These construction photos capture One Za'abeel, a pair of skyscrapers and a 230-metre-long cantilever, on which Japanese studio Nikken Sekkei is nearing completion in Dubai.

In the construction images revealed by One Za'abeel, the complex is shown near completion with its record-breaking skybridge, named The Link, spanning a six-lane highway.

According to Mace, one of the construction companies working on the project, the steel and glass bridge is the "world's longest cantilever".

It is just 16 metres shorter than the smallest of the two skyscrapers that flank it, which measures 235 metres in height. The tallest of the two buildings extends to 305 metres, making it a supertall skyscraper.

Nikken Sekkei is set to officially complete One Za'abeel at the end of this month. Being one of the first visible structures for those travelling from the airport, it is hoped to become a landmark for Dubai.

Inside, The Link contains an infinity pool that runs its entire length. The horizontal structure will also feature a range of restaurants, as well as retail and leisure facilities.

These offerings form part of a wider mixed-use programme for the complex, which will also contain offices, hotels and residences.

According to Nikken Sekkei, One Za'abeel's "iconic design strikes a clear departure from the existing buildings around it".

One Za'abeel has been designed by Nikken Sekkei for developer Ithra Dubai. The lift of the dramatic cantilever over the highway was carried out over the live highway in 2020.

The project is not the first record-breaking building in Dubai. The city is also home to the 828-metre-tall Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, which was completed in 2010 to a design by architect Adrian Smith while working at architecture studio SOM.

Other habitable buildings with significant cantilevers include the Busan Cinema Center in South Korea, which features a roof with a column-free cantilever of 85 metres, and the observation deck at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, which projects 66.5 metres.

The photography is courtesy of One Za'abeel.

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Japanese architect Tadao Ando has unveiled plans for Armani Beach Residences at Palm Jumeirah, a luxury residential complex on the oceanfront in Dubai.

Designed in collaboration with Sharjah developer Arada and luxury company
The Armani Group, the 8,361-square-metre building will host 53 homes.

Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect Ando's proposal features a glass and concrete facade, punctured by a semicircular opening. It will also be lined with curved terraces that overlook a ground-floor pool and adjacent private beach.

It is set to be complete by the end of 2026.

Armani Beach Residences at Palm Jumeirah will include homes ranging from two to five bedrooms, along with penthouses and two presidential suites.

To help establish a connection with the ocean, all of the homes will include large glazed areas offering expansive outward views.

Residents will have access to a spa, multi-purpose function room, cigar lounge, movie theatre and children's playroom, along with a landscaped deck area.

"The architecture at this wonderful location is designed to pursue a visual and experiential continuity between the interior and the seascape that surrounds the project, with the interplay of light and shadow helping to create a dynamic sequence from arrival through to the public areas and finally to each impeccable residence," said Ando.

The interiors will be designed by The Armani Group, which will allow residents to choose between a dark or light interior palette for their home.

Ando said the project marks the continuation of his long-term collaboration with luxury fashion house Armani, which began in 2001 with his design for the Armani headquarters, Teatro Armani, in Milan.

"I am proud to renew our longstanding partnership with Giorgio Armani to deliver a project that brings nature and architecture together, producing a spectacular space in which to live," Ando said.

According to the vice chairman of Arada Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, the proposal will aim to present "a new standard for the high-end Dubai real estate market".

Other upcoming projects in Dubai include Mercedes-Benz's first branded residential skyscraper and a sweeping vertiport terminal for "air taxi services".

The images are courtesy of Arada.

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The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features a supertall skyscraper in Dubai designed by Mercedes-Benz. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now.

Car company Mercedes-Benz and developer Binghatti have unveiled designs for a supertall skyscraper in central Dubai.

The tower, named Mercedes-Benz Places, is planned to be 341 metres high and will be the brand's first branded residential property.

This week's newsletter also featured Taiwanese designer Pao Hui Kao's first solo exhibition, a travertine holiday home in Denmark by Jan Henrik Jansen Arkitekter and Studio Marshall Blecher and Neom's reveal of the Norlana yachting town designed by 10 Design.

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Mercedes-Benz and developer Binghatti have revealed plans for a supertall skyscraper in central Dubai, which will be the car company's first branded residential tower.

Named Mercedes-Benz Places in Dubai, the tower will reportedly be 341 meters high and located close to the Burj Khalifa.

The 65-storey building in the downtown district of Dubai will be car company Mercedes-Benz's first branded residential property.

"With Mercedes-Benz Places in Dubai, we are going beyond automotive to create outstanding brand moments," said Britta Seeger, a member of the management board for Mercedes-Benz Group AG.

"Our aim with our first branded real estate residential tower is to create new, desirable grounds that inherit our brand's DNA and give our customers a place to arrive, unwind and come home to."

Few details of the supertall skyscraper – buildings over 300 metres – have been announced, but renders show a sinuous tower with a curved pinnacle and facades imprinted with the Mercedes-Benz's three-pointed-star logo. It will become one of the city's tallest buildings.

The visuals also show the skyscraper located near the Burj Khalifa, which is the world's tallest building. It will contain 225 apartments along with restaurants, a gym, lounges, exhibition spaces and "VIP parking" facilities.

Dubai-based developer Binghatti has begun construction and the skyscraper is set to complete in 2026.

It is the latest in a series of residential developments being created by car brands across the world. Binghatti is also creating a 42-storey skyscraper with luxury car manufacturer Bugatti in Dubai.

