AHMADIAH RETREAT Navigate to see our project Ahmadiah Retreat A Landscape Masterplan Rooted in Saudi Heritage and Sustainability The Ahmadiah Retreat is envisioned as a sanctuary where landscape, architecture, and nature converge to create a self-sustaining destination for leisure, wellness, and family life.Set against the arid backdrop of Riyadh, the masterplan balances resilience with elegance, offering a place that nurtures the mind and body while remaining deeply rooted in its cultural and environmental context. From the very beginning, the retreat was conceived as a platform for life to unfold a place that embraces various age groups, stimulates diverse interests, and provides opportunities to both educate the mind and restore the body. The design integrates active and passive spaces so that guests and residents alike can move seamlessly between moments of recreation, reflection, and relaxation. Every element of the landscape is curated to instill a memorable sense of belonging, ensuring that the retreat is not only a private estate but also a living narrative of Saudi identity. At the heart of the masterplan, a central axis ties together the estate’s key spaces. The watch tower stands as a defining landmark, offering orientation and long views across the landscape, framed by sweeping lawns and rhythmic rows of palms. Nearby, the club house and infinity pool form the social heart of the project, creating an elegant setting forgathering, leisure, and hospitality. To the west, the equestrian complex—with its riding arena, stables, and trainer accommodations—pays homage to Saudi Arabia’s equestrian heritage, ensuring that tradition is not only preserved but experienced daily. Surrounding these anchors, carefully placed orchards, culinary gardens, and pavilions create a rich fabric of shaded gathering spots, productive landscapes, and family-centered environments. Recreation plays an equally important role in shaping the retreat. A dedicated football lawn extends across the central landscape, while tennis and basketball courts are seamlessly integrated into the overall masterplan. For those seeking other pursuits, a shooting range and children’s play areas provide variety, while quiet seating zones and shaded walkways encourage rest and contemplation. This balance of activity and tranquility ensures that the estate is as versatile as it is cohesive, catering to the needs of all who inhabit it. The retreat’s planting and environmental strategies are central to its character. Inspired by the surrounding desert ecology, the planting palette combines native and naturalized species with carefully selected fruiting and culinary trees. Wadi-inspired rockeries and desert gardens form transitions at the landscape edges, while dense green buffers and flowering ornamentals soften built areas and recreational zones. This layered approach not only celebrates the arid beauty of Saudi flora but also reduces water consumption, ensuring the estate thrives within its climate. Complementing this strategy, the project incorporates efficient irrigation, shaded pedestrian circulation, and locally sourced construction materials to embed sustainability at every level. Ultimately, the Ahmadiah Retreat is more than a private residence—it is a holistic landscape that bridges tradition and modernity, leisure and productivity, sustainability and luxury. Through its carefully considered masterplan, it delivers a lifestyle that is active yet restful, grounded yet refined, and always deeply connected to the land. In doing so, it sets anew benchmark for private landscape design in Saudi Arabia, redefining what it means to live in harmony with place and culture. PROJECT IMAGES
AMT ESTATE
AMT ESTATE Navigate to see ou project AMT ESTATE AMT Estate is a private wellness retreat shaped around a meticulously designed 150 meter axial garden. Anchored by symmetry and rhythm, this linear spine is more than a connector; it is a narrative in space where every step reveals a new mood and function. The reception sets the tone with lush greenery and soft plant walls that obscure what lies beyond, creating a slow reveal into the heart of the site. From there, the path unfolds into edible landscapes of fruit trees and herbs, intimate dining terraces, and gathering zones. A central pergola and a thirty meter pool appear next, offering calm and reflection, before the journey concludes in a secluded wellness complex where fitness blends seamlessly with nature. AMT Estate is not simply a farm or a resort, but a sanctuary where architecture and landscape compose an experience. The design brief was to craft a personal retreat that feels holistic and intentional. Inspired by the clarity of Islamic gardens, DIL established a grid that choreographs the movement from lush reception to culinary zones, reflective gazebos, and finally a wellness wing. Planting serves as spatial control: hedges veil entrances, buffers screen the pool, and fruiting groves create functional beauty. Each space stands on its own yet flows into the next, transforming the journey into memory. Innovation came in embedding knowledge as much as design. Instead of depending on external specialists, DIL trained the client’s gardeners from the beginning, teaching them plant care, irrigation, and seasonal rhythms. This knowledge transfer ensures resilience and continuity. The grid structure also allows each program, dining, lounging, swimming, fitness, to work independently while remaining harmonious. Challenges were met with logic and restraint. Working with a modest budget, a farm setting, and a team of non specialist labor, the axial grid became the tool for order and repetition, making luxury achievable through clarity. Planting was used instead of built walls to create privacy, saving costs while enhancing ecological value. The result is a legible and teachable system that elevates simplicity into refined experience. Sustainability is embedded rather than applied. Local sourcing was prioritized, hardscape was minimized, and vegetation was used for passive cooling. Fruiting trees and herbs serve both culinary and ecological functions, while zoned irrigation aligns water use with plant needs and solar exposure. By replacing built barriers with green partitions, cost, heat gain, and embodied carbon were all reduced. Most importantly, training the gardeners created a living legacy of care, ensuring that AMT Estate continues to thrive as a place that is lived in, understood, and loved. PROJECT IMAGES Check the full project on YouTube
