NEOM, the world's largest, and perhaps most controversial construction site underway today, is destined to cost $500 billion and house nine million people in Saudi Arabia. Where will its food come from?
Andre Kikoski Architect (AKA), a New York office, recently completed a greenhouse for Topian, NEOM's food company. The NEOM Agricultural Complex opened last year, and has since yielded its first round of crops. According to the firm, the building and its operations denote NEOM's first built operational asset.
The 800,000-square-foot, 11-acre facility is located within Oxagon, a 40-acre floating port city in northwestern Saudi Arabia. It can produce 1,972 tons of fresh fruit and vegetables annually, and deliver 93 percent water savings compared to traditional agriculture, designers said.
AKA was also behind a 21,500-square-foot circular office building on the site. A vertical farm, energy rooms, cooling towers, and storage tanks likewise abound to support operations. Vishal Wanchoo, CEO of Oxagon, said the project takes a "farm-to-table" approach by localizing the supply chain. Materials like aluminum, Corten steel, and precast concrete were chosen to suggest a visual connection with the desert landscape.
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