AlUla Airport

Aerial and ground documentation of the new AlUla Airport for the Royal Commission for AlUla. The building was designed to read as a form emerging from the desert, its geometry referencing the rock formations of the surrounding landscape. The brief required both the building in isolation and the building in its full geographic context.

The desert environment at AlUla presents a particular challenge. The light is extreme and the landscape is visually dominant. To allow the building to register without being consumed by its setting, aerial sessions were conducted at two specific windows: the first thirty minutes after sunrise and the thirty minutes before sunset. Within those windows the light is directional, warm, and at an angle that gives depth to the building's geometric surfaces.

Ground photography focused on details, entry sequences, and the threshold between interior and exterior. The interior required a completely different approach, working with the building's own shading systems to manage the harsh desert light entering through the glazed roof.