Skip to content
Axiom
  • MicroStation
    • Products for MicroStation
      • Microsoft Office Importer™
      • MicroStation Productivity Toolkit™
      • MicroStation Acceleration Garage™
      • FileFixer™
      • Title Block Manager™
      • Translation Manager™
      • RefManager™
    • _______________
      • RasterDgn™
      • Global File Changer™
      • Custom Programming
      • DgnCompare™
      • RefMerge™
      • Duplicate Element Remover™
      • SpecChecker™
    • _______________
      • CellManager™
      • SpellCheckerPlus™
      • SpecManager™
  • Revit
    • Products for Revit
    • Microsoft Office Importer™
    • Family and View Studio™
    • Productivity Toolkit™
    • Revit Custom Programming
  • AutoCAD
    • Products for AutoCAD
    • Microsoft Office Importer™
    • Title Block Manager™
    • Translation Manager™
    • AutoCAD Productivity Toolkit™
    • AutoCAD Custom Programming
  • Support
    • Support
    • FAQ
  • CAD/BIM Tips & Tricks
    • Articles
    • CAD/BIM Videos
    • Upcoming Events
    • Webinar Videos
  • About Us
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • CAD/BIM Survey
    • Careers
  • Live Demo
AdobeStock_601156890-Desert-Oasis-or-Dystopian-Hell-

CAD/BIM Tips & Tricks

CAD/BIM Design Project: Desert Oasis or Dystopian Hell?

Does the design of a new construction project in the Middle East foresee the structure of future societies, or is it just a “castle in the sky”?

22 August 2022

Updated 24 May 2024

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Linkedin

Editor’s Note: Since the original date of publication, there have been some major and unfortunate changes in this project, necessitating the important update below.

Would you opt to live and work in a home that was part of a single-structure city, along with nine million other folks? How about if we told you it was located in the Arabian desert? We’d love to tell you that it included romantic starlit evenings in a Bedouin tent with a belly-dancing exotic beauty and a dashing hero, a la Lawrence of Arabia. But it’s far more futuristic than that.

At Axiom, we’ve long maintained that CAD/BIM managers and users are the authors of our future. Architects, engineers and designers turn great visions and dreams into soaring realities and should therefore be helped and supported. This is why we produce CAD and BIM tools for MicroStation®, Revit® and AutoCAD®. If we can help the great creative minds of our era save time, reduce frustration and help them deliver accurate, standard, valuable projects, then our work is done.

A controversial project in the Middle East has clearly pitted CAD/BIM designers and members of the AEC industry against the confines of modern reality in thought-provoking ways.

But are they crossing the line between reality and fantasy?

A controversial project in the Middle East has clearly pitted CAD/BIM designers and members of the AEC industry against the confines of modern reality.

The Scale of a City

AdobeStock_618545418

The Line consists of two parallel structures contained within a mirrored
glass exterior.

The Line consists of two parallel structures contained within a mirrored glass exterior.

In 1624, the Dutch settled along the Hudson River, establishing New Amsterdam, which the English later renamed New York. Today, at its widest point, the Big Apple measures about 35 miles across. On the opposite coast, in 1781, a small settlement named El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles (The Town of the Queen of Angels) was established as part of Spain’s colonization of California. Today, that city, Los Angeles, measures around 44 miles at its widest point. But earlier than both of these large American cities — much earlier, in fact, — the Romans settled on the banks of the River Thames around 45 A.D. They called their little settlement Londinium. Today, the sprawling city of London has grown to a width of around 50 miles, east to west.

It’s a law of nature that things start out small and then grow. The tadpole becomes the frog; the acorn, the mighty oak, the settlement becomes the sprawling metropolis, and in the Middle East, well, that’s where this theory goes to hell in a handbasket. They’re building a city that will be 105 miles long right from the get-go. That’s larger than the growth spanning almost two thousand years of civilization in London. But — and here’s where it gets weird — it will only be about 660 feet wide. (For those readers who are metric, that’s 170km by 200 meters.) “That’s not a city,” you say. “It’s a sliver, a slice, a shard.” True, but since The Shard was already taken (by a building in London), they’re simply calling it The Line.

Foolhardy Frivolity or Fantastic Feat?

In the desert wilderness of northwest Saudi Arabia, where temperatures can reach up to 108ºF (42ºC) in the Tabuk province, they’re building a new city known as Neom. There’ll be a new seaport, two airports, an industrial city, 16,000 acres of farmland and an outdoor ski destination located in the nearby mountains.

The tadpole becomes the frog; the acorn, the mighty oak, the settlement becomes the sprawling metropolis, and in the Middle East, well, that’s where this theory goes to hell in a handbasket.

But it is the project known as The Line that is capturing imaginations and triggering controversy around the world.

