Arts Thread

In the heart of the vast Arabian desert, a forgotten tale of tragic love unfolds. Aja and Salma, figures from two different tribes in pre-Islamic Arabia, embody a romance that has long faded into obscurity. The two mountain ranges in Hail, Saudi Arabia, bear their names, standing as silent witnesses to a love story that ends in tragedy—one in which each is killed on separate peaks. Over time, the story has faded, leaving a gap between the landscape and its cultural significance. Could a narrative-based tourism experience revive this link, blending the mountains’ natural beauty with their forgotten story? This thesis explores how storytelling, spatial, and experiential design can reconnect the landscape with its lost narratives. By integrating myth and place-making, this proposal demonstrates how such an approach enhances tourism while fostering a deeper connection to cultural identity. “The power of the story realm lies in the devices that create a coherent sense of closure—an ordering of event, time, and place shaped by the intent of the designer.” My design approach for the site focuses on dividing the story into a series of key moments, each translated into visual cues or ‘devices.’ These elements act as narrative tools, guiding visitors through emotional states such as relief, tension, silence, and grief. Informed by keywords drawn from the story’s pivotal moments and enriched with symbolic elements referenced in the narrative, these devices create a spatial sequence that unfolds along a hiking trail within Aja Mountain, inviting visitors to experience the landscape as a living story. Thesis Website: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/fbee2d65115f458bb079872d32d9a375