AtkinsRealis Design Profile — The Mukaab's Lead Architectural and Engineering Firm

AtkinsRealis Design Profile

AtkinsRealis, headquartered in Montreal, Canada, serves as the lead architectural design firm for The Mukaab — the 400-meter cube-shaped supertall structure at the center of the $50 billion New Murabba development in Riyadh. Formerly known as SNC-Lavalin before its 2023 rebranding, the firm brought decades of global engineering experience to what may become the most structurally challenging building project in human history. The Mukaab’s 400-meter height, 400-meter width, and 400-meter length create 2 million square meters of interior floor space — volume sufficient to contain 20 Empire State Buildings — and present engineering challenges that no architectural firm has ever confronted at this scale.

Firm Background and Capabilities

AtkinsRealis operates across nuclear, transportation, infrastructure, defense, and urban development sectors with approximately 36,000 employees globally. The firm’s architectural division has delivered landmark projects across the Middle East, including master planning work in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. Their engineering capabilities span structural design, environmental systems, transportation infrastructure, and digital design tools — a breadth of expertise critical for a project that integrates structural engineering, immersive technology systems, and urban planning within a single structure.

The firm’s rebranding from SNC-Lavalin to AtkinsRealis in September 2023 coincided with a strategic refocus toward sustainable engineering and technology-forward design. The Mukaab appointment positions AtkinsRealis at the pinnacle of architectural ambition — the firm responsible for translating the most structurally unprecedented building concept into buildable engineering documentation.

The Mukaab Design Challenge

The Mukaab’s cube geometry creates structural challenges fundamentally different from conventional supertall towers. Traditional skyscrapers distribute loads vertically through central cores and perimeter columns, with floor plates narrowing toward the summit. The Mukaab maintains its 400-meter width at every level, requiring structural solutions for:

Lateral Load Management — At 400 meters of flat facade exposed to wind, The Mukaab presents a wind load surface area dramatically larger than any tapered tower. The structural system must resist wind forces across a 160,000-square-meter facade without the aerodynamic benefit of tapering. The triangular-shaped exterior cladding inspired by modern Najdi architectural style — the traditional building vernacular of central Saudi Arabia — serves structural as well as cultural functions, potentially reducing wind loading through surface geometry.

Interior Span Engineering — The holographic dome and central spiral tower require vast column-free interior spaces. Engineering clear spans of 100+ meters at multiple levels within a 400-meter cube demands structural steel solutions unlike any conventional building. The $1 billion structural steel contract for 1 million tonnes of steel reflects this extraordinary material requirement — making The Mukaab the expected heaviest building in the world, approximately four times the weight of Bucharest’s Parliament building.

Foundation Design — Supporting what will be the heaviest building ever constructed requires foundation engineering at unprecedented scale. Over 1,000 of 1,200 planned foundation piles had been installed by October 2024, with 14 million cubic meters of earth excavated (86% completion as of that date). Each pile must transfer loads through Riyadh’s limestone substrate to bedrock, with the total foundation system designed for loads that no previous building has imposed on its site.

Technology Integration Architecture — Unlike conventional buildings where MEP (mechanical, electrical, plumbing) systems serve occupant comfort, The Mukaab’s building systems must support an immersive technology infrastructure including the holographic dome display surface, an estimated 15,000-25,000 spatial audio speakers, olfactory and haptic systems, and a compute cluster of 15,000-25,000 GPUs for AI content generation. AtkinsRealis must design conduit pathways, structural supports, power distribution, and cooling systems for technology loads that conventional building design software does not model.

Najdi Architectural Language

AtkinsRealis’s design for The Mukaab’s exterior draws from the Najdi architectural tradition of central Saudi Arabia — characterized by geometric patterns, thick walls, angular forms, and decorative elements derived from the desert landscape. The triangular cladding panels reference the geometric patterns found in historical Najdi buildings like those preserved at Diriyah’s At-Turaif UNESCO site. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s announcement of the New Murabba project specifically emphasized its connection to the Murabba Palace — the historical residence that gives the district its name.

