. Sources: design renders and the September 2025 drone survey of the site.
The site reading, the camp layout and landscape design — arrival, car park, paths, zones, shade, seating and lighting — the design visualisations, the technical drawings and the BOQ (bills of quantities) were prepared by Mohamed Bider for AMSY Group.