Genius of the Place

An exceptional immersive journey to discover the story of an iconic building

Genius of the Place: Irqah book series tells the fascinating story of an abandoned hospital turned into a multidisciplinary art center. Located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the capital Riyadh, Irqah Hospital is an iconic building with a mysterious character: standing steadfastly with its imposing marble structure, spacious halls, and expansive exterior, this distinctive building built in the 1980s was meant to serve as a state-of-the-art hospital. Abandoned ever since its construction, the site acquired a mythical aspect in people's imaginary: enigmatic for some, "haunted" for others, the building left the community bewildered. As part of its efforts to establish cultural assets that promote culture as a way of life, the Ministry of Culture of Saudi Arabia has repurposed Irqah Hospital into an all-inclusive arts and culture center: Irqah Creative Arts Lab (ICAL). Prior to this endeavor, and with the purpose of encapsulating the unique spirit of this building, the Ministry of Culture commissioned five artist photographers and five writers from Saudi Arabia, the Arab region, and Europe to capture the soul and memory of Irqah. The result is an astonishing collection of rare images accompanied by a compelling narrative, that take the reader on a visual voyage uncovering the "genius of the place" called Irqah. This artistic book series not only exhibits the architectural beauty of Irqah with its stunning marble walls, mosaic-decorated lobby, spacious halls and labyrinthic corridors, but also magically reveals the sense of the place by intertwining images and narrative, materiality of the space and immateriality of the stories, legends and myths built around this enigmatic site. The breathtaking photographs encapsulate the character of the building and provide a poignant testament of a gone era: medical equipment now turned out-of-date, abandoned surgical instruments, old patients' beds, signs of damage and deterioration, all captured in the photographs, powerfully make sense of the "sense of the place".