This cultural design integration serves multiple purposes. For international visitors, the Najdi-inspired exterior creates a distinctly Saudi visual identity that differentiates The Mukaab from generic supertall structures worldwide. For Saudi citizens, the design roots the world’s most technologically ambitious building in national cultural heritage, positioning it as an evolution of Saudi architectural tradition rather than an imported Western design. For Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 tourism strategy targeting 150 million annual visitors by 2030, the building’s recognizable silhouette creates an instantly iconic landmark — comparable to the Sydney Opera House’s sails or the Burj Khalifa’s tapered spire.

AtkinsRealis Middle East Portfolio

AtkinsRealis’s appointment as Mukaab lead designer builds on extensive Middle East project experience. The firm has delivered significant infrastructure and building projects across the Gulf Cooperation Council states, providing the regional construction knowledge essential for managing Riyadh’s extreme climate conditions (summer temperatures exceeding 45 degrees Celsius), local material sourcing, and compliance with Saudi Arabian building codes and Vision 2030 development standards.

The firm’s Middle East operations include transportation infrastructure (metro systems, highways, airports), urban development (master planning, mixed-use complexes), water and environmental engineering, and defense infrastructure. This portfolio demonstrates AtkinsRealis’s capacity to manage complex, multi-billion-dollar projects in the Gulf region — though none has approached The Mukaab’s structural complexity or technology integration requirements.

Comparison with Global Architectural Firms on Supertall Projects

The Mukaab appointment places AtkinsRealis in the elite tier of supertall building designers, alongside firms responsible for the world’s tallest structures:

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) designed the Burj Khalifa (828 meters) — the world’s tallest building. SOM’s buttressed core structural system enabled the Burj Khalifa’s record height. However, the Burj Khalifa’s tapered form reduces wind loads and structural material requirements compared to The Mukaab’s constant-width cube.

Gensler designed the Shanghai Tower (632 meters) — the world’s second-tallest building. The Shanghai Tower’s twisted form reduces wind loads by 24% compared to a non-twisted profile. The Mukaab’s flat facades provide no such aerodynamic advantage.

Smith Gill designed Jeddah Tower (under construction, planned 1,000+ meters). While taller than The Mukaab, Jeddah Tower’s tapered triangular form creates a conventional supertall structure. The Mukaab’s cube form is structurally a different category of challenge.

AtkinsRealis’s differentiation among these peers is not height but volumetric complexity. The Mukaab contains more interior volume than any other building ever designed — 64 million cubic meters — and must integrate technology systems that no other building has attempted at this scale.

Construction Timeline and Design Delivery

AtkinsRealis’s design documentation delivery follows the phased construction schedule documented in our construction timeline dashboard. The excavation phase (Phase 1, largely complete) required foundation engineering documentation. The superstructure phase (Phase 2) requires structural engineering for the steel framework. The building envelope phase (Phase 3) requires cladding design and environmental system specifications. The technology integration phase (Phase 4) requires coordination with Falcon’s Creative Group and technology vendors to finalize display mounting, audio distribution, and environmental system infrastructure.

The January 2026 construction suspension — reported by Reuters as part of a broader Vision 2030 megaproject review — affects construction activity but AtkinsRealis’s design and engineering work can continue independently. New Murabba’s participation in MIPIM 2026 in Cannes in March 2026 signals continued commitment to the project vision, and design documentation development is critical path work that must be complete before construction resumes.

Forward-Looking Design Considerations

Several design decisions remain unresolved that will significantly affect AtkinsRealis’s final engineering:

Dome Technology Selection — Whether the holographic dome uses LED tiles, holographic film, projection mapping, or a hybrid approach determines structural loads (LED panels weigh 10-15 kg/m² versus 1-3 kg/m² for projection screens), power distribution requirements (300-600W/m² for LED versus 50-150W/m² for projection), and cooling loads. At dome scales of 500,000-2,000,000 square meters, these per-unit differences create aggregate engineering impacts measured in thousands of tonnes and hundreds of megawatts.

Micro-LED Technology Timeline — If micro-LED panels mature on schedule (projected at $1,000-2,500/m² by 2030 with 50-70% thinner profiles than conventional LED), the dome’s structural requirements change significantly. AtkinsRealis must design structural systems flexible enough to accommodate multiple display technology scenarios.

