Morphosis Departs The Line

When The Line was unveiled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2021 as an incredulous linear city that would house 9 million people in a continuous structure 500 meters tall, 200 meters wide, and 170 kilometers long, the names of the architects involved were unknown. Given Saudi Arabia's controversial human rights record, this was not surprising, but over time it was revealed that Morphosis was leading the proposal and a number of familiar architects were also involved. 

By May 2023, and the Zero Gravity Urbanism—Principles for a New Livability exhibition coinciding with the Venice Architecture Biennale, the involvement of around a dozen studios was out in the open, with Coop Himmelb(l)au, Peter Cook, UNStudio, and others designing 800-meter-long modules that would abut behind mirrored glass to form the linear city.

Fast forward twelve months, to reports of the project being scaled back and of human rights violations tied to realizing the project, and The Line roster appears to be shifting. In an article published last week, AJ is reporting that Morphosis has left the scheme, while “Austrian practice Delugan Meissl Associated Architects (DMAA) is believed to have taken a lead role in Morphosis’s place,” though neither firm responded to AJ's request to comment. DMAA was one of the participating firms iin the Zero Gravity Urbanism exhibition. The AJ article further mentions that other firms who have left the project include Adjaye Associates, Coop Himmelb(l)au, and HOK.

In response to Bloomberg's reporting that the number of residents that will be housed in the scheme by 2030 has dropped from 1.5 million to 300,000, a spokesperson from NEOM is quoted in the AJ article as saying the first phase, the Hidden Marina, will still “welcome its first residents and visitors by 2030” and “our long-term plan remains unchanged.”