King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra)

The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Arabic: مركز الملك عبد العزيز الثقافي العالمي), also known as Ithra (Arabic: إثراء, 'enrichment'), is a cultural centre situated in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It was built by Saudi Aramco and inaugurated by King Salman bin Abdulaziz on December 1, 2016.

It is operated by Saudi Aramco. The center is located where the first commercial Saudi oilfield was found in March 1938.

The center has a museum, library, cinema, theater, and exhibition halls. It was designed by the Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta. The center has been listed in Time magazine as one of the world's top 100 places to visit and attracted one million visitors in 2019.

Objective

Ithra was established by Saudi Aramco, the national oil corporation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The center's own stated aims is to “make a tangible and positive impact on human development by inspiring a passion for knowledge, creativity, and cross-cultural engagement for the future of the kingdom." At the start of the project, the initiative behind Ithra was to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy since oil, which dominates the country's economy, is limited. As Ithra developed, the motive behind it evolved to becoming a center of education and heritage while also promoting innovation and creativity to enrich the cultural life in Saudi.

Architecture and design

The building covers 80,000 square meters with its shape being inspired by the internal structural shape of oil-bearing rock formations. These rock formations are designed in a structure where three stones are on the ground while the fourth stone, the Keystone, is suspended and being carried by the other stones. This concept was executed to represent teamwork and how different components rely on one another. The Norwegian architectural firm Snøhetta designed the building and the UK professional services firm Buro Happold led the engineering design.

The levels of the building are arranged thematically and intended to suggest a progression through the ages. Areas dealing with history and the past are at the lowest levels, beneath ground level and the ground floor dealing with the present. The higher levels are mainly situated in the structure known as the Knowledge Tower, with the intention being that the knowledge communicated in the tower's teaching rooms will equip citizens for the future.

The location of Ithra was purposely chosen near Prosperity Well, which is Saudi Arabia’s first commercial oil well. The reason behind this was to show the shift from traditional energy sources like oil to energy from people’s spirits, capabilities, and creativity. Another strategic choice was using silver tubes to cover the structures which is similar to the pipes used to extract the oil.

Regarding the environmental point of view, the building was designed in accordance with prevailing LEED standards to minimize adverse ecological impact.