Along with Bugatti and Mercedes-Benz, Bentley, Aston Martin and Porsche are also developing residential properties.

Porsche created a 60-storey skyscraper in Miami Beach, which opened in 2017, and Bentley is creating a 61-storey skyscraper nearby. Meanwhile, Aston Martin is designing an angular black home in New York as part of its Automotive Galleries and Lairs service, which launched in 2019.

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The recently concluded COP28 summit in Dubai was a reminder of just how complex finding meaningful solutions to the climate crisis will be, writes Sumita Singha.

It seems that COPs have become the climatic equivalent of the Olympic Games, except they happen each year with no winners.

The much-delayed deal at COP28 called on all countries to "transition away" from using fossil fuels for the first time – but not to phase them out, as many countries wanted. Island nations hard-hit by the climate crisis are critical of the deal, though it was approved by nearly 200 nations. Campaign groups such as Greenpeace also say the agreement doesn't go far enough and that the transition won't happen in a "fair and fast manner".

The Two-Thirds World needs help before being lectured by rich nations

This was my first Conference of the Parties (COP). Certainly a party it was, with celebrities, world leaders and politicians, people wearing plastic floral wreaths and feathers, colourful umbrellas and national dresses, some serving tea and biscuits. The nearly 100,000 people gathered there seemed good-natured and affable despite the Middle Eastern heat, 30-40-minute walks to reach venues, long queues, restaurants running out of food and lack of facilities for the disabled.

As a meat-eating Buddhist, I encountered vegan peace protesters from Hong Kong with glossy leaflets about how bad meat is, and I reflected upon how complex and personal the solutions to the climate crisis are. The youth protesting about fossil fuels while wearing fast fashion, which is responsible for more carbon emissions than shipping and aviation combined. The delegate from the Solomon Islands, pregnant with her fifth child, would be uncomfortable talking about overpopulation. The delegate from Somalia who told me how she'd driven to watch three football matches in one day in Qatar. Who was I to pour water on her enjoyment?

The complexity is upon nations too. Can Iraq, for example, which has been bombed to smithereens, stop exporting the oil that is its main source of income? UAE and Qatar, both energy-intensive nations and major exporters of oil, are also major negotiators in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East (wars contribute 6 per cent of carbon emissions). Each country and each person needs a tailored approach.

The Two-Thirds World needs help before being lectured by rich nations about cutting down on their emissions. China is a major polluter, but much of its emissions come from goods produced for export. And while Western nations and industries plant trees in other parts of the world in the name of carbon offsetting, they continue to dump waste on South America, Asia and Africa where it is ultimately burned as poor countries struggle to deal with it. There were abundant slogans about "net zero", but nothing about "de-growth".

Dubai was an interesting choice for this conference. It is a city of immigrants, particularly from the Indian subcontinent, and now increasingly from Africa. The 2020 Expo site was manned 24 hours a day using 12-hour shifts, with airline style security.

Many people I met in the city were completely unaware of the huge conference about the environment being held in the Expo. I talked to a five-months pregnant woman who was working there to send money for her four-year-old left with her parents in Nigeria. I asked her how she was coping. She said she would work until her sixth month and then survive on the single income from her husband, who was also working in Dubai, since there was no maternity pay.

Where were the architects, designers and other creatives in the debate?

At my hotel, I met the Pakistani doorman who was a trained glazier brought in to work on the city's shiny edifices, but claimed he had been cheated out of his salary for six months and was now living on borrowed money and trying to pay off his debts.

Dubai, with its high-energy architecture, endless roads, incomplete metro lines and gaudy malls seemed to pose perfectly the question: "Is this what you want? Is this progress?" Why not have the next COP at Tuvalu before it disappears – or even Bangladesh during the monsoons, so that world leaders can experience how the Two-Thirds World lives?

If many poor nations appear despondent at the COP28 deal, it is perhaps because they remember that most of the agreements reached at the COP15 held in Paris – the landmark Paris Agreements – have not been followed through. Some of the island nations say that they were not in the room when the agreement was reached. The official Indigenous representatives were outnumbered by attendees linked to the fossil-fuel industry by seven to one. Given they stand to lose so much more, they could have been given more of a voice.

I wondered why exemplar nations like Bhutan, Panama and Suriname – all of which are carbon negative with over 60 per cent forested areas – weren't given centre-stage, instead of big companies and rich countries. They argue they should be paid for maintaining the world's lungs.

And importantly, where were the architects, designers and other creatives in the debate? I met many, but none of the architects that seemed to be making an impact were pursuing architecture or design – rather they were CEOs and presidents of NGOs. One was a former first lady and one was a minister for the environment.

As creatives dependent upon patronage, client budgets and tastes, as well as regulations, our ability to experiment is much hampered. At least the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has been granted "observer status" since COP26 in Glasgow. Engaging can help change the world in small ways.

Sumita Singha is an architect, educator and writer. She is director of Ecologic Architects and has served on several RIBA committees, as well as founding the institute's equality forum, Architects For Change. She is author of Architecture For Rapid Change and Scarce Resources, published by Routledge, and received an Order of the British Empire in 2021 for services to architecture. She was writing for Dezeen in a personal capacity.

The photo is by Sumita Singha.

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The Museum of the Future in Dubai has unveiled a six-metre-long 3D-printed wall made from sand by architect and researcher Barry Wark.

Wark said the project, called Nadarra, is the "most intricate 3D-printed wall ever manufactured".

