Lighting the World’s Largest LEED Platinum Project
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
“The [Lab of the Year] judges were impressed with KAUST on multiple fronts. The total flexibility, high hat areas for research, ability to attract world-class talent, LEED Platinum status, livability, and sustainability all contributed to its selection as a winner.”
R&D Magazine
This new campus along the coast of the Red Sea houses the world’s most advanced collection of laboratories, equipment and instrumentation across the entire spectrum of science.
The project team had less than 30 months to design and construct 5.5 million square feet of complex space across 27 buildings. The campus features 2 million square feet of laboratory space spread across four interconnected, 500,000-sq.-ft. buildings. Exceptionally flexible building shells and universal floor plates accommodate virtually every lab type.
The campus is Saudi Arabia’s first LEED certified project and, at the time of its certification, was the world’s largest LEED Platinum project. HOK’s lighting design supported the LEED Platinum goal by achieving every credit possible. This includes satisfying the LEED SS-8 credit for reducing light pollution while still creating a spectacular nighttime environment on the campus.
LEED CERTIFICATION
LEED-NC Platinum
SIZE
5.5 million sq. ft. / 511,000 sq. m.
27 buildings
SERVICES
Architecture
Construction Administration
Facility Programming
Interior Design
Laboratory Planning
Landscape Architecture
Lighting Design
Master Planning
Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing
Engineering
Structural Engineering
AWARDS
AIA/ALA – Library Building Award
AIA Chicago – Design Excellence Awards – SustainABILITY Leadership Award – Citation of Merit
AIA Committee on the Environment – Top 10 Green Projects
AIA Houston – Design Award (KAUST Library)
AIA St. Louis – Honor Award
AIA San Francisco – Energy + Sustainability Merit Award (KAUST Library)
AIA San Francisco – Excellence in Architecture Merit Award (KAUST Library)
ASLA Georgia – Honor Award
Association of University Research Parks – Emerging Research and Science Park
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design – International Architectural Award
Congress for the New Urbanism – Charter Award
European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies – Green GOOD DESIGN Award
IIDA Northern California – IIDA Award (KAUST Library)
Interiors & Sources – Top 10 LEED Projects (#1 Ranking)
R&D Magazine – Lab of the Year
Sustain Magazine – International Project of the Year
NEWS
December 2011
“Interview: HOK’s Bill Odell on the Design of Saudi Arabia’s KAUST University, the World’s Largest LEED Platinum Project”
Inhabitat
9 June 2011
“Rising from the Desert: 2011 Lab of the Year”
R&D Magazine
November 2010
“KAUST”
Architectural Record
1 October 2010
“King Abdullah University of Science and Technology”
Interiors & Sources
July 2010
“King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)”
GreenSource
30 September 2009
“King Abdullah University of Science and Technology / HOK”
ArchDaily
Design
Architectural Record profiles HOK’s integrated design of the 5.5-million-sq.-ft. KAUST campus in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Read the story online or download a PDF of the print version.
