Behind the Scenes: How We Built Riyadh’s Digital Twin in Just Two Months for LEAP 2024
When the opportunity came to create a Digital Twin of Riyadh for LEAP 2024, we knew it was going to be something special—but also a massive challenge. The kicker? We had just two months to pull it all together. From the moment we accepted, the countdown was on.
We’ve handled big projects before, but this one was on a different scale. The goal was to create a high-fidelity, interactive model of Riyadh’s sprawling 1,973 square kilometers, showcasing some of the city’s most iconic developments like Qiddiya, Diriyah, and the Green Riyadh project. It had to look amazing, but more importantly, it had to function seamlessly in a real-time interactive experience.
Fast-Track to Building a City
Normally, a project of this magnitude takes months of planning and development, but with LEAP 2024 approaching fast, we had to speed things up. Our first move was to choose Unreal Engine 5 to power the project. Unreal’s high-resolution rendering and real-time capabilities gave us the tools we needed to create something that looked and felt immersive while being manageable on such a short timeline.
The first few weeks were all about design and building out the city’s skeleton—1,973 square kilometers of terrain is no joke! We mapped out key areas, deciding where to put our focus, and zeroed in on the city’s most significant projects, rendering them in sharp detail while keeping the rest of Riyadh in a clean, minimalist white-box style.
Teamwork in Overdrive
The pressure was intense, and teamwork was everything. Our designers, developers, and engineers were working around the clock to keep everything on track. One of the biggest challenges was the tablet-controlled navigation. We needed the user experience to be smooth, intuitive, and interactive. Visitors at LEAP wouldn’t just be standing back and watching—they’d be exploring Riyadh’s developments through a tablet, zooming in, selecting key projects, and interacting with the city’s future.
And then came the Pixel Streaming technology—a crucial element that ensured the experience was as stunning visually as it was in terms of functionality. Even with a project this large, the visuals needed to be top-notch, and Pixel Streaming allowed us to maintain that quality on-site and even offer the possibility of remote access in the future.
Installation at LEAP 2024
The week of LEAP 2024 arrived faster than we could imagine, and our team was on-site getting everything ready. We had built a massive 4m x 3m display, and it dominated the space at the exhibition. But it wasn’t just about setting it up—it was about making sure everything worked seamlessly. From calibrating the tablet navigation to running last-minute quality checks on the visuals, it was all hands on deck.
When the show finally opened, watching attendees interact with the Digital Twin of Riyadh was the highlight. Visitors were zooming in on areas like Diriyah and Qiddiya, exploring in real time, and seeing the future of the city unfold before their eyes. The response was phenomenal. The project not only showcased Riyadh’s progress but also opened a new way to communicate urban development—using interactive technology to make city planning accessible and engaging.
Reflecting on the Journey
Looking back, what stands out is how our team came together to tackle such a complex project in such a short period. The two-month timeline felt daunting at first, but with a solid plan, the right tools, and a team committed to making it happen, we pulled it off. More than just a display, the Riyadh Digital Twin is a forward-looking tool that can evolve with the city’s growth and serve as a scalable platform for future urban projects.
We’re already looking ahead to future iterations of the Digital Twin as Riyadh continues to expand. But for now, the first step—creating an immersive, interactive model of one of the world’s fastest-growing cities—has been an unforgettable experience.
Want to see more? Check out the full project details here.
