عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Sports Boulevard Foundation Wins King Salman Charter for Architecture, Urbanism Award

Sports Boulevard Foundation Wins King Salman Charter for Architecture, Urbanism Award
TT
TT

Sports Boulevard Foundation Wins King Salman Charter for Architecture, Urbanism Award

Sports Boulevard Foundation Wins King Salman Charter for Architecture, Urbanism Award

The Sports Boulevard Foundation has won the prestigious King Salman Charter for Architecture and Urbanism Award, organized by the Architecture and Design Commission. The award recognizes the project’s excellence in embracing the principles and standards of the charter through the implementation of the design code for the Sports Boulevard.
CEO of the Architecture and Design Commission, Dr. Sumayah Al-Sulaiman, presented the award to CEO of the Sports Boulevard Foundation, Jayne McGivern, during the award's closing ceremony at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, SPA reported.
The Sports Boulevard Foundation won the award for its integration of a unique design code and its commitment to applying the code, which balances authenticity and modernity, showcasing innovative and distinct urban outputs.
The award seeks to celebrate and recognize projects that distinguish themselves by embodying the values of the King Salman Charter for Architecture and Urbanism. It aims to contribute to achieving the objectives of the charter and to encourage and motivate entities, practitioners, and students to incorporate the charter’s values into their work, fostering a competitive environment that produces a higher level of urban excellence.
The project applies local identity and Salmani architecture across its various elements, not just in buildings, and has gained the trust of a committee of 30 local and international experts in architecture and design. McGivern also mentioned that the Sports Boulevard project is designed to revolutionize urban planning in Riyadh. The project spans over 135 kilometers and includes more than 4.4 million square meters of green and open spaces, along with up to 50 multi-disciplinary sports facilities with integrated infrastructure.
In 2022, the Sports Boulevard Foundation launched the Design Code for all buildings located on Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Road, emphasizing the importance of local identity and Salmani architecture, which embodies authenticity and modernity in design. The code aims to create a modern and sustainable environment that enhances the quality of life.
The Sports Boulevard is one of Riyadh’s mega projects launched by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, on March 19, 2019, and is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The project is committed to improving the quality of life for the city’s residents and visitors by offering integrated infrastructure, pedestrian pathways, cycling pathways, horse-riding trails, and more.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Waste into Gold: Oyster Shells Repurposed as Magic 'Seawool'

Turning the shells -- which capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- into Seawool also does not require water, making it a 'low-carbon product'. Sam Yeh / AFP
Turning the shells -- which capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- into Seawool also does not require water, making it a 'low-carbon product'. Sam Yeh / AFP
TT
TT

Waste into Gold: Oyster Shells Repurposed as Magic 'Seawool'

Turning the shells -- which capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- into Seawool also does not require water, making it a 'low-carbon product'. Sam Yeh / AFP
Turning the shells -- which capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- into Seawool also does not require water, making it a 'low-carbon product'. Sam Yeh / AFP

Growing up on Taiwan's west coast where mollusc farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function -- a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called "Seawool".
Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes.
"They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer," the 42-year-old told AFP at his factory in Tainan.
"So I was curious about why oyster shells have such a miraculous effect."
Wang's Creative Tech Textile company, established in 2010, was already producing an "eco-fabric" -- a polyester material made out of recycled plastic bottles -- but he felt its texture was a bit "ordinary".
So he started working with a research institute to experiment making fabric out of the oyster shell residue, in 2013 coming up with the right formula that produces a material similar to wool.
The fabric and clothing generate around NT$200 million (US$6.1 million) a year, with the bulk of it sourced by outdoor and sustainability clothing brands in Europe and the United States.
The Made-in-Taiwan fabric would not be possible without the island's unique oyster farming culture, Wang said.
'A magical yarn'
"This industry chain cannot be found anywhere else overseas," he says.
"We have people to harvest oysters, we have specialists to clean oyster shells, and we have people for drying and calcining (treating) oyster shells."
But its popularity also means that about 160,000 tons of shells are discarded yearly, according to data from the agricultural ministry.
They pile up on the streets of aqua-farming towns -- the majority in western cities such as Yunlin, Changhua and Chiayi -- causing environmental issues by emitting fishy smells and providing breeding sites for mosquitos.
At Wang's factory, the shells are ground into nano beads and combined with yarn made from recycled plastic bottles.
"It creates a magical yarn," he said. "Oyster shell is a material with low thermal conductivity -- it does not absorb heat nor does it dissipate heat."
Turning the shells -- which capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere -- into Seawool also does not require water, making it a "low-carbon product," said Wang.
A half-hour drive from his showroom where activewear jackets, sweaters and pants are displayed, state enterprise Taiwan Sugar Corporation (TSC) also has a factory that grinds discarded shells into a powder that is used in manufacturing household items, like incense sticks.
The crushed shells help to reduce smoke and the toxic chemicals emitted from burning incense, said Chen Wei-jen, deputy chief of TSC's biotech business division.
From waste to gold
"We hope oyster shells can have multiple industrial applications and interested companies can use it as a raw material to make their products more environmentally friendly and add value to their products," Chen said.
Before the shells get to the factories, farmers in Chiayi -- a county famed for producing oysters -- collect the molluscs at dawn from racks installed along the coast.
They are sorted into baskets before being sent to plants such as Dai Sen-tai's factory, where they are machine-washed before being sent to small family-run businesses that shuck the meat and send the shells south.
Dai, whose family have been in the oyster farming industry for three generations, said he is happy that Taiwan is breathing new life into the sea waste.
"When I was a child, no one wanted oyster shells -- they were dumped and discarded everywhere," he told AFP.
"It's good that the waste has been turned into gold now."