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King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) Metro Station

Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

º£½ÇÊÓƵ brought forward-thinking engineering and design solutions to support Riyadh’s need for a resilient, high‑performing transit system. Riyadh’s population has more than doubled since 1990, reaching over seven million people, and it is expected to rise to approximately 8.5 million within the next decade. The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) commissioned the development of the Riyadh Metro, an entirely new public transit system for the city, comprising six lines covering 176 km (110 miles).

The network began opening in phases in December 2024, and is designed to transport up to 3.6 million passengers a day by 2030, significantly reducing the number of car journeys throughout the city.

The King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) Metro Station is one of three iconic stations on Riyadh’s new Metro, forming an integral part of the Arriyadh Strategic Public Transport Plan. Now fully operational, it serves as an above ground interchange for Line 1 (Blue Line), the terminus for Line 4 (Yellow Line) connecting passengers to the airport, and an interchange for Line 6 (Purple Line). The future KAFD monorail will also be accessible from the station via a dedicated skybridge.

º£½ÇÊÓƵ provided multidisciplinary expertise for both the KAFD Station and the STC Metro Station (formerly Olaya Station), working closely with Zaha Hadid Architects for KAFD and Gerber Architekten for Olaya.

The King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) Metro Station is one of three iconic stations on Riyadh’s new metro system.

A series of inclined steel columns create the central structure above the basement box, upon which the platforms and railway lines are mounted.

Our teams conducted a series of studies and assessments to ensure there would be no magnetic interference between the different electrical infrastructure systems

We used digital modelling technology to analyse and reverse engineer the building systems strategy alongside the architectural vision for the complex’s distinctive facade.

Challenge

The KAFD station, one of 88 stations planned to serve the Riyadh Metro network, has been conceived as an iconic landmark and is one of the largest stations on the system. The 45,000m² metro station, which opened in December 2024, now serves the King Abdullah Financial District – one of 14 giga projects under development in Saudi Arabia as part of the Vision 2030 strategy to diversify the economy beyond oil. When fully completed, KAFD will provide more than 3 million m² of real estate, spanning commercial, residential, retail, entertainment and educational facilities.

º£½ÇÊÓƵ has had a long-standing relationship with the wider KAFD development, with our multidisciplinary teams supporting the project over many years and working alongside various architects to deliver expertise across a broad range of specialisms.

Designed by the late Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, the metro station features six platforms across four public floors, together with two levels of underground car parking. It is fully integrated within the urban context of the financial district, responding to the functional needs of a multimodal transport hub and supporting the district’s long-term vision.

The project presented a range of technical challenges – from the structural requirements of such a complex building to the detailed MEP considerations. A metro station of this scale required significant built in resilience, with dual electrical supply sources feeding four transformers that power not only the station itself but also the metro lines and signalling systems.

Solution

A series of inclined steel columns create the central structure above the basement box, upon which the platforms and railway lines are mounted. This works effectively as a separate structure to the facade elements, which stand alone as an external envelope.

The landmark building facade is supported by a series of primary structural steel arches spanning individually in the longitudinal direction and forming a movement resisting frame spanning over the cross-section of the building. The primary arches are supported predominantly at mezzanine slab level but also at the ground floor slab level. The facade between primary arches is supported by a secondary steel frame designed to resist the cladding weight in combination with environmental loads – accommodating both wind and temperature change.

Our MEP team carried out a vital role of managing the stakeholders and other specialist designers involved in the wider network. A high‑resilience electrical infrastructure (MV/LV) was central to the work, supporting railway electrification and signalling, the station building, and fire‑engineered ventilation and safety systems.

Our teams conducted a series of studies and assessments to ensure there would be no magnetic interference between the different electrical infrastructure systems. We delivered a series of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) based digital models to illustrate the most efficient and impactful ways of ventilating the station and optimising the smoke extraction in the event of a fire.

Our MEP and energy teams also used digital modelling technology to analyse and reverse engineer the building systems strategy alongside the architectural vision for the complex’s distinctive facade and the two district cooling substations that had already been allocated to the plot. This was critical to successfully meet the maximum cooling capacity allocation to the new station.

The ventilation solutions are fully integrated into the ceilings of the concourse, ensuring there are no visible grilles to detract from the architectural vision for the interiors. Similarly, parametric tools were used to ensure the lighting worked successfully within the complex geometries of the interior spaces.

We also worked closely with the facade engineers, NewTecnic, and the architects, to ensure the successful drainage of rainwater (and sand during sandstorms) from the troughs and valleys created across the roof by the distinctive wave-like shapes of the building’s facade. A rainwater retention tank in the basement holds water and releases it steadily into the city’s drainage systems to avoid flash flooding during storms. Some of the rainwater is also retained to support toilet flushing and reduce the potable water load of the station.

The station’s design prioritises connectivity. Predicted rail, car and pedestrian traffic across the site has been modelled, mapped and structured to optimise internal circulation and avoid congestion. The resulting configuration is a three-dimensional lattice, defined by a sequence of opposing sinewaves (generated from the repetition and frequency variation of the station’s daily traffic flows). These sinewaves act as the spine for the building’s circulation and mirror the contours of the facades.

In addition to the construction of the new lines, a variety of relevant transit systems and associated infrastructure, including tunnels, stations, depots, stabling facilities, and operation control centres, were also required. Our bridge engineering team led the design of an elevated section of line, where a 135m curved bridge (post-tensioned balanced cantilever) runs from KAFD station before re-joining the line. Working closely with a range of specialist subcontractors and consultants, including AECOM and Atkins, our bridge team produced a scheme that minimised impact to surrounding works and underground utilities, while also providing an elegant design.

Value

The project extends beyond a simple station typology, emphasising the building’s role as a dynamic, multifunctional public space. Its design positions the station at the heart of a network of pathways, skybridges and metro lines envisioned within the KAFD masterplan. Regular design workshops were held in Riyadh with our teams and specialist contractors to ensure best‑practice methods were consistently shared across the design team. These insights were then communicated to the client’s technical team through structured design presentations at key stages of the project.

Following the initial design phases, our multidisciplinary team continued to provide construction‑stage support across both KAFD Metro Station and STC Metro Station (Olaya).

The station achieved LEED Gold certification in October 2024, with its design integrating future opportunities for additional renewable energy systems and enhanced environmental performance.