Forty kilometers from the center of Riyadh city, Qiddiya is a giga-project being launched as Saudi Arabia’s pre-eminent entertainment, sports and cultural destination. It is expected to be the world’s largest entertainment city by 2030, with its 334 square kilometers tripling the size of Florida’s Walt Disney World. For the Groundbreaking Launch Event, we worked again with long time Lightswitch clients and collaborators EVI.
Forty kilometers from the center of Riyadh city, Qiddiya is a giga-project being launched as Saudi Arabia’s pre-eminent entertainment, sports and cultural destination. It is expected to be the world’s largest entertainment city by 2030, with its 334 square kilometers tripling the size of Florida’s Walt Disney World. For the Groundbreaking Launch Event, we worked again with long time Lightswitch clients and collaborators EVI.
With the goal of bringing the Qiddiya aspect of the 2030 Vision to life before the guests, EVI created and produced a one-night spectacle on a scale never before experienced in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To house the show, EVI designed and constructed a Custom Event Venue adjacent to the Visitor Experience Centre. The venue was outfitted with state of the art staging and technical solutions and supported by the team’s elite designers and technicians. The show itself was a 45-minute entertainment spectacular featuring all original content featuring live dance and acrobatic troupes and elaborate choreography. Grounding in the rich history of the region and the future vision for the country, the show took the audience on a journey from the past, to a bold, bright future. For the final act, the center set wall lowered, revealing the actual mountains in the distance which were dramatically lighted and served as the backdrop for an Olympic Games caliber fireworks and laser show.
Success with large scale projects of this nature requires a laser like focus on the client’s vision, detailed planning, and flawless execution. Despite the challenges of working in a remote and inhospitable location, we worked with EVI team to ensure every detail, every touch point and every aspect of the project was considered, assessed and addressed. Our unique portfolio or event, experience and architectural design gave us the broad portfolio of experience to deliver what this project demanded. The result? An extravaganza few who attended will forget. A breathtaking and meaningful groundbreaking for a truly massive and critically important project, and a delighted client. We put that in the ‘win’ column!