He believes sand-printing technology, which is already used in car manufacturing, could be a game changer for the construction industry.

"In time, I envision we can create interiors, facades and even structural elements with this technology due to its load-bearing capabilities and potential durability," Wark told Dezeen.

A smaller version of Nadarra was first exhibited as part of the Museum of the Future's launch exhibition Tomorrow Today, curated by Gonzalo Herrero Delicado, which opened in February 2022.

The construction has now been extended to a size of three-by-six metres for the museum's permanent collection.

The wall has a unique aesthetic thanks to the intricate 3D textures that form its surfaces.

Wark used generative AI software to design these 3D surfaces, emulating natural erosion processes.

The designer said he wanted to highlight how, in the face of the Anthropocene, the line between natural and human-made is increasingly blurring.

"The project explores qualities of ambiguity in form, texture and material that operate between the natural and the artifactual, attempting to highlight that these categories may no longer be so easily defined," he said.

The wall was assembled from a series of 3D-printed "jigsaw panels". These were produced using binder-jet printing, a process that involves adding a liquid binding agent into the thin layers of printed particles.

Wark believes this form of 3D printing offers the most potential in desert countries like those in the Middle East.

"This technology has the potential to bind together a variety of sands and gravels into architectural elements," he explained.

"This has particular relevance for the UAE as it might allow the region to utilise local materials in the design and construction of their cities in the future, creating a more ecological building practice."

According to Wark, the wall can be ground down and reprinted up to eight times without compromising its structural integrity.

When Nadarra was first shown in 2022, it was in the form of a planted wall. Preserved moss was installed in gaps within the surface, to suggest how real plants could inhabit the wall in a natural environment.

The moss has since been removed, partly for reasons relating to long-term maintenance in the museum environment.

Wark believes the design has more resonance without the plants, which he thinks could be construed as greenwashing.

"The wall celebrates the beauty of nature in the UAE biome, which is not highly vegetated," he suggested.

"I think this is significant as it creates more contextual approaches to ecological design and avoids the dangerous trope of greenwashing in regions where it might not be appropriate."

Wark is not the only designer exploring the potential of sand-printing. Other built examples include an installation in Saudi Arabia by Precht and Mamou-Mani Architects.

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Architect Tariq Khayyat has designed The Fold, a sculptural housing development in Dubai that features curved facades and aims to create a "communal oasis" behind a main road.

The Fold, which comprises 28 terraced townhouses, is located along the large Al Wasl Road in Dubai's Jumeirah district and was designed to have a more organic feel than neighbouring developments.

"We wanted to plant a tulip field on the Al Wasl Road," Tariq Khayyat Design Partners founder Khayyat told Dezeen.

"So when you drive along, suddenly you have this tulip field. Each base has a single-stem tulip."

Tariq Khayyat Design Partners (TKDP) used glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) to create a twisting, abstract "tulip" shape on each facade, which gives the buildings a sculptural look.

"The bespoke 12-metre double-curved GRP components of the villas' envelope are not a mere aesthetic addition, yet serve as connecting points coherently adjoining the volumes, giving continuity to the overall ensemble," the studio said.

The homes all have three to four bedrooms and back onto each other along a 200-metre plot of land, a layout that also affected the studio's design decisions.

"We stepped the buildings so there's a bit of privacy as well, there's balconies," Khayyat said.

"We had to work closely with the contractors on the interfaces because the white part of the facade is GRP. The brown at the back is glass fibre-reinforced concrete (GRC) and the louvres are powder-coated aluminium."

TKDP also aimed to create the shape of the development as a "linear spine".

"It's repetitive but if you come during the day at certain times, the shading casting on the tulips is beautiful," Khayyat said.

To Khayyat, it was important for The Fold to become its own, quieter space behind the busy Al Wasl Road.

"For any piece of architecture, we are placemakers; as architects, we have a responsibility," he explained. "So we wanted to make this project as a kind of communal oasis apart from the main road."

The intention was also to create a different kind of architecture than that, which people often associate with Dubai.

"I think people are sick of going vertical in Dubai and skyscrapers," Khayyat said. "I think people are looking for a bit of an experience and identity."

The client was initially worried that the renders would be unrealistic but Khayyat says the end result ended up being very close to the original visuals.

"The client was scared – rightly," Khayyat said. "They're beautiful renders but quite often architects do fantastic renders and then you see the final quality..."

"The best compliment I received when I presented this project to potential clients was when they asked me 'So, where are the actual photos?' and I said 'These are the actual photos'."

The Fold was unveiled during Dubai Design Week, which also featured a number of biomaterial installations, including this year's Abwab pavilion Of Palm by Abdalla Almulla.

The photography is by Luke Hayes.

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Emirati architect Abdalla Almulla made the Of Palm pavilion at Dubai Design Week by using all parts of the palm tree, including ceilings constructed from woven leaf mats and palm-wood furniture.

The architect was commissioned to create this year's Abwab pavilion, which is named after the Arabic word for "doors" and is the central installation at the annual Dubai Design Week festival.

He aimed for Of Palm, which was made from local palm trees, to draw attention to how sustainable architecture and design can help humanity find solutions to mitigate climate change.

The resulting pavilion was almost entirely made out of wood and palm fronds, with bark-clad trunks acting as pillars to support a ceiling made from patterned palm frond mats.

"In some parts, we had to use reinforcement," Almulla told Dezeen. "But other than that it is entirely made out of palm wood."

