The awe-inspiring Maraya concert hall in Saudi Arabia's northwestern desert holds the Guinness World Record for largest mirrored building on earth, but another impressive feat which received less recognition is the fact it was effectively completed in just two-and-a-half months in 2019- possibly a record in itself.

As the start of a major festival in December 2019 drew closer, hundreds of people worked around the clock to erect a 100x100x26m cuboid steel frame and clad it with 9,740m2 of mirrors that cover the exterior.

"When you build something in a beautiful location, what do you do? You can't compete - so let's enhance the landscape," said Alberto Bounous, development director of the Royal Commission for AIUla, a regional government body that commissioned Milan's Giò Forma studio to design the project. "We created this to put AlUla on the global cultural map," he told ArchiExpo e-magazine.

A total of 3,000 pre-tempered panels were manufactured locally by Guardian Glass, which adapted its highly durable UltraMirror product to withstand harsh conditions like wind, sandstorms and extreme temperature fluctuations. Subtle curvature on the façade means that, from a distance, the building looks like a shimmering mirage of the surrounding panorama - but as visitors move closer, they see a perfect reflection of themselves.

"The mirror is a way to create a dialogue between nature, history and the future."