LAYALI DIRIYAH 2025 || A Monumental Celebration of Heritage and Innovation Under the Saudi Night Sky
It’s not a mirage—just a 40,000-square-meter dreamscape of art, light, and legacy.
Set within the rustling palms of a historic farm near At-Turaif, Layali Diriyah 2025 is not merely an event—it’s a living, glowing symphony of culture, art, and design. Created by Dubai and Riyadh-based Designlab Experience, this third edition of the immersive installation celebrates Saudi Arabia’s heritage while illuminating the country’s rapidly evolving creative identity. It’s an open-air exhibition-meets-urban-oasis, transforming 40,000 square meters into a multi-sensory journey from February through April.
Structured around three thematic zones—Heritage and Craftsmanship, Education and Knowledge, and Nature—Layali Diriyah elegantly blurs the boundaries between past and future. At every turn, architectural gestures pay homage to Najdi design: from luminous palm-frond sculptures to geometric latticeworks inspired by traditional windows. It’s a dialogue between form and memory, space and story.
The grand entrance arch, woven from basketry forms, honours traditional Saudi craftsmanship with modern flair.
Upon entry, visitors are met with a monumental serpentine arch made entirely of woven baskets—a sculptural ode to Saudi weaving traditions that cast intricate shadows as it catches the warm glow of uplighting. It sets the tone: grounded in craft, expansive in imagination.
Wander further, and you'll find “Palm Fronds” by Designlab Experience, a sculptural field of light-emitting installations that echo the rhythms of native flora. Nearby, “Lahauj” by Kholoud Albugami transforms vernacular ventilation patterns into luminous geometry—each shape a metaphor for movement between eras. Zahrah Alghamdi’s “Birth of a Place” is particularly evocative, using sculptural clay to convey cycles of collapse and resurgence—an emotional topography in earthy form.
A luminous installation inspired by Najdi ventilation voids bridges past and present through illuminated geometry.
While art is the soul of the space, gastronomy anchors the experience. Eight custom-designed restaurants offer culinary theatre amid architectural brilliance. One features illuminated frames encasing an open dining room under the stars; another mimics the textured warmth of mudbrick. The Chef’s Table—an intimate culinary performance space—feels like a glowing mirage, framed in neon and rooted in Najdi motifs.
Retail takes the shape of a modern souq, with boutique pavilions wrapped in handcrafted tiles, each façade a living mosaic of patterns and plantings. Coffee carts reference the doors of Diriyah; their earthy palette and decorative motifs create a sense of continuity and craft.
What sets Layali Diriyah 2025 apart is its ability to be both profoundly local and strikingly global. It’s an event as much about placemaking as it is about storytelling—where the light installations are just as much about memory as they are about spectacle.
With over 110,000 visitors last year, this season's edition confirms what many have already sensed: Saudi Arabia’s cultural future is not only bright—it’s beautifully designed.
Glowing sculptures mimic desert mushrooms, adding whimsy and wonder to the nightscape.
Photography: Robert Conte