Darker wood panelling made from the tree was used to create furniture pieces for the circular pavilion including stools and display cases.

"The flooring is also made out of the wood and the furniture as well," Almulla added. "We just stained it in different colours so it can 'pop' around the pavilion."

As well as wanting to use a sustainable material, the designer also chose to make the pavilion out of palm trees because of their ubiquitousness in the United Arab Emirates.

The country has been using parts of the tree for shelter, food and energy for centuries.

"I think it's important in various ways because of the way it was used in architecture to build houses, for food, for fuel and many other things like creating ropes," Almulla said.

"I like this notion of using one source to create many things," he added. "And that's what I wanted to recreate here, to think: how can we take that but with today's tools, how can we repurpose it in different ways?"

While the pavilion is temporary and will be taken down now that Dubai Design Week has come to an end, Almulla hopes that the work that went into the installation can be built on in future projects.

"This was an initial research and experimentation with this material, at least for the furniture part, and whatever we have learned this time around we'll take and develop more, for sure," he concluded.

Of Palm was just one of several pavilions made from biomaterials at this year's Dubai Design Festival, including a teahouse made from food waste.

Also in Dubai, local studio Roar has created a showroom for rug brand Jaipur Rugs that features Escher-esque stepwells.

Dezeen was a media partner of Dubai Design Week, which took place from 7 to 12 November. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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The latest edition of Dubai Design Week has launched with a series of biomaterial installations, including a teahouse made from food waste and a light installation made from loofahs.

Located in the purpose-bulti Design District in Dubai's desert, the annual design week showcases projects by a cohort of local and international designers.

This year, there was a noticeable trend for the many temporary installations that dot the festival area to be constructed from biomaterials – materials derived from living organisms such as plants, animals and fungi.

These ranged from common ones, including wood and paper, to more experimental materials.

While some were created purely as a piece of decorative design, most were intended to function as an example of how biomaterials can be used to create more sustainable, functional structures.

Read on for a roundup of five installations made from biomaterials at Dubai Design Week 2023:

Arabi-An Tea House by Mitsubishi Jisho Design

Designed by Japanese studio Mitsubishi Jisho Design, the Arabi-An Tea House was made using local food waste and aims to bring people together by hosting tea ceremonies in the purpose-built structure.

Constructed out of paper and food waste, the pavilion features joint connectors made from tea and grapes. These organic materials were dried, turned into a powder and then heat-pressed into moulds made in collaboration with a Japanese metal-alloy crafter.

"We collect waste from factories, food they can't sell, and it is ground into powder," co-designer De Yuan Kang told press at the launch of the installation.

"One thing that we want to emphasise is that we have not added any other materials to this, it's just pure food waste."

The pavilion is the latest in a series by Mitsubishi Jisho Design after showcasing a food-waste teahouse in Venice called Veneti-An. The studio aims to eventually use the technique to create larger or more permanent structures.

"This is a very good opportunity because we do it on a smaller scale to test things that can be done on a bigger scale next time," Kang said.

Pulp Fractions by Tee Vee Eff

Plenty of visitors stopped to look at and touch the colourful Pulp Fractions installation by Tee Vee Eff, which is made from discarded paper and cardboard.

The design aims to draw attention to the fact that packaging makes up more than one-third of our waste, according to the studio, which used mainly delivery boxes and paper bags to create the installation.

These waste materials were pressed and dried, turning them into a material that the studio says is both lightweight and durable. This was then shaped into stackable, bright-red modules using a custom mould and finally placed on top of one another to create a playful open pavilion.

"The modules contain grooves, protrusions and extrusions that allow them to be stacked," Tee Vee Eff said. "Thus a new sculptural form is created that is both symbolic in its message as well as functional, offering respite in the public realm."

The Future Will Be Sown by Made in Earth Collective

Based in Bangalore and along the Kaveri belt in India, Made in Earth Collective's installation at Dubai Design Week is an example of how everyday organic materials can find new use.

The light installation – the only non-pavilion on this list – is made from dried loofah and gives the common material a decorative feel. The designers sourced the tropical fruit, which can also be dried and turned into a sponge for washing, after it was dried and its seeds removed but before it was composted.

The dried loofahs were sown together, creating large light panels that showcase the rough-hewn texture of the plant. These are complemented by minimalist wooden benches made from coconut wood with a natural decorative pattern.

The collective, which normally works with stone, has recently been branching out into other biomaterials.

"We have been on a journey to explore beyond those minerals and look at materials which can be regenerated, which can be grown, and which can be used to create spaces," engineer Jeremie Gaudin said.

Made in Earth Collective collaborates with local villagers and is currently working in the region of the Deccan Plateau in southern India but hopes to expand the project.

"We've started making connections only in southern India for now, because that's how much we have been able to cover, but the whole of India has incredible potential material that is just waiting to be explored," architect Shruthi Ramakrishna told Dezeen.

Naseej by AlZaina Lootah and Sahil Rattha Singh

The Naseej pavilion – Arabic for "to weave" – has a ziggurat shape that was informed by Emirati craftsmanship and draws on traditional weaving patterns from the area, as well as the "elegant geometry of palm tree leaves", its designers said.

Created by Emirati designer AlZaina Lootah together with Indian architect Sahil Rattha Singh, the structure is comprised of multiple pieces of reused and recycled wood and was designed as a space for contemplation.

