The King Abdullah Sports City Stadium (Al Jawhara) is a 60,000-seater football stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The King’s Box features sliding glass doors that open to enable spectators and camera crews to see the King when presenting the winners’ trophy.
A fixed, reinforced glass balustrade in front of the glass doors protects players from a 2-metre drop. However, a few months after the stadium’s opening, it was realised that the balustrade’s metal frame obstructed the King’s view of the game.
ARX, renowned for its bespoke moving structures in the sporting world, was asked to engineer a solution to the design flaw in the balustrade.
Our engineering teams designed a retractable balustrade that integrates into the existing sliding door controls, raising and lowering in sync with the glass doors. The automated solution, with its toughened glass panels, now gives the King a clear view of this stunning arena.