Retaining (MSE) walls

Walls that look like land

A park this green in a desert needs landforms. The mechanically stabilised earth (MSE) walls are the engineering behind them. In May 2026 the Foundation announced that the walls were complete, with 17 km of walls using 122,500 tonnes of local Riyadh stone.

What they do

They hold the soil in place and shape the valleys, hills and plateaus, a design modelled on the plateaus of Najd. They also create shade, which matters for walking in summer. Parsons describes the walls as part of shaping the landscape inspired by Najd.

The bigger earth story

RIBAJ reports a 30 m height difference across the park and says rock moved was about 50 times the Great Pyramid, as a designer's comparison. Landforms block sand winds from the north and let cooler southern winds in, so that temperatures vary by more than 10°C within the park. Those are designers' figures quoted by one outlet.

People

The release quoted projects department director Eng. Ahmed Al-Barrak and project manager Eng. Tariq Al-Naeem.

Where it stands

Completed. The wider landscape is still being planted, and the park has not opened.