It is dismantlable and reusable to minimise waste.

"Naseej is produced in a manner which, once dismantled, allows all the material to be upcycled for future use, ensuring that the pavilion leaves no trace behind," the designers said.

The Altostrata – Therme Pavilion by Arthur Mamou-Mani

London-based designer Arthur Mamou-Mani took his Therme Pavilion, originally designed for the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in the medieval town of Sibiu in Romania, to experience the desert sand at Dubai's Design District.

The pavilion is made from sugar cane that was fermented into lactic acid in order to create polylactic acid (PLA) – a bioplastic that Mamou-Mani 3D-printed into walls for the pavilion.

He aimed to test how the material, which biodegrades when industrially composted, would react to different climates. Mamou-Mani believes it could be the future of plastic, eventually replacing the plastic used for water bottles and other single-use products.

"I first discovered it through 3D printing because it has a low melting temperature, like 200 degrees, but actually, it's a really great material," he told Dezeen.

"If it was used for water bottles, it wouldn't have Bisphenol A," he added. "When you burn it, it's not carcinogenic, and it doesn't leave microplastics in you. So the more I dig into it, the more I see a potential to replace plastic."

The photography is courtesy of Dubai Design Week unless otherwise stated.

Dezeen is a media partner of Dubai Design Week, which takes place from 7 to 12 November. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Promotion: architecture competition organiser Buildner has launched a new initiative to design a forward-looking home for the city of Dubai that refreshes the current offering to locals.

Dubai's House of the Future international competition asks architects and designers to deliver a template for an "affordable, expandable, revolutionary, innovative, aesthetically pleasing" home suited to modern Emirati needs. The grand prize winner will receive €140,000.

Entries will be judged by an international jury including representatives from BIG, Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, MVRDV, Calatrava International, Archidentity and Studio Seilern Architects.

Buildner hopes that participants will marry aspects of Dubai's history and current cultural context in their entries, which are also required to be self-sufficient and able to be built anywhere within Dubai, on a plot no bigger than 450 square metres.

"Dubai is a binary city," said Buildner. "On one hand, it is a city of the future that portrays innovation, technology and polished finesse. On the other, it is a city of the past that holds onto a rich architectural and cultural heritage."

"Designing for this context requires a nuanced understanding of these two spirits. 'Old' Dubai features historical and cultural gems, such as Bur Dubai, Deira, Al Nahda, Al Karama, and Al Garhoud, that have evolved into commercial and residential centres," Buildner continued.

"'New' Dubai features newly developed areas, like Dubai Marina, Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah Village Circle and Arabian Ranches, which showcase the modern, distinctive architecture and mega projects which include man-built islands and towering skyscrapers."

Houses designed for the competition should be able to operate without water or electricity for at least two weeks, according to Buildner. The organisation encourages the use of innovative, sustainable materials and for entrants to stay within a budget of €250,000 (1 million AED).

Those who wish to take part must submit their registration via the competition website by 30 September 2023 ahead of the 1 November 2023 project submission deadline. The competition is open to all and no professional qualifications are necessary.

The total prize money is €250,000 (985,000 AED) of which the winner of the grand prize will win €140,000 (500,000 AED) and see their project developed for construction. There will also be second and third prizes of €45,000 (200,000 AED) and €20,000 (100,000 AED) respectively, as well as a special self-sufficiency prize worth €45,000 (200,000 AED).

The Dubai's House of the Future competition is organised by Buildner and the Mohammed bin Rashid Centre for Government Innovation and the Mohammed bin Rashid Housing Establishment. It is hosted in partnership with architecture firms Zaha Hadid Architects and Santiago Calatrava.

Buildner has organised upwards of 100 competitions over the last 10 years, including the Microhome and Affordable Housing competition series. It prides itself on fostering conceptual, material, technological and policy innovation in the industry, and creating location-specific solutions for the cities and regions it focuses on.

"As competition organisers, Buildner believes there is a real benefit of design competitions to the architecture industry," said Buildner. "Competitions present us with opportunities for creative licence that are otherwise greatly limited by traditional client-driven projects."

"Buildner seeks to push boundaries, ask loaded questions and continually move the industry forward through the competitions it organises."

To submit an entry, or to find out more about the competition, visit the House of the Future website.

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This article was written by Dezeen for Buildner as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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UAE-based studio Roar has paid homage to the Escher-esque stepwells of India in its interior design for Jaipur Rugs' showroom in Dubai, which features cascading, rainbow-coloured staircases.

The Jaipur Rugs showroom, the Indian brand's first in the Middle East, is located in the creative district of Aserkal, in one of the former industrial area's previously abandoned warehouses.

Roar's design for the space nods to the architecture of Jaipur, the rug manufacturer's home city, and in particular its famous stepwells — reservoirs built with staggered terraces and dizzying sets of stairs all the way down into their depths.

"The design concept was born from a simple sketch that I did after my first meeting with the client," Roar founder and architect Pallavi Dean told Dezeen.

"I was so inspired by the stepwells that I'd seen in Jaipur during my first visit that I wanted to bring them to life in my design," she added.

"I wanted to strip the idea to its bare minimum though, and work within its architectural purity, in order to avoid any plain pastiche."

In Dean's design, the repeating staircases feature across three of the walls, making a striking impression in the double-height space while connecting the ground-floor browsing area to the offices and sales suites on the mezzanine.

The arches that are typical to stepwells also feature in the 780-square-metre showroom, forming doorways or alcoves wallpapered with decorative rugs.

