Mastaba Maskan was conceived as a competition proposal for a luxury farmhouse within a larger vision of a living museum an architecture that embodies the essence of AlUla, its people, culture, landscape, and climate. Positioned between fertile oasis farmland and rugged sandstone formations, the project responds to the site's contrasting geologies, creating a dwelling that is inseparable from its surroundings.
Inspired by the Mastaba and constructed from handmade adobe blocks produced using earth excavated on site, the architecture rises as a series of stepped mounds where structure, furniture, landscape, and inhabitable terraces merge into a single constructed landform. At its heart lies a water court the oasis around which the dwelling is organized celebrating water as the generator of life while providing the earth required to build the home.
The modular system allows the house to grow organically over time, adapting to changing family needs while remaining rooted in local craft and material traditions. Living spaces are partially sunken to create cool, Majlis-inspired interiors, while roof terraces become productive gardens planted with indigenous herbs and native vegetation.
Passive environmental strategies are integral to the design. Earth-tube cooling, a layered ventilated roof of cross-laminated palm construction and reed ceilings, and the thermal mass of adobe work together to create comfortable interiors with minimal energy demand. Experimental glass walls filled with flowing sand shift from opaque to transparent through the day, transforming privacy into a poetic expression of time and revealing the AlUla landscape at dusk.
Rather than separating architecture from nature, Mastaba Maskan blurs the boundaries between home, farm, oasis, and desert. It proposes an immersive way of dwelling where landscape, climate, material, light, and culture converge to create a deeply sensory experience one that celebrates the timeless spirit of AlUla.