The newest designs were made public in July 2022. The original plans were for a city comprised of multiple buildings on a linear plan, but the new designs have consolidated this concept into one gigantic, singular structure contained within mirrored “walls” or cladding.

The architects’ renditions show a breathtakingly inspired new way of living, with no cars, no streets, and no carbon emissions. And an anticipated population of nine million souls. That’s more than Madrid, bigger than Baghdad, and nominally larger than New York City. The relevance?

New York (population 8.9 million) covers an area of a little over 300 square miles. London (with a population of 9.5 million) covers an area of 607 square miles. The Line? Nine million people will occupy a footprint of just 13.12 square miles. What? Yes, to quote Johnny Depp, “You read that right.” Nine million people will apparently be comfortably housed in a mere 13 square miles (34 square kilometers).

How is this possible? We told you the structure would be 105 miles long and 660 feet wide, but we forgot to tell you that it would also be over 1,640 feet (500 meters) tall, which means The Line could be around 100 floors tall, or more. (We don’t envy the window-washers. Nope, not one bit.)

Visionary versus Dystopian

“Visionary” is a word perhaps too easily bandied about, but one look at the overall design and aesthetic of The Line and “visionary” seems entirely appropriate. While the design perhaps borders on genius, the ultimate focus is not on the nuts and bolts of the structure, but on the humans who will live here. Health and well-being are being prioritized over transportation and infrastructure.

The city will run on 100 percent renewable energy and 95 percent of the surrounding land will be preserved for nature. Virtually all everyday necessities will be available within a five-minute walk from your front door, although we’re going to assume there will ultimately be a series of parking garages for those who wish to retain a vehicle for venturing out from The Line. An underground high-speed rail system can shuttle residents the entire length of the city in about 20 minutes.

Naysayers have dubbed the project too futuristic and dystopian. All we can say is that if we’d been around a hundred years ago and someone had told us that one day we would carry a pocket device through which we could access a universe of data, images and film footage, make phone- and video-calls to people on the other side of the world, take photographs, listen to music, do our banking, book a medical appointment or a haircut, we’d likely have said the same thing: “Too futuristic and dystopian. It’ll never catch on.” And we’d have been dead wrong.

Are they crossing the line between reality
and fantasy?

All we can ask of the detractors is to give the future time to breathe and grow.

How Can We Help You?

If you’re a builder of futures, our goal is to support you in those endeavors. To that end, we create productivity-enhancing tools designed to save time, avoid repetitive tasks, reduce frustration, improve project accuracy and get you home on time.

Check out our MicroStation, Revit and AutoCAD tools.

Prefer to discuss your situation with a seasoned pro? You can pick the brain of a friendly CAD/BIM Consultant at 727-442-7774. Solutions may be the name of our game, but our primary goal is to add more time to your day.

The Update

Two years ago, this project — the largest human construction project in history — filled many with hope. Animated chatter on the topic was global. Watching an awe-inspiring architectural epic like The Line become a reality seemed to possess all the excitement and anticipation of something as seemingly impossible as man’s first steps on the Moon. We were all hopeful. Sure, it may have been somewhat skeptical hope (if there is such a thing), but reports in early April 2024 seemed to dash that global hope to smithereens on the hot desert floor.

Why? What happened? Obviously, nobody brags about their failure or defeat, so the data is still a little threadbare and constantly changing, but we’ll tell you what we know.

Watching an awe-inspiring architectural epic like The Line become a reality seemed to possess all the excitement and anticipation of something as seemingly impossible as man’s first steps on the Moon.

On 5 April 2024, Bloomberg reported that the entire Neom project (described above) was being scaled back. The Line had initially been expected to house 1.5 million people by 2030. Now, Bloomberg reported, fewer than 300,000 would be moving in.

Out of the proposed 170-kilometer-long project (105.63 miles), a mere 2.4 kilometers (1.49 miles) were expected to be completed by 2030.

Amid reports of layoffs and an as-yet unapproved budget for 2024, the project appeared to be floundering. Rumors circulated, which frankly, is just about all a rumor is good for.

Half of the financial backing for the project was meant to come from the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which was allegedly taking strain. Focus had shifted from The Line to an $8 billion project for wind and solar farms to create green hydrogen. (Saudi Arabia intends to reduce its reliance on oil sales by becoming one of the top hydrogen manufacturers worldwide.) The sovereign wealth fund’s cash reserves had dropped to $15 billion, while phase one of the Neom project was anticipated to cost $320 billion by 2030.

However, in an interview at the end of April, Minister of Economy, Faisal Al Ibrahim, stated, “All projects are moving full steam ahead. We set out to do something unprecedented and we’re doing something unprecedented, and we will deliver something that’s unprecedented.”

Al Ibrahim said that the “intended scale” of the entire Neom project, including The Line, was “continuing as planned. There is no change in scale,” he affirmed. “It is a long-term project that’s modular in design.” He did not give an update on the timeframe.