The hues in these rug displays are echoed in the carpet on the stairs, which is rendered in a jewel-toned rainbow colour gradient starting at indigo on one side of the space and ending in ruby red.

Dean called the construction of the staircases a "structural feat" that required navigating challenging approval processes.

"We had to ensure the steps were safe to use by installing a glass balustrade, which gives the impression that they're floating when they're actually carefully enclosed!" she said.

Also nestled between the staircases on the ground floor are two rooms described as immersive experiences, the Sapphire and Emerald rooms, which are covered floor to ceiling with rugs custom-made by Jaipur Rugs' weavers as part of the brand's Manchaha intiative.

In the project, the artisans design the rugs themselves spontaneously on the loom as they weave, using leftover yarn from the industry.

They would typically use a broader range of colours for the rugs in this series, but were briefed to work with emerald and sapphire tones for the showroom and given the precise dimensions.

The lack of sound in these rooms, created by the acoustic properties of the rugs, adds a dramatic dimension to visitors' experience, according to Dean.

Next to the rooms, along the fourth wall, is the showroom's rug library, with custom-made sliding panels allowing visitors to browse freely.

The walls and floors are finished with a warm-grey micro-cement and textured paint, forming a neutral base for the colourful features.

Metallic rose gold features in doorframes, cabinetry and other details, in another reference to Jaipur, which is sometimes called the Pink City.

"All of our designs come from a place of empathy, and this one is no exception," Dean said. "We always endeavour to understand what the client is trying to achieve – here, the client was trying to create a bold statement for their first flagship store in the Middle East."

"It also had to be an experiential space, which can be intuitively navigated by its users. This is why, for example, we decided to build bespoke rug libraries with sliding doors for clients to flick through instead of having the rugs stacked on the floor, which, in my opinion, are so inconvenient to browse!"

Dean founded Roar in 2013. The studio's past projects include the interiors for cafe Drop Coffee and the Nursery of the Future, both in Dubai.

Last year it announced it was expanding into digital design after purchasing two plots of land for a showroom in the metaverse.

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Promotion: the interior of One Za'abeel The Residences, a soon-to-complete skyscraper in Dubai, has been fitted out with ceramic surfaces from Italian brand Fiandre Architectural Surfaces.

Calacatta Statuario, a ceramic surface from Fiandre's Marble Lab collection, provides flooring, countertops and bathroom surfaces throughout the interior of the 330-metre-high tower.

This ceramic surface, characterised by its ivory-white colour and light grey markings, is used in both the 264 apartments and in the common areas, offering a sense of continuity throughout the scheme.

One Za'abeel The Residences is one of two towers that form the One Za'abeel development, which is designed by Japanese architecture firm Nikken Sekkei and owned by Ithra Dubai LLC.

Combining residential spaces with offices, restaurants, hotels and wellness facilities, the 300-metre-high development consists of two skyscrapers that are connected 100 metres up by a horizontal volume called The Link.

Fiandre's Calacatta Statuario has been used in different ways throughout the interior of the residential tower.

In the reception lobby, corridors and lifts, large-format tiles provide floor surfaces. Measuring 120 by 60 centimetres and with a polished finish, these tiles are embellished with leaf-shaped brass inlays.

Inside the apartments, the ceramic surfaces have been used in different ways. As well as covering walls and floors in the bathrooms, they have been used to create counters that look like solid marble blocks. The showers are meanwhile lined with small tiles in a herringbone pattern.

The technical surfaces were supplied through a partnership with distributor Arteco Ceramics.

Calacatta Statuario is one of 16 varieties in Fiandre's Marble Lab, the brand's most refined collection of ceramic surfaces, which boast either very light or very intense veins.

The other options in the range are: Alpi Chiaro Venato, Arabescato Orobico, Bardiglio Sublime, Breccia Mirabile, Calacatta Bellissimo, Calacatta Dorato, Dark Marquina, Glam Bronze, Lepanto Rubino, Pietra Grey, Premium White, Royal Marfil, Taxos, Travertino and White Beauty.

The surfaces are available in a range of sizes, with either a polished, semi-polished, satin or matt anti-slip finish. As with other Iris Ceramica Group brands, Fiandre's products are Cradle to Cradle Certified Silver.

For more information, visit the Fiandre website.

Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for Fiandre as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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In this week's comments update, readers discussed luxury car manufacturer Bugatti's first foray into residential architecture.

Car brand Bugatti last week unveiled the design of a 42-storey skyscraper in Dubai that will have two garage-to-penthouse car lifts.

Developed in partnership with local developer Binghatti, the Bugatti Residences will be the first residential building branded with the Bugatti name. Dezeen readers were sceptical.

"Looks like something you chanced upon in Patrik Schumacher's recycling bin"

Commenter AlfredHitchcock thought "Bugatti should stick to what they know and make beautiful cars", while Nah lamented the absence of the "finesse and sophistication [that] they use in their car design".

"Making an amorphous random blob is, especially in architecture, the laziest way to design," wrote Javier Conejo. "It doesn't require any knowledge or sophistication – particularly in this case where even the scaling finesse of a Zaha Hadid is absent."

Conejo wasn't the only commenter to have had a sense of déjà vu. "Zaha Hadid guys freelancing?" wondered Apsco Radiales.

Kumar Arvind offered a less flattering assessment: "Looks like something you chanced upon in Patrik Schumacher's recycling bin."

