The MOBE is one of six projects FXCollaborative is designing within the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), a new 55 million-square-foot mixed-use urban community. The building is sited on a large plaza bisected by a sunken Wadi, a pedestrian park. Over 340,000 square feet of permanent and temporary exhibition space will feature works related to arts and architecture in the peninsula. Other programmatic elements include a 150-seat auditorium, a destination restaurant and terrace. The Saudi Arabian world heritage sites of Madain Saleh and At-Turaif inspired the Museum's chiseled, crystalline form. The building's exterior cladding expresses its programmatic functions; the lower public floors are transparent, while upper levels are more opaque, clad with prismatic laminated glass panels which create a varied textural quality and allow daylight to penetrate at controlled locations.