Mega-project Neom has unveiled Aquellum, which was designed by structure studios LAVA and Identify Structure inside a mountain and can be centered round an “underwater open sq.”.
Described by LAVA founder Alexander Rieck as an “ultra-luxury upside-down skyscraper”, the constructing will comprise lodge and business area, in addition to residential residences and “modern nodes”. It is going to be positioned alongside the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba in Saudi Arabia.
![The floating harbor near Aquellum](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/neom-aquellum-tobias-wassinger-alexander-rieck-nathalie-rozencwajg-upside-down-skyscraper_dezeen_2364_col_2-852x852.jpg)
It should have a floating marina that can be positioned within the sea subsequent to the mountain vary and would be the first level of entry for guests.
To enter Aquellum itself, guests will board a “specifically designed vessel” that may journey by way of a hidden underground channel. It will open into what the studios describe as an “underwater open sq..”
![The Neom Aquellum project](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/neom-aquellum-tobias-wassinger-alexander-rieck-nathalie-rozencwajg-upside-down-skyscraper_dezeen_2364_col_8-852x852.jpg)
“The Aquelleum is an ultra-luxury upside-down skyscraper,” Rieck stated. “The facade is inward-facing as an alternative of outward-facing.”
“Issues are inside out and the other way up,” he continued. “Usually, structure is concentrated outward.”
![The interior of the Aquellum building](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/neom-aquellum-tobias-wassinger-alexander-rieck-nathalie-rozencwajg-upside-down-skyscraper_dezeen_2364_col_23-852x852.jpg)
The constructing can be centered round a 100-meter-high central void that rises from the underwater plaza and is surrounded by a courtyard with strolling paths.
The photographs present a big, open concrete constructing with geometrically formed balconies protruding from the partitions, in addition to deep cutouts that may accommodate patios and decks, indoor ponds and waterfalls.
“It turns into this type of magic dice round which every thing unfolds,” stated Identify Structure founder Nathalie Rozencwajg.
The one exterior a part of the constructing, the roof, will comprise an area described as a cloud backyard. The tendencies present planted pathways organized above the hole, with the water beneath seen by way of the gaps within the floor.
The totally different ranges of the skyscraper can be linked by the boulevard, a path that winds by way of the courtyard.
![View of Aquellum from the inside](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/neom-aquellum-tobias-wassinger-alexander-rieck-nathalie-rozencwajg-upside-down-skyscraper_dezeen_2364_col_22-852x852.jpg)
Aquellum will even current an area known as The Generator, which can be devoted to analysis laboratories.
“It is an experiential area that may change you perpetually,” Rozencwajg stated. “It is a metaverse that you may bodily expertise.”
“You’ve got residences, lodges, cinemas, museums and The Generator, which is that this analysis lab that may entice creators to return and work together and new concepts will emerge,” she continued.
![The roof garden at the Neom project in the Gulf of Aqaba](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2024/01/neom-aquellum-tobias-wassinger-alexander-rieck-nathalie-rozencwajg-upside-down-skyscraper_dezeen_2364_col_14-852x852.jpg)
Aquellum is the most recent Neom undertaking to be unveiled within the Gulf of Aqaba and follows the Leyja luxurious lodge trio, the Siranna hexagonal pillar lodge, the jagged Epicon skyscrapers, the Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura designed Utamo and the coastal yachting metropolis Norlana.
The tasks are the most recent to be introduced as a part of Neom, which is likely one of the world’s largest and most controversial developments and contains plans for a 170-kilometre metropolis known as The Line.
It has been criticized on human rights grounds, together with by human rights group ALQST, which reported that three males have been sentenced to demise after being “forcibly evicted” from the Neom web site.
Final yr, specialists on the UN Human Rights Council expressed “alarm” on the imminent executions. Saudi Arabia responded to the UN by denying that abuses had taken place.
Pictures and movies courtesy of Neom.