King Abdullah Financial District

The King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) is being built in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It will have the Saudi Stock Exchange and Capital Market Authority. The KAFD will be an important financial center in the Middle East.“King Abdullah Financial District Hotel, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia” , Hotelmanagement-network.com, accessed October 5, 2014 However, KAFD will not only be a financial center. It will have areas where people live, offices, and educational and recreational facilities. The King Abdullah Financial District is estimated to be worth about $7.8 billion (US). “KAFD projects left hanging due to manpower shortage”, Rodolfo Estimo, ArabNews, July 23, 2014, accessed October 2, 2014

 Facilities and attractions 
There will be multiple educational and recreational attractions for residents and visitors of all ages in The KAFD. KAFD will feature museums, exhibitions, malls, hotels, restaurants, conference centers and auditoriums. Such as, the Aquarium, the Conference Center, the Built Environment Museum, the Earth's Climate Center, the Science Museum, the Relaxation Health Club, and the Interactive Children's Museum.”Attraction Zones” , KAFD.com.sa, accessed October 4, 2014 Also, there will be seven uniquely designed mosques spread throughout the KAFD.“Mosques” , KAFD.com.sa, accessed October 4, 2014 Also, every building will have footbridges that will connect one building to another. That will make traveling through buildings easy.“Footbridges” , KAFD.com.sa, accessed October 4, 2014
Further, the monorail train that will travel through the whole district.“Monorail” , KAFD.com.sa, accessed October 4, 2014

 Space and capacity 
The King Abdullah Financial District will span an area of 1.6 million square meters that consists of 34 towers in total. The KAFD will cover over 3 million square meters of space for different purposes such as residential, parking, and office spaces. KAFD will house 12,000 residents and in addition, it will have 62,000 parking spaces.“KAFD projects left hanging due to manpower shortage”, Estimo, ArabNews

 Banks and headquarters 
The King Abdullah Financial District will have the headquarters of the Capital Market Authority (CMA) and the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadwul).“Riyadh King Abdullah Financial District”, Meed, accessed October 5, 2014
Added to that, the KAFD will also accommodate a financial academy, and a number of banks, companies and other financial institutions.

 Architecture and design 
Bombardier Inc has been given a SR904- million ($241-million) contract to build a monorail system for the King Abdullah Financial District.“Bombardier wins Saudi deal”, TheStar, May 31, 2010, accessed September 28, 2014 KAFD’s architecture is designed and is being supervised by Henning Larsen Architects.“King Abdullah Financial District” , Henninglarsen, accessed September 30, 2014 Moreover, Zaha Hadid Architects will design the KAFD’s metro station.“King Abdullah Financial District Metro Station by Zaha Hadid Architects” , Miguel Rus, ILikeArchitecture, accessed October 1, 2014

 References 

Category:Riyadh