What are your thoughts on the Bugatti skyscraper? Join the discussion ›

"What are architects doing in that Line mess?"

Also igniting debate in the comments section this week was reports of a discussion with British architect Peter Cook, who is working on The Line mega city in Saudi Arabia.

Speaking at an event to mark the opening of an exhibition dedicated to the wider Neom project in Venice, Cook called the height of the 500-metre-tall project "a bit stupid and unreasonable", according to a report in the Architects' Journal.

Commenters weren't long pointing out other aspects of the project that they find unreasonable.

"So Cook wasn't phased by the planned 100-plus mile-long buildings and the impact that they have on the area and its people, but was questioning the height of 120 stories?" commented Tim. "As with everything about this project, the big picture was missed and a detail was discussed."

"What are architects doing in that Line mess, except probably making loads of lolly?" wrote Pa Varreon. "Interestingly Peter Cook seems to be, like Fuksas, moving far away from his 70s visionary projects. What a sad evolution."

"It's architects who are a bit stupid," added Jb. "The Line is an abomination."

Do Cook's comments stand up? Join the discussion ›

"Non-architects are producing the most interesting architecture these days"

The residential YOO GYE skyscraper in Guayaquil, Ecuador, which developer Uribe Schwarzkopf is designing in collaboration with French designer Philippe Starck, has split commenter opinion.

Described by Starck as a "paradise", the 176-metre-high skyscraper will be located alongside the Rio Guayas river, which runs through Ecuador's largest city.

Romeo Reyes called the project a "brilliant display of Monsieur Starck's design bravado", while Kevin McGrath declared it "dreadful".

"Very unusual," commented Colin_MacGillivray. "Is this the first time a 46-storey tower has looked like it's a seven-storey building perched on an eight-storey one?"

Jb was all for it. "Non-architects are producing the most interesting architecture these days, unhampered by dogma," they commented.

Bravado or bust? Join the discussion ›

"Someone send this to Wes Anderson's location scout"

Commenters were "charmed" by EBBA Architects' transformation of a former jellied-eel restaurant on London's Broadway Market into a shop for eyewear brand Cubitts.

Idracula called it "lovely", while Jennifer Kay simply wrote: "Yum yum yum!"

"You can't help but enjoy the warmth of the interior that is reflected in the rays in the stained glass window," wrote Pickled.

"Someone send this to Wes Anderson's location scout," added Tom.

Are you a fan of the transformation? Join the discussion ›

Comments update

Dezeen is the world's most commented architecture and design magazine, receiving thousands of comments each month from readers. Keep up to date on the latest discussions on our comments page and subscribe to our weekly Debate newsletter, where we feature the best reader comments from stories in the last seven days.

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Luxury car manufacturer Bugatti has revealed the designs for its first foray into residential real estate – a 42-storey skyscraper in Dubai that will have two garage-to-penthouse car lifts.

Developed in partnership with Dubai-developer Binghatti, the Bugatti Residences will be the first residential building branded with the car manufacturer's name.

Bugatti is the latest luxury car brand to move into residential property, with Bentley creating a 61-storey skyscraper in Miami Beach and Aston Martin designing an angular black home in New York as part of its Automotive Galleries and Lairs service, which launched in 2019.

Set to be built in the Business Bay area of Dubai, the 42-storey skyscraper will have a sinuous form wrapped in balconies on every level.

It will have 171 apartments, referred to by the developer as Riviera Mansions, and 11 penthouses dubbed Sky Mansion Penthouses.

According to the developer, the building's form and its interiors draw upon the heritage of the luxury car brand, which was established in 1909.

"Known for their unwavering and uncompromising commitment towards excellence, Bugatti and Binghatti – two visionary brands – have unveiled their first collaboration: a ground-breaking real estate development in the heart of Dubai," said Bugatti.

"The collaboration between the two revered brands aims to depict synergies that achieve unparalleled excellence. Drawing upon the rich and diverse creative heritage of both brands, the Bugatti and Binghatti collaboration project has at its nucleus a meticulously designed structure featuring a distinctive facade complemented by intricately designed interiors."

Each of the apartments in the skyscraper will have a unique shape with access to a curved balcony, while the building will be topped with a pool.

The penthouses will be served by a pair of garage-to-penthouse car lifts, which will allow the owners to drive their vehicles directly into these apartments. This mirrors Bentley's Miami skyscraper, which will have a car lift that allows residents to drive vehicles directly into apartments on all levels.

The development will also contain a private spa, a members club and a "riviera-inspired beach".

According to the brands, the aesthetic of the French Riviera will be incorporated throughout the design.

"The two brands have integrated the distinctive flair of the French Riviera into every aspect of the development. Starting from the very moment of setting foot within the residences, a sense of exuberance takes hold, transporting residents to the inspiring region that has long captured the hearts of connoisseurs of refined living," said Bugatti.

"In the same way that Bugatti has translated the beauty and sophistication of French luxury into the design of its hyper sports cars, Bugatti Residences brings the breeze and feel of the French Riviera into this private oasis," it continued.

"In its organically sculpted design, Bugatti Residences by Binghatti manifests the beauty of the Riviera's spirit and flair."

Other recent projects in Dubai include a pair of Vertical Forest skyscrapers designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti and  an "Instagram-ready" footbridge is set to be built beside world's tallest structure.