NR project
NR – PRIVATE RETREAT Navigate to see our project NR – PRIVATE RETREAT This private retreat in Riyadh is envisioned as a sanctuary where landscape and masterplanning set the foundation for the entire experience. The master plan organizes villas, suites, and pavilions into distinct yet connected zones, linked through a network of gardens, shaded pathways, and framed vistas. The arrangement ensures privacy for each residence while maintaining a natural flow across the retreat, allowing every space to feel part of a larger landscape story. The reception pavilion acts as the central anchor, from which a sequence of landscaped terraces and circulation routes extend. Pathways are carefully aligned to guide movement while revealing views of courtyards, gardens, and the surrounding land. The planning emphasizes balance between open lawns, intimate green pockets, and communal gathering spaces, creating a rhythm that shifts as one moves across the site. Planting palettes were selected with both resilience and beauty in mind, integrating native and adaptive species that thrive in the climate while offering seasonal variation. Shade trees, water features, and soft ground covers enrich the sensory quality of the outdoor spaces, ensuring comfort and year-round use. Over time, the landscape is designed to mature gracefully, with layers of planting and material choices reinforcing a sense of permanence and belonging. The result is a retreat where master planning and landscape design come together seamlessly. Architecture is placed lightly within the land, while the outdoor environment itself becomes the defining character of the project—a living framework that offers calm, leisure, and connection. PROJECT IMAGES
ALWASEEL
ALWASEEL Navigate to our project ALWASEEL Set on the transitional edge of Riyadh’s desert landscape, the Alwaseel Private Residence is a 1,000,000 sq.m luxury estate that redefines outdoor living in the Gulf. Commissioned by a private client and entrusted to Dar Iwan Landscape, the project blends design excellence, precise execution, and long term care into a single vision. Phases 1 and 2, covering approximately 100,000 sq.m, have been fully designed and implemented, whilePhase 3 is underway. Today, Dar Iwan also maintains over 250,000 sq.m of the estate, ensuring its continued vitality. The design brief was both ambitious and poetic: to soften the desert without erasing its essence. Instead of hiding the rugged terrain, the landscape celebrates it, moving from native desert flora at the outer boundaries to cultivated lawns, shaded courtyards, and family retreats closer to the residence. Spaces are programmed with intent, from children’s playgrounds and shaded lounges to beekeeping zones and event ready courtyards. Alwaseel is not only a sanctuary for its residents but also a benchmark for future estates, proving that prestige and ecological responsibility can coexist. Innovation was central to the project’s success. High salinity in irrigation water, a persistent challenge in the region, demanded solutions beyond conventional planting. Bio soil and adaptive irrigation strategies reduced stress on plants, while a curated palette of desert adaptive species and drought tolerant ornamentals ensured resilience and beauty. On site propagation, biodiversity nodes, shaded microclimates, and active beekeeping introduceda living ecosystem that matures over time. The project faced challenges in scale, soil, and climate. Spanning more than a million square meters, its delivery required precise phasing, logistical coordination, and ongoing maintenance infrastructure. Rocky terrain, compacted soils, and extreme seasonal temperatures called for site specific strategies from the outset, while alignment withseasonal planting cycles tested procurement and execution. Sustainability was embedded at every step. Water consumption was reduced by nearly 30 percent through precision irrigation and soil enhancements. Locally sourced species were prioritized, materials were selected for durability, and the estate’s beekeeping initiative enhances biodiversity while producing seasonal honey harvests. With Dar Iwan overseeing both design and ongoing maintenance, Alwaseel has been shaped as a living system that is resilient, refined, and evolving. Behind the estate’s success is a multidisciplinary team whose collaboration ensured excellence from concept to care. Dar Iwan’s design directors, architects, engineers, and site specialists worked alongside lighting and irrigation consultants to deliver a unified vision. On site teams, supervisors, and maintenance managers continue to nurture the landscape, ensuring its long term health and beauty. The project reflects not only the aspirations of its client but also the ambitions of Vision 2030, where luxury, sustainability, and cultural identity converge. PROJECT IMAGES
