EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Middle East’s First Five-star Train Designed by Aline Asmar d’Amman
MILAN — Lebanese-born architect Aline Asmar d’Amman said growing up she was “bathed” in the poetry of 13th-century poet Rumi, who described the desert as a “wide emptiness, a peace without understanding it.” She never thought that one day she would help people experience that sort of wonder, in an age of modern luxury travel.
On Tuesday, she shared her designs with WWD for the Middle East’s first five-star train. The Dream of the Desert train developed with the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Culture and Saudi Arabia’s Railways and Italy’s Arsenale will allow luxury travelers to experience a privileged view of the desert.
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After garnering notoriety in fashion as the founder of the Culture in Architecture studio, which worked with Karl Lagerfeld on several projects, including the design of luxury suites for the H?tel de Crillon in Paris, she’s now playing a small but significant role in helping Saudi Arabia achieve its Vision 2030. This is her first train and she proudly said it’s a sustainable project in the sense that she used existing Italian wagons owned by Arsenale Group.
“It’s a wonderful thing to immerse into a world of dynamic stillness and spiritual mystique that is the desert. Saudi Arabia’s pristine natural beauty and the very distinctive feeling of immensity and silence, of wildness and wideness, only tamed by the Bedouin tradition of journeys with patience, appeals to another kind of travel today,” she said, adding that slow travel is all about embracing layers of culture and enriching humanistic values, which Saudi Arabia is only now ready to share on a global level.
This milestone marks a significant step forward in redefining luxury rail travel in the region and is the result of a close partnership between SAR and Arsenale, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, the Saudi Tourism Authority and the Center for Development Authorities Support.
In 1947, the first railway between Dammam and Riyadh was inaugurated.
Established in 2006, SAR is the owner and operator of the North Train Railway Network, which is propelling the vision of sustainable passenger and cargo transport. In 2017, the North Train passeneger services was launched, followed by the Haramain high speed railway in 2018.
Saudi heritage elements feature inside the Dream of the Desert, as Asmar d’Amman said she spent hours looking at the details of a Saudi facade, the intricate textile weavings, the wood carvings, the oil lamps whose light diffuses a cinematographic mood, interpreting these in a delicate modern lens, adapted to the train space and constraints.
“Not forgetting the astounding Stendhal syndrome [a condition of awe upon the discovery of great masterpieces] at the discovery of Hegra, Hail, Al-Ula and other untouched beauties,” she mused of the train that includes world-class suites and a restaurant enhanced with modern touches from the lamp shades’ belt detail to the wood carving elegant motif inspired by the gypsum motifs in the central region. The suites, she said, are characterized by rich wood marquetry, luxurious upholstery, sensual lighting and bespoke furniture.
In the reception area, the bar and the lounge, textile weaving and geometric patterns feature prominently. The bar design is inspired by the ancient architecture of the Al-Ula site of Hegra, the city of Madain Salih and the archaeological mountain of Hijaz, interpreted in modern patterns and design.
The train is also punctuated by wood sculpted panels in signature green patina, inspired by the Saudi Arabian seaside city of Jeddah’s iconic facades.
In and around the worlds of fashion and hospitality, Asmar d’Amman’s fame is growing.
Last year, she was the first guest of the Reading Room at 7L, the bookstore, library and publishing house founded by Lagerfeld that was acquired by Chanel in 2021.
She designed the Le Petit Salon, a private event space within in Le19M, Chanel’s hub for craftsmanship on the edge of Paris.
She is also working on the Arsenale on another project: The Orient Express Hotel Palazzo Donà Giovannelli Venice.
Founded in 2020 by Paolo Barletta and Annabel Holding, Arsenale is an Italian company operating in the luxury hospitality sector, with the aim of enhancing the Italian tourism industry. The company is structured around two main divisions: The Hospitality Hotel and Resort division, which designs and manages hotel properties in collaboration with iconic luxury brands, such as Soho House, as well as the Orient Express.
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