KSA MicroLiving Airport
For the next few months the New Saudi Airport will take the media by storm, the project is set to break boundaries, created by a highly sophisticated team of architects and cinematographers, the new Airport for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia elevates design and travel concept to an urban and technological scale that has been never seen before in aviation.
A hybrid between Physical built structure and Extended Reality; Artificial intelligence for data gathering and generation; urban masterplanning and immersive experience, the passenger experience and commerce are extended to maximum capacity, profit and intensity.
We are thrilled, excited, proud, to start publishing the ambitious project part of SAUDI VISION 2030 . KSA MicroLiving Airport is a project created by [MC] STUDIOS. We are proposing a new world-connector in Riyadh and a new way of travelling the world.
The KSA MicroLiving Airport is an ambitious project aligned with SAUDI VISION 2030, redefining airport design and the passenger experience. It blends Saudi culture with futuristic technology, including immersive technology, extended reality, and artificial intelligence, to create an unparalleled travel environment.
AI <-> Human Craft Design Process
The design process uses a hybrid workflow, integrating AI from concept to completion. This creates a continuous HUMAN-AI feedback loop that informs both the architect and the project.
In the early stages, AI image generation tools were used to rethink traditional airport design. The typical H and L shapes, and the usual airport layouts for passenger flow and air traffic, were challenged by AI. Input data for the architectural design included factors like the number of planes, inbound travelers, retail space, and passenger experience areas. The goal was to find the most optimized layout that could efficiently and positively meet the demands of modern travel.
AI Image Generation Process.
After a lengthy process of human curation by the architect team, the final layout to be further explored presents a masterplan of linear piers, sunken to meet the demands of desert architecture, and a central circular artery - a layout that optimizes space, reduces congestion, and provides equal access to runways, improving efficiency for more plane-capacity. This main artery serves as the core network for underground connections and the heart of the passenger experience.
Selected generations.
The pre-concept AI phase followed a human-led design process, where the architect, aviation consultant, and designer had full control. The 3D modeling and 2D planning required for a fully functional airport masterplan refined the initial AI output, resulting in the final human-crafted model shown below.
KSA Airport, the Micro-Living Urban Scale:
KSA MicroLiving Airport aims to revolutionize the passenger experience with a multi-nodal, hyper-connected urban scale. Spanning 30 square kilometers, it features six parallel runways and 6 square kilometers of indoor and outdoor spaces dedicated to living, working, sleeping, and entertainment. It is set to become one of the most innovative airport concepts worldwide.
At the core of the airport masterplan is the Head-house Terminal. Inspired by the iconic Arabic-urban grid, its intricate, futuristic interior redefines the transient nature of airports. It offers passengers a sensory connection to the city, with 6 km² of night-stay apartments, shopping, dining, luxury lifestyle, entertainment, business spaces, and dedicated areas for both daycare and adults
The MicroLiving concept extends the pre-flight experience, catering to travelers, families, businesspeople, and seniors, by offering a stress-free, enjoyable environment. Additionally, the concept maximizes airport space efficiency, increasing the profitability of hospitality, retail, and entertainment by 70% compared to traditional airport layouts.
A unique feature of the airport is the seamless underground experience, transitioning from the Head-House to the sunken boarding-gate piers, enhancing the passenger journey.
The masterplan culminates in four sunken satellites at the extremities of the airport, designed for private travel. Two piers for private jets and sunken satellite villas provide Luxury over-nigh stay, offering an exclusive experience of sleeping underground at the world’s most futuristic airport
Welcome to the future of travel
and the World’s smartest airport:
KSA Microliving Airport integrates in its facilities and premises the future technology set to improve aviation operations and passenger experience. This airport integrates automation through AGI, Quantum AI, and AI+AR to improve efficiency, comfort, and optimise logistics. For KSA Microliving the ambition is to provide a seamless experience that guarantees a good-time, stress-free, while short-travelling or during a longer stay-cation while at the airport's urbanity.
Which technology would you expect in an airport to improve your comfort and optimise your travelling?
Check-in and passport control are the main travel logistics set to be revolutionized by virtual monitoring. Besides, new hardware and advanced software are propelling an extended reality that will forever change the way we live and travel. The main improvements for passenger experience include:
Logistics Optimization Technology:
Biometric Check-In – Face and iris scan verifies your identity instantly, giving you access to security, boarding, and unlocking personalized airport services.
Tailored Experience Technology
‘’My Avatar Already Checked-in for Me’’ - Personal AI Avatar – Upon login, your digital assistant appears in-app and AR. Check-in won't have to be done in person but through your digital avatar.
Personalized AI Concierge-Avatar – A digital assistant in your app and AR glasses suggests airport experiences tailored to you, from lounge access to last-minute shopping deals.
Smart Daycare – Secure, AI-monitored play zones with real-time updates to your device, ensuring a stress-free journey for parents and kids.
Intelligent
Business Hub – Adaptive workspaces with on-demand meeting rooms, holographic conferencing, and AI-curated productivity tools, all bookable via app.
Interactive AR Experience Tech – This technology blends virtual entertainment with the real airport environment, letting you adjust how much of your experience is digital or physical. Whether you're exploring or relaxing, the AR overlay adapts to You, making the space feel more engaging, dynamic and personal.
By merging nature and technology, KSA MicroLiving Airport embodies Saudi Arabia’s identity, bridging its rich past with a forward-looking vision for the future.
Team Credits:
Architects and Designers: Mariana Cabugueira Studios [MC] STUDIOS
Project Director [MCS]: Mariana Cabugueira
Lead Designer [MCS]: Davide Tessari
Lead Virtual Environment Designer Unreal Engine [MCS]: Melissa Quintana
Project Architecture, Design and Unreal Engine cinematics Team [MCS]: Muhammed Shawket, Reem Bamanie, Emiliano Ramos.
Avatar Designer: Beatrice Rogojan
Planning and Documentation colaborator NAAR: Agustina Alaines (director), Olivia Abraham (architect), Rosadina Guere (visual artist)
Frontop: Visualisation
KSZ AI Studio: Post Production AI visualisation
Public Media and Press: Carolina Centeio, Deva Jeganathan
KSA MicroLiving Airport - AI Integration
We used AI tools for pre concept and postproduction—to go beyond traditional visualization and bring out the human side of this project. Starting with screenshots from the 3D model developed by MC Studios, we didn’t just want to show off the design; we wanted to tell a story. We used AI to retexture those still images, giving them warmth and a sense of reality. It wasn’t just about making things look good—it was about making the spaces feel real, inviting, and alive.
Then, we took it further. Using AI-driven animation tools, we turned those still frames into short video clips, animated and sequenced to form a cohesive video. The video follows a journey through the airport—starting from arrival, moving through the kiss-and-ride, drop-off, baggage claim, and retail areas with gardens, cinemas, VR zones, cafes, restaurants, and shops—all the way to the VIP lounge, gates, and finally the plane.
We brought these spaces to life by adding characters and everyday moments to show what it might actually feel like to be there—people meeting, leaving, arriving, living their daily lives.
What mattered to us was using AI to tell a story, to create an atmosphere and to create a cinematic feel.
The end result? A video that feels human, that captures not just the scale and ambition of the project, but the life and emotion within it. By blending 3D craft with AI tools, we created something that goes beyond just showing architecture—we made something that people can connect with.
- Kajetan Szostok, Founder of KSZ AI Studio
In the end, this was about more than just making something look cool. It was about showing how architecture can feel when it’s lived in, when it’s full of life. That’s what we set out to do, and AI helped us get there in a way that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.
