Glass and steel balustrades complement Arabic architecture

Riyadh is booming. Until the mid-twentieth century, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was a small, isolated town. But in recent decades, it has become a flourishing metropolis with an important commercial role.

Skyscrapers and stylish developments have been popping up all over the city, including the new Ministry of Education building.

Exceptional quality and premium looks were a key requirement for this project. The High Commission for the Development of Arriyadh selected only the finest materials and products – among them, glass railings and steel balustrades from Q-railing.

Starting construction

The outline of the building, with its vast entrance hall and enormous office space, appeared very quickly. Light colours, wood, white marble and glass have been used throughout. The result is a feeling of openness and transparency.



With a very tight project schedule, the Saudi government required solutions that would help them complete the remaining work very quickly. In particular, the railings for the atrium and for various indoor and outdoor flights of stairs had to be capable of rapid installation.

Glass and steel balustrades

It was the project installer, MASY International, who introduced Q-railing to the architects, Projacs International, and to the client. MASY and Q-railing had previously worked together as partners of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and were well aware of one another’s focus on premium quality and service.

MASY also knew from experience how quickly and easily Q-railing’s systems could be installed, so they had no hesitation in recommending them for the Ministry of Education project.



The MASY team put forward Easy Glass Slim as a suitable glass railing solution for the atrium and parapet walls. For the indoor and outdoor stairways, they proposed Q-line posted balustrade with crossbar infill.

The architects and representatives of the High Commission were immediately impressed by the designs – particularly by the high level of transparency and ease of installation.



In total, MASY installed more than 7,000 metres of railing. That included stainless steel cap rails for the top of the Easy Glass Slim glass railing and rounded handrails with matching handrail brackets for the Q-line steel balustrades.