National Commercial Bank, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (Principal elevation)
Skidmore Owings & Merrill
American, founded 1936
Gordon Bunshaft
American, 1909–1990
1977
A hand-drawn principal elevation for Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s 1977 design for the National Commercial Bank in Jeddah, executed in felt-tipped pen and colored pencil on tracing paper to present the architects’ vision for a monumental, culturally attuned bank façade.
What strikes you is the precise, rhythmic composition—bold vertical piers and a perforated screen that evokes mashrabiya—rendered in warm ochres and ink on translucent tracing paper, the hand-coloring and layered lines making the design feel both technical and tactile.
The drawing captures how late‑20th‑century international firms translated modernist office typologies into local idioms, helping to define a hybrid regional modernism that reconciled corporate architecture with Islamic cultural and climatic concerns.
Medium
Felt-tipped pen and colored pencil on tracing paper
Dimensions
55 1/2 x 30 1/4" (141 x 76.8 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Accession
481.1983
Art Terms
Exhibitions
