An immersive festival experience inspired by One Thousand and One Nights
Client:
MDLBeast
A Thousand and One Festival is a themed music and cultural festival inspired by the story of One Thousand and One Nights, delivered by MDLBeast at the Banban site in Riyadh.
The festival featured five distinct stages — Qafilah, Bustan, Qasr, Bizarre Bazaar and Sahaab — each designed with its own creative identity, audience experience and operational requirements. Alongside the music programme, the event placed a strong emphasis on scenic integration, audience journey and environmental design, with public spaces, walkways and social areas contributing to the overall experience across the site footprint.
The event transformed part of the existing Banban venue into a new immersive festival environment, making use of the site’s underground container infrastructure while establishing a visual identity distinct from MDLBeast’s flagship event, Soundstorm. Scenic design, lighting, architecture and themed audience spaces were used throughout the site to create a highly atmospheric environment inspired by the storytelling and visual references of the festival concept.
Number of attendees
20,000
at
A Thousand and One
Services
provided
Overlay & Site Management
- Infrastructure scheduling and procurement
- On-site supplier & logistics management
- Budget variance management
- Provision of experts to manage waste, power, plumbing and plant
Construction Management
- Sourcing structures, planning and executing builds
our role
Years worked: 2025
Special Projects were responsible for site management and advance planning for A Thousand and One Festival on behalf of MDLBeast, overseeing infrastructure delivery, construction coordination and operational planning across the site.
Our role included managing infrastructure procurement, coordinating contractors and overseeing installation activities throughout the build and dismantle phases. Working within the existing Banban venue infrastructure, we adapted layouts and delivery plans to suit the specific operational and creative requirements of the event while integrating new infrastructure into the established site environment.
We worked closely with production, scenic and technical teams to coordinate the delivery of large scale scenic builds and supporting infrastructure across all festival areas. This included managing logistics, installation sequencing, supplier coordination and site activity to ensure works progressed safely and efficiently within the programme.
Special Projects also maintained coordination across operational stakeholders throughout delivery, supporting communication between suppliers, production teams and venue operations while overseeing day to day site management activity. A key part of our role was ensuring the event operated as a distinct standalone festival environment, separate from established delivery approaches used for other events at the Banban site.
