King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center Residential Community
This residential community at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC) serves as the home away from home for international researchers and their families. To attract the world’s best scientists, the neighborhood needed to be both amenity-rich and aesthetically striking.
HOK’s design features sleek glass-and-stone community buildings—including three apartment buildings, a rec center, natatorium, central dining facility, mosque, library, supermarket, bowling alley and shops—and 200 single-family homes with 11 different layouts. A massive sunshade structure in the heart of the neighborhood creates an outdoor gathering space for KAPSARC’s 1,900 residents.
KAPSARC is the first and the largest project outside of North America to achieve LEED for Homes certification. It was one of the first projects included in the LEED for Homes International Pilot Program. It’s also the largest LEED Neighborhood Development (ND) project in the Middle East and the largest LEED ND Stage 2 (built) project in the MENA region.
Designed by HOK, KAPSARC’s solar energy field was built over an area of 592,000 square feet and projected to feed 5,800 megawatt hours of renewable energy into the Kingdom’s electrical grid annually.