No stranger to Saudi Arabia or in fact the Middle East, ZAS Architects has been retained to design the new Prince Sultan College for the Visually Impaired in the kingdom’s Eastern Province.
Phase 1 of the new 30,000-square-metre facility will include a 400-seat auditorium, an eight-lane 25-metre lap pool, sports gyms, a fully equipped medical centre and housing for 100 students.
ZAS said state-of-the art technology will support specialized delivery of the educational program at the college, being built by the Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University.
The facility will be the first of its kind in the Middle East. In all, it will accommodate 500 students.
"We are delighted to have the opportunity to design a truly specialized learning environment that will define Prince Sultan College for the Visually Impaired as a unique learning destination," Marek Zawadzki, ZAS partner in charge of the project, said in a statement.
The firm, which has offices in both Canada and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, has partnered for the college’s design with the Royal National College (RNC) for the Blind, which is based in Hereford, England.
The British firm will provide expertise in the areas of accessibility, technology and education. RNC is the United Kingdom’s leading specialist residential college of further education for people with a visual impairment.
"Designing for the visually impaired (VI) demands an understanding of needs and functioning of VI persons and how they interact with the environment," Paul Stevens, Toronto-based senior principal in ZAS, said in an email. "Therefore, the facility needs to be designed and assessed from the perspective of a visually impaired person, whereby spatial organization responds to touch and sound more than vision."
ZAS was retained to design the facility in February. The design and development team, which includes the private Saudi university, is finalizing the functional building program.
The concept design is expected to be released this fall.
Stevens, whose firm opened its Dubai branch office in 2005, said construction is targeted to get underway in September of next year on phase 1 of the new college.
The project is expected to be completed in May 2019 and construction costs are estimated between US$125 million and $150 million.
"This is a substantial construction project, so it is likely to attract international contractors as well as the larger local contractors," Stevens said. "The successful contractor will be expected to have local representation."
The college’s mission is to prepare and qualify the visually impaired through learning and training opportunities to be self-sufficient and integrate into the community workplace.
ZAS, which also has offices in Toronto and Vancouver, has designed numerous projects in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East.
The firm has also undertaken a number of master planning assignments in the region.
In the educational realm, ZAS at one juncture designed a prototype elementary and secondary school for the Saudi Ministry of Education.
In Toronto, one of its most high profile assignments was the award-winning Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence at York University.
The concept design for the new Prince Sultan College for the Visually Impaired in Saudi Arabia is slated to be released this fall. Seen above is one of three concepts being considered by client Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University. ZAS Architects has partnered with Britain’s Royal National College for the Blind to design the facility.
Photo: ZAS Architects"
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