Najdi mud-brick architecture is one of Saudia Arabia’s most symbolic regional styles, and its crenellated lime-washed parapets, cuneiform vents, wall striations, and cut limestone bases provide instantly recognizable iconography, as well as memories of old Riyadh and landmarks such as Qasr al-Hukm and Al Diriyah.

In the Shams ArRiyadh community, these motifs are given a continued presence through sympathetic abstraction, and by paying attention to the material quality and scale of the tall villa walls. Thus, mud-brick is replaced by indigenous limestone, cuneiform vents become shadowed recesses above triangulated window heads, and the limestone bases are differentiated from horizontally striped upper walls to produce a contemporary aesthetic that has subtle but unmistakable connections to the much admired local building traditions.