Stone House, Kimyona and Bofia_The Tiled Cloud

Three projects in Riyadh – a home, an Asian restaurant, and a local eatery – illustrate Azaz Architects’ experimental esthetic, narrative use of space, and ability to strike a balance between cultural heritage and contemporary language.

Located in an exclusive suburban area of the capital, Stone House uses local stone to reinterpret the farmhouse as an evolving organism. The Arabic word wasl – “connection” – expresses the modular nature of this complex designed for future expansion. The local-stone volumes map out a path of discovery, where private areas gradually give way to spaces that open onto the horizon.

Kimyona, located in a residential building by Kenzo Tange, is distinguished by a strong conceptual narrative and an intentionally enigmatic esthetic. Inspired by film photography, the project transforms the developing process into a spatial experience, with dark interiors and red-neon lights suggesting a darkroom and a suspended steel structure recalling prints left out to dry. Reclaimed Chinese ceramic roof tiles celebrate the project’s Asian inspiration. A secret passage hidden behind a work of art and the measured use of light and shade amplify the atmosphere of mystery, giving form to a space that reinterprets the speakeasy theme and cultivates the sense of discovery implicit in the name kimyona, which means “strange” or “singular”.

Finally, Bofia_The Tiled Cloud fuses vernacular elements with a bold visual expressiveness in its reinterpretation of a variety of informal local eatery. White tiles, foamed aluminum, and essential lighting and geometries create an ethereal yet convivial environment dominated by a cloud-like suspended mass that defines the spatial experience. The project updates the traditional bofia, restoring its place on the urban culinary landscape.

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