The design for (S) Squares Al Sahil Mall received third place in a global competition hosted by Al Salimi Real Estate Development in Saudi Arabia, bringing recognition to Cambodian architecture on the international stage. Developed by The Room Architecture and Design, the proposal reinterprets traditional Saudi architectural references for a contemporary retail destination. Its concept centers on a deliberate duality: an outward-facing commercial frontage along the main road and a sheltered central plaza that forms a more inward-looking public space. The building envelope draws from Najdi architectural archetypes, specifically rectilinear earthen massing, enclosed courtyards, and geometric mashrabiya screen walls, translating historic environmental strategies into contemporary structural systems suited for institutional commercial investment.
Along the primary street frontage, the lower commercial datum presents continuous floor-to-ceiling structural glazing. This transparent base provides clear visibility into anchor stores, showrooms, and food and beverage venues, creating active sightlines for high-speed vehicular traffic and pedestrian footfall. Upper volumes present massive, textured planes inspired by desert rammed-earth tones, broken selectively by deep glazed apertures. By raising the heavier solid volumes above a transparent ground realm, the architecture achieves the dual objective of maximizing storefront lease value while expressing a bold civic scale on the city horizon.
The main entrance portal bridges the street boundary and the internal courtyard. A monumental, perforated canopy spans between the primary retail blocks, framing an intuitive arrival axis that leads visitors away from vehicular noise and into the core of the development. Stepped pedestrian crosswalks, wide arrival plazas, and integrated desert landscaping buffer the interior environment from perimeter roadways. This portal acts as a transitional thermal filter, decelerating air movement and shading arriving visitors before they enter the enclosed retail promenade.
At the core of the complex lies a sheltered central plaza conceived as an oasis-like public realm. Overhead, a geometric, perforated steel canopy shades the courtyard floor and surrounding storefronts, filtering severe desert daylight to reduce ambient radiant heat loads. Water basins and integrated fountain jets leverage evaporative cooling, working alongside native date palms and shaded limestone paving to drop localized surface temperatures. High-turnover retail and casual dining line the plaza perimeter, allowing food and beverage operations to spill into the courtyard and prolong customer dwell time across warm afternoon hours.
Vertical and horizontal circulation within the atrium reinforces clear commercial visibility. Upper retail levels are linked by suspended glass and steel pedestrian bridges, connecting opposite blocks while maintaining open sightlines across the central court. Lower floors focus on high-traffic retail, while upper levels house programs requiring enhanced acoustic and social privacy, including a women-only wellness center, family entertainment zones, and specialized recreational facilities. This programmatic zoning separates service circulation and private facilities from the public ground plane without compromising connectivity.
The environmental performance of the building changes dynamically across the diurnal cycle. During daylight hours, the custom triangular and perforated metal screens act as passive shading devices, reducing internal solar heat gain and controlling solar glare across upper-level interiors. After dusk, concealed lighting integrated behind the screen cladding transforms the building envelope into an illuminated civic lantern. The geometric perforation patterns cast textured light across the surrounding streetscape, maintaining project visibility and brand recognition along adjacent highways long after peak daylight hours.
Through contextual geometry, disciplined zoning, and climate-responsive engineering, (S) Squares Al Sahil Mall demonstrates how modern retail developments in arid climates can balance international commercial standards with regional identity. By centering commercial circulation around a shaded public gathering space rather than an inward-facing air-conditioned container, the project delivers an operationally resilient retail asset that serves developer yield, occupant comfort, and local urban culture.
