All infrastructure below ground in new Saudi city: Mohamed Saad, Diriyah Gate Development Authority

Saudi Arabaia’s Diriyah Square development is to be a walkable city above ground, which is the vision of His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
Realising the vision meant locating key infrastructure below ground. The project’s chief development officer Mohamed Saad explained that there will be 10,500 car spaces under Diriyah Square alone and across the project’s wider masterplan, there will be more than 24,000 underground parking spaces.
But all roads will be subterranean too - in all about SR 16 billion of infrastructure is being built and 8 million cubic metres of rock has already been removed to enable construction to take place.
The vision for the scheme also includes the use of traditional materials such as mud bricks. “We didn’t want it to look fake, we’re actually building with authentic materials,” Saad said. A large facility outside Riyadh is producing 180 million such bricks using natural materials and the same techniques used 300 years ago.