THE VELVET SANDS

Jeddah
Saudi Arabia

The Velvet Sands is an architectural and artistic project inspired by Land Art and the immersive work of James Turrell.

Currently under development on the outskirts of Jeddah, this visionary complex is designed to offer a unique spatial experience where light, sand, and built material merge in a fluid, almost dreamlike continuity.

Conceived as a mirage sculpted into the dunes, The Velvet Sands is not simply a place — it is a perception. An architecture that blends seamlessly into the desert landscape to better reveal its silent, sunlit beauty.

The concept was developed with the assistance of artificial intelligence, used not only as a tool for visualization and form generation, but also as a creative partner in imagining a new kind of space — where natural elements, human intuition, and digital intelligence converge to shape an immersive, contemplative world.

THOUGHT LIKE A MIRAGE!

URBAN CONCEPT / TERRITORIAL INTEGRATION

At the territorial scale, The Velvet Sands emerges as a gentle yet structuring gesture in the desert. The entire complex is organized according to a topographic logic, following the natural undulations of the site. Aerial views reveal a fluid arrangement of semi-buried domes, connected by a soft pedestrian network with no rigid grid.

Architecture becomes landscape: no vertical hierarchy, but rather an archipelago of forms in dialogue with the wind, the sun, and the shadows. This approach offers a new vision of urban space in desert environments — more organic, less imposed.

Urban Layout

The Main Pedestrian Promenade

THE DOME CONCEPT

The domes are the central element of the architectural experience. Each one functions simultaneously as a landmark, a shelter, and a sensory device. Inspired by the natural forms of eroded rock or lunar craters, they serve multiple purposes — exhibitions, contemplation, rest.
Their outer shell, made of stabilized sand and pigmented concrete, blends seamlessly with the surrounding ground, while the interior reveals a luminous, acoustically softened, almost sacred space. These domes become capsules of silence and light, where architecture invites slowness.

The Archictural Language

Interior Gallery Space

THE CENTRAL DOME

At the heart of The Velvet Sands lies the Central Dome — a welcoming and informational hub, and the main threshold to the underground world beneath the desert.

More than just a point of entry, this dome embodies the transition between the vast openness of the dunes and the intimate, shaded universe below.
From its curved, monumental interior, visitors descend into a subterranean realm that houses the grand shopping center: a refined network of galleries, luxury boutiques, immersive cinemas, and cultural spaces.

The Central Dome serves as both landmark and gateway — a symbolic anchor where orientation, encounter, and anticipation converge. Bathed in filtered light, it offers an initial moment of calm before the discovery of the hidden architecture that lies beneath the sands.

The Central Dome

The Reception Area

Beyond the Dunes, A World Awaits!

THE UNDERGROUND MALL

Beneath the desert surface, an unconventional shopping center unfolds below ground: carved into the earth, sheltered from the sun, it forms a network of cool, winding galleries. Far from conventional retail codes, this space celebrates Arab craftsmanship and culture in all its forms.

Visitors will find traditional carpet shops, art object galleries, ceramic workshops, perfumers, and even an immersive cinema projecting exotic and poetic films from the Arab world.
Every corner is conceived as a discovery, a sensory pause. Here, commerce becomes a cultural stroll — at the crossroads of memory and invention.

Access to the Underground World

Underground Retail Environment