Who knows whether those collective hopes for The Line will one day manifest in the bright Saudi Arabian sunshine? It would be an astonishing achievement by anyone’s standard. Can you imagine that sleek structure, stretching into the desert as far as the eye can see, with its mirrored outer skin gleaming and shimmering on those Saudi sands? Or is that merely a desert mirage …?

Title Block Manager
Tools to solve your MicroStation problems: View products
Import Excel spreadsheets and Word documents to MicroStation or AutoCAD with perfect formatiing

AXIOM

Axiom provides powerful software that helps thousands of engineers, architects, designers, project leaders, CAD managers and CAD/BIM users all over the globe.

POPULAR PRODUCTS

Microsoft Office Importer™
MicroStation Productivity Toolkit™
MicroStation Acceleration Garage™
FileFixer™
Title Block Manager™
Translation Manager™
Products for MicroStation
Products for Revit
Products for AutoCAD

CONNECT WITH US

1805 Drew St
Clearwater, FL 33765
Phone: 727-442-7774
E-mail: InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

“Facebook” “Twitter” “LinkedIn” “LinkedIn”

TrustPilot-Axiom
Copyright © 2017–2025 Axiom Services, Inc. and IntelliProp LLC.  All Rights Reserved.  Axiom, CellManager, DgnCompare, Duplicate Element Remover, FileFixer, Global File Changer, Office Importer, Productivity Toolkit, RasterDgn, RefManager, RefMerge, SpecManager, SpellCheckerPlus, Title Block Manager, Translation Manager and Family Studio are trademarks of IntelliProp. Revit and AutoCAD are registered trademarks of Autodesk‚ Inc. MicroStation is a registered trademark of Bentley Systems, Inc. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Other trademarks are held by their respective owners. Not responsible for inadvertent errors.
Privacy Policy | Sitemap

Game-Changing Protection

LinkFixer Advanced™   for Revit is a lifesaver. Why? When your project file references are moved or renamed, those linked files (such as rvt, dwg or dwf) will no longer be found. LinkFixer Advanced will protect your files from this catastrophe with patented file immunization technology.

A Word About Links

Got missing reference attachments? Here’s a brief explanation:

Files often contain links. We generally refer to these files as the parent files. The links point to other files which we call child files. In the case of CAD/BIM files, this is how other files are “referenced” to a main project file.

When the child files are moved or renamed, the links in the parent files break. This indicates that the child file is no longer located where the parent file link is pointing or it means the link in the parent file is looking for the old filename of a renamed child file and, of course, not finding it. Either way, your references will be missing and it’s annoying and frustrating to deal with when it happens to you and you’re left staring helplessly at the typical error message displayed on your screen.

LinkFixer Advanced, however, is the fast, modern way to protect, move and repair links in the following situations:

  • If you have good, working links (references) you’d like to protect in case the files are moved or renamed, use the Inoculate and Cure tool. This is your safety net. Consider this: The novice in your IT department decides to do a mini migration on the weekend. You come in Monday and poof! — your references are missing. Inconvenient? Yes. Catastrophic? Not a chance. Run LinkFixer Advanced on your pre-treated files and watch your missing references appear like magic.
  • If you need to move or rename files and you would prefer that the embedded links don’t break, use the Move/Rename tool. You know those clients you have to wait on hand and foot? The ones that have a different drive and file structure you have to use at submittal time? The Move/Rename feature will allow you to serve the high and mighty with little effort by allowing you to accommodate their needs and still smartly retain their reference file linkages with no additional effort on your part.
  • If you’ve got files that contain broken links (causing the resulting missing data), and you need to repair those links (and restore the data), use the Modify Links tool. It’s not uncommon to have a folder or two renamed. The client’s name changes, the project name changes, the boss is a lunatic, the reasons are endless. Simple yet sophisticated rule-writing allows you to execute a simple string change to fix all of the links in your chosen file set.

Nothing can restore a link if the file has been permanently deleted, but for all your other link requirements in your project files, LinkFixer Advanced has you covered.

A Word About Links

Got missing reference attachments? Here’s a brief explanation:

Files often contain links. We generally refer to these files as the parent files. The links point to other files, which we call child files.

When the child files are moved or renamed, the links in the parent files appear to break. This simply indicates that the child file is no longer located where the parent file link is pointing, but it’s annoying and frustrating to deal with when it happens to you and you’re left staring helplessly at the typical error message displayed on your screen.

LinkFixer Advanced, however, is the fast, modern way to protect, move and repair links in the following situations:

  • If you have good, working links you’d like to protect in case the files are moved or renamed, use the Inoculate and Cure tool.
  • If you need to move or rename files and would prefer that the embedded links don’t break, use the Move/Rename tool.
  • If you’ve got files that contain broken links (causing the resulting missing data), and you need to repair those links (and restore the data), use the Modify Links tool.