Seismic and Environmental Design — Riyadh’s seismic zone classification, sandstorm loading, and thermal expansion across a 400-meter steel structure in temperature ranges from 5 degrees to 50+ degrees Celsius create environmental design challenges specific to this project and location.

The global experiential market’s projected growth from $132 billion (2025) to $543.45 billion (2035) provides the commercial context justifying AtkinsRealis’s engineering investment. Saudi Arabia’s $196 billion in awarded tourism contracts since Vision 2030’s launch in 2016 demonstrates sustained commitment at national scale. The SAR 180 billion ($48 billion) projected GDP contribution from New Murabba alone positions AtkinsRealis’s work as foundational to Saudi Arabia’s economic transformation.

For analysis of The Mukaab’s construction progress, see our construction timeline dashboard. For technology systems that AtkinsRealis must accommodate, see our immersive tech vertical. For visitor experience implications of architectural decisions, see our visitor coverage. For premium architectural intelligence, contact info@mukaabexperiences.com.

BIM and Digital Twin Integration

AtkinsRealis’s design process for The Mukaab employs Building Information Modeling (BIM) at unprecedented complexity — the digital model must encompass not only conventional building systems (structure, MEP, facade) but also immersive technology infrastructure (display mounting, speaker positions, sensor networks, edge computing enclosures, fiber-optic routing). The resulting BIM model serves as a digital twin of the building during construction and operations, enabling clash detection between structural elements and technology infrastructure, construction sequence optimization, and ongoing facilities management.

The digital twin concept extends beyond construction planning to operational management. A real-time digital twin of The Mukaab — updated continuously with sensor data from the building’s IoT network — enables predictive maintenance (identifying equipment likely to fail before failure occurs), energy optimization (modeling HVAC adjustments that reduce energy consumption while maintaining visitor comfort), and experience simulation (testing new dome content and environmental configurations in the digital twin before deploying them in the physical building). AtkinsRealis’s digital engineering capabilities — developed across nuclear, defense, and transportation infrastructure projects — provide the modeling sophistication required for a digital twin of this complexity.

The BIM model’s coordination with Falcon’s Creative Group’s attraction designs requires interoperability between architectural BIM software and entertainment design tools. Theme park attractions are typically designed in entertainment-specific software (AutoCAD with custom libraries, SketchUp, Unreal Engine for visualization) that does not natively integrate with architectural BIM platforms (Revit, ArchiCAD). AtkinsRealis must establish data exchange protocols that enable Falcon’s attraction geometry, technology placement, and visitor flow models to feed directly into the building’s master BIM model.

Sustainability and Environmental Design

AtkinsRealis’s commitment to sustainable engineering directly applies to The Mukaab’s environmental performance. The building’s massive enclosed volume creates both challenges (enormous HVAC energy requirements in Riyadh’s extreme climate) and opportunities (the enclosed environment enables energy recovery systems, solar integration on the 160,000-square-meter roof, and waste heat recycling from the estimated 15,000-25,000 GPU rendering cluster). AtkinsRealis’s environmental engineers must balance the building’s immersive experience requirements (precise temperature, humidity, and air quality control for each zone) against sustainability targets aligned with Vision 2030’s environmental commitments. The 25% green space allocation within New Murabba reflects this sustainability emphasis at the district level, with The Mukaab itself incorporating green walls, indoor gardens, and the rooftop garden as elements of its environmental strategy. The building’s expected annual energy consumption — driven by the holographic dome, HVAC, computing infrastructure, and lighting — positions energy efficiency as both an environmental imperative and a significant operating cost management priority.

Project Management and Delivery Risk

AtkinsRealis’s project management methodology for The Mukaab must accommodate the simultaneous delivery of conventional building systems (structure, facade, MEP) and unprecedented technology systems (holographic dome, spatial audio, AI infrastructure). Conventional building delivery follows well-established quality assurance and commissioning protocols. Technology system delivery follows entertainment industry protocols (show control testing, content commissioning, visitor experience validation) that are unfamiliar to most building construction teams. AtkinsRealis’s role as lead design firm positions the company as the integration point between these two delivery cultures — ensuring that building construction milestones align with technology installation requirements and that the combined system achieves the immersive experience quality that the $50 billion investment demands.