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British architecture studio Foster + Partners has unveiled a concept for a vertiport terminal in Dubai that will accommodate "air taxi services" and encompass a curved, overhanging roof.

The design concept forms part of a proposal for future electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) infrastructure networks that would connect and transport people at high-speed to popular locations across Dubai.

It is proposed to be located next to the Dubai International Airport and would integrate with the existing transport systems at the airport, as well as surrounding transport hubs such as Dubai's metro network.

"We are delighted to have developed a vertiport concept for the emerging AAM industry, which will transform the way people travel in Dubai," said Foster + Partners head of studio David Summerfield.

"The conceptual vertiport connects with Dubai International Airport and the Dubai Metro, to provide seamless, sustainable travel across the city for international and domestic passengers."

The Dubai International Airport vertiport is one of four sites proposed by advanced air mobility (AAM) company Skyports Infrastructure and Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority.

The two companies plan to "develop the network of vertiports for air taxi services by 2026," the studio said.

Renders show the vertiport on a rectangular elevated platform that aims to aid aircraft take-off and landing.

A terminal building is pictured wrapping around the vertiport airfield and connecting to arrival and departure lounges. The building is depicted with glass walls, providing the interior with panoramic views of the city and airfield.

The terminal will be topped by an overhanging roof that bows and curves to create varying heights throughout the interior while shading and preventing the terminal from overheating.

The vertiport's interior appears to have a muted decor scheme, with warm and natural materials used to create a "comfortable and serene environment."

The exterior of the building was designed to visually communicate with the nearby metro station. Lush landscaping surrounds the perimeter of the terminal.

In 2020, German aerial taxi company Lilium released design guidelines for modular vertiports that could be added to the top of office blocks, car parks or shopping centres.

Architecture firm MVRDV has also designed vertiports. The studio collaborated with aircraft manufacturer Airbus to research how landing hubs for passenger drones or vertiports could become future network systems for cities.

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Architecture studio Urb has proposed creating The Loop as a covered highway for cyclists and pedestrians that would wrap around Dubai.

Envisioned to encourage Dubai's three million residents to switch from cars to healthier modes of transportation, The Loop would also incorporate a hyperloop line.

"The Loop aims to make Dubai the most connected city on earth by foot or bike," said Urb chief executive officer Baharash Bagherian.

If built, the 93-kilometre-long structure would be encased within a glazed tube and would have a kinetic floor that would produce energy when stepped on.

Renderings of The Loop released by the studio show plants and pools of water within the snake-like structure, which would be climate-controlled.

"It will provide an enjoyable climate-controlled all-year environment, to make walking and cycling the primary mode of transport for Dubai's residents, in line with its new 20-minute city initiative," Urb told Dezeen.

According to Urb, encouraging Dubai's residents to swap cars for bikes would require a "seismic shift". Any successful initiative should therefore recognise the need for infrastructure that supports city-dwellers' needs, said the studio.

"The key challenge in Dubai is that the infrastructure and existing urban fabric is engineered primarily for the use of cars," Urb explained.

"Thus swapping cars for bikes in an existing highly-developed car-oriented city, requires a seismic shift in urban planning as well as the infrastructure required to enable that shift."

As a result, The Loop would connect leisure and wellness facilities such as fitness centres, hotels and sports courts. Neighbourhood pocket parks and allotments would also be nestled within the belt.

The project proposal, which is currently in the research and development stage, also includes integrated vertical farms, which the studio said could provide food security.

In addition to serving as a vibrant public space, Urb envisions that The Loop would help stitch together parts of the city that became disconnected when roads were built there.

The highway could serve as a model for other car-oriented cities, the team added.

"Urb aims to develop the first active mobility infrastructure of its kind anywhere in the world, with various amenities and sustainability features that will shape the future of urban mobility in Dubai and beyond," said Urb.

"Whilst cities race to upgrade their infrastructure towards more sustainable modes of transport, The Loop project in Dubai aims to create a new benchmark for the world's smartest cycling and walking infrastructure."

The highway aims to be part of a wider project to make Dubai a 20-minute city – where residents are able to access different districts within 20 minutes by foot or bicycle.

"The aim is to make cycling and walking the primary mode of transport for daily commutes for more than 80 per cent of Dubai's residents by 2040," said Urb.

The concept is not dissimilar to 15-minute cities, which are designed to allow residents to access their daily necessities by foot or by bike within 15 minutes.

The Loop is designed to align with Dubai's 2040 urban masterplan, a strategic plan for the city to improve the quality of life for its residents over the next 20 years.

Other projects set to be built in Dubai include Vertical Forest by Italian studio Stefano Boeri Architetti, a concept for a pair of skyscrapers, which would be covered in thousands of trees.

Meanwhile, architecture studio ZN Era envisioned a skyscraper called Downtown Circle, which would be built around the Burj Khalifa in downtown Dubai.

The renderings are courtesy of Urb.

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Emirati studio VSHD Design has completed a dark and dramatic interior for a restaurant in The Dubai Mall, featuring a pared-back palette of natural materials chosen to reflect Japanese minimalism.

Origami is a sushi restaurant, whose first outpost opened in Dubai's Jumeriah neighbourhood in 2014.

For its second branch, the owners asked VSHD Design to create a space that provides a unique experience within the cookie-cutter environment of a shopping mall.

The studio, led by interior architect Rania Hamed, used materials such as textured grey plaster, matte-black tiles and low lighting to create an atmosphere that evokes the underground sushi bars found throughout Japan.

"