Nothing can restore a link if the file has been permanently deleted, but for all your other link requirements in your project files, LinkFixer Advanced has you covered.

AutoCAD Productivity Toolkit Free Demo

  • Impeccable imports that are beautifully formatted and look exactly like the originals.
  • Accurate, up-to-date title blocks, at the push of a button.
  • Time-savings and improved productivity, with the ability to safely move or rename AutoCAD files without fear of disappearing references (despite your users’ best efforts).

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

Title Block Manager  Free Demo

Achieve title block consistency automatically.

Title Block Manager™ will:

  • Quickly and easily renumber all of your sheets for you using one Excel spreadsheet. Say goodbye to the stress of last-minute sheet-number changes.
  • Save you hours you’d typically spend manually editing your title blocks.
  • Keep your title blocks up-to-date, with a push of a button.

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

Axiom Maintenance Plus Includes:

  • Free product updates.
  • Free technical support.
  • Free license support (such as when computer-IDs change).
  • Free user training, via the Internet, on maintained products.
  • Free customization of maintained products.
  • Discounts on comparable products for different versions of Microstation or AutoCAD.

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

Productivity Toolkit  for Revit

  • Have editable, searchable Word imports in a snap.
  • Word and Excel columns can be easily moved while maintaining formatting and link integrity.
  • Have your imports automatically update when source files change.
  • Have an easier time searching for families.
  • You’ll have expanded search capabilities that easily find exactly what you’re looking for.
  • You won’t have to exit the search function to verify that you’ve selected the correct family.

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

Family and View Studio:

The Key to Drama-Free Revit Families and Views

A free trial may be helpful to you if you want:

  • To have working with families and views made much easier and more intuitive to save you a boatload of time.
  • To use the powerful and focused search capabilities to find families and views outside of your active Revit project and easily load them.
  • To see large thumbnails of views to easily determine which is the one you want.
  • To easily place a view in your project.

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

FileFixer™ Free Demo Request

Fix any MicroStation® file automatically, including:

  • DGN files that produce error messages when opened.
  • Design files that won’t open at all. Elements that misbehave.
  • Elements that won’t plot the same way they appear on your monitor.
  • DGN files that covert incorrectly to AutoCAD or other file types.
  • Elements you can’t select or delete.
  • Elements not on a defined level.

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

Microsoft Office Importer for Revit Free Trial Version

  • Paste your Word notes into Revit instead of re-typing them.
  • Move Word and Excel columns around while maintaining formatting and link integrity.
  • Automatically update your imports from the source file.
  • Precision text-size mapping.
  • Paste multipage PDFs into Revit, all at once.
  • Control the scale of PDF pages as you are pasting

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

MicroStation Productivity Toolkit Demo

Got MicroStation® problems? There’s a tool for that.

  • Experienced trouble when trying to paste Excel® spreadsheets or Word® documents into MicroStation?
  • Suffered through finding and reattaching a bunch of missing references or had to change the reference settings in more files than you care to remember?
  • Received an error message when trying to open a DGN file or had a file that wouldn’t open at all?
  • Needed to replace text or modify the properties of text elements in multiple DGN files?
  • Encountered some other MicroStation-related problem?

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

MicroStation Acceleration Garage Demo

Got MicroStation problems? There’s a tool for that.

  • Experienced trouble when trying to paste Excel spreadsheets or Word documents into MicroStation?
  • Suffered through finding and reattaching a bunch of missing references or had to change the reference settings in more files than you care to remember?
  • Received an error message when trying to open a DGN file or had a file that wouldn’t open at all?
  • Needed to replace text or modify the properties of text elements in multiple DGN files?
  • Encountered some other MicroStation-related problem?

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

Microsoft Office Importer for AutoCAD Free Trial

Tools That Save Time and Increase Productivity

  • Easily spread imports of huge Excel spreadsheets or Word docs into multiple columns in your DWG files.
  • Keep your imported data linked & synced to the source files.
  • Enjoy complete control over your CAD standards, including color, weight, style, text size, font, and more.

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.

Microsoft Office Importer  Free Trial Version

Tools That Save Time and Increase Productivity

  • Microsoft Office Importer™  saves you valuable time by automatically managing the hundred little things that have to go right.
  • Microsoft Office Importer eliminates double-work. No more manual data entry and formatting of information that’s already in Excel or Word files.
  • Microsoft Office Importer leaves you in control. You don’t have to sacrifice your standards to achieve fast, top-quality results in record time. Finally get the recognition you deserve.

To find out more, fill out the form, call us at 727-442-7774 or email us at InfoMail@AxiomInt.com

  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is hidden when viewing the form
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We hate spam. We don’t sell e-mail addresses.