Huna is a unique community-led project that provides a platform for local creatives, entrepreneurs, and food and beverage companies to showcase their talents and grow their businesses. With its sustainable and eco-friendly approach to business, Huna now has several large commercial spaces that operate as food halls and co-working spaces.
The interior design of Huna’s spaces reflects its commitment to authenticity and the local culture, using materials and colours inspired by the Saudi desert landscape. Huna’s success is not just in its business model, but in the way it has created a community that supports and empowers local talent. As Huna continues to expand and innovate, it will continue to create opportunities for its members and contribute to the growth of the local creative and business ecosystem.
Huna is set to launch its most challenging project to date in the historical city of Al-Ula, a UNESCO heritage site. The new Huna space is expected to open in September 2023, just in time for the Al-Ula season.
The importance of AlUla
Al-Ula is a historic and cultural region located in the northwest of Saudi Arabia. The Al-Ula project aims to revive this ancient land and transform it into a global tourist destination, while preserving its rich heritage and natural environment. The project includes the development of several sites, such as the Hegra Archaeological Site, the ancient city of Dadan, the Jabal Ikmah Nature Reserve, and the Al-Ula Oasis. The project involves the restoration of ancient buildings and landmarks, such as Al-Ula Old Town, as well as the creation of new ones, including luxury resorts, museums, and cultural centres. The Al-Ula project seeks to showcase the beauty and significance of the region to the world, while also contributing to the economic growth and social development of the local community.
“This is the most interesting and challenging Huna space to date,” explains Ahmed Bakheet, Business Development Director at Huna. “This space will be a masterpiece that matches its environment.”
In recent years, the Saudi government has invested heavily in the development of Al-Ula as a major tourist destination, with plans to open it up to visitors from around the world. The government aims to transform the site into a centre of arts, culture, and heritage, with the ultimate goal of attracting millions of visitors each year. There are, however, still huge gaps in the offerings around the city. Key Concepts designer Anastasia Kolbert explains that there are no current solutions in the city for travellers trying to work. Nowhere yet offers power points, good connectivity and coffee and food for nomadic workers. The Huna space will radically shift the experience of visiting this unique, cultural city for business travellers.
As the Huna project makes progress, the restoration of the heritage buildings is priority, in line with the UNESCO guidelines. This historical exterior will contain the chic spaces that Huna is known for. External windows and doors will remain in the original wooden style, and where necessary, additional glass security doors with fingerprint access will be added discreetly within.
Preserving AlUla’s heritage
The interior designers and architects are working with heritage consultants to ensure that the buildings are restored and enhanced as thoughtfully as possible. Designing the space comes with specific challenges, explain KeyConcept – the interior design studio behind all the Huna spaces, such as creating a multifunctional space where a well-thought-out user journey needs to seamlessly connect the spaces together.
KeyConcept has proposed openings in the existing structures only when necessary, and lighting that cleverly illuminates the co-working spaces without creating light pollution. The masterplan aims to use as few new materials, wall structures, and roofing as possible, keeping everything as close to the original buildings as possible. The interior courtyards will be left open-air, with shading and canopies introduced in the central courtyard. The narrow corridors of the heritage building will not be altered to avoid damaging the walls and keeping the authentic atmosphere of the Kingdom’s old cities.
There are several other kitchen tenants lined up for the new Huna, including coffee options and restaurants.
The Huna platform started in 2017 with a focus on the food and beverage industry, providing plug-and-play kitchens to food entrepreneurs, but has since expanded to also incorporate art and culture. Huna’s spaces are multi-functional and cater to a variety of audiences, including community living in the area, mall visitors, and co-workers. KeyConcept also chose to incorporate local culture and traditions into the designs by using traditional rugs in modern ways, such as in the ceiling design or wrapped around the reception desk.
Incorporating Huna’s vibe
The Huna spaces are vibey place that incorporates social and work elements during the working week and provides an evening and weekend destination for culture and art, including an open space for a stage. The furniture in Huna’s spaces is smartly designed to be easily moved around and opened up, allowing the spaces to remain dynamic. Huna supports homegrown talent and local success stories. If a café is successful in one of the locations, it will tend to be expanded across all the locations.
Bakheet, founder of Huna, explains that Huna operates across three pillars: food, art, and culture. Every Huna space, as well as the food offerings, has stages for live music and workshops. Huna spaces are all tailored to the community, with a particular focus on supporting local talents and providing opportunities to small food and beverage businesses by helping with infrastructure and sharing the risk involved in the venture.
Every Huna location has a pop-up kitchen called “Shop Number 6”, where a new chef or food entrepreneur is given a three or six-month lease to prove their concept. The idea of a food hall is well-known across Dubai, but Huna was the first platform in the UAE to be given a license to operate as a food hall. Huna, therefore, pioneered the concept in the area.
The different Huna locations offer slightly different services to visitors and members, with each location tailored to the different personas using it. In Huna Al Wasl, there is a community living area. The word Huna in Arabic means “here,” and KeyConcept, the interior design studio that worked across all the different Huna spaces, has used the word as the guiding principle for the design decisions.
The world is shifting to a more mobile, nomadic audience, and Huna – explains Bakheet – is catering to this trend. Coffee shops, coworking spaces, restaurants, and event spaces are being tailored to suit this nomadic customer, who comes to work at the coffee shop, moves to a food hall for lunch, takes a private phone call in a meeting booth, and socialises in the evening with friends enjoying the live music. At Huna, all the needs of a single day can be met.
“Key Concepts has worked across all the different Huna spaces,” says Kolbert, interior design and business manager at KeyConcept. “We took inspiration from Saudi’s desert landscape. Huna is very authentic in terms of the materials.” Heritage clays and a particular shade of beige-pink that KeyConcept has incorporated into every Huna space are some examples of the materials used. The colour has become so intrinsic to the brand’s spaces that the designers have named it “Huna Pink”.
This pink will be used in the Huna Al-Ula space, and when it opens later this year it will provide a social space and working hub in this new and exciting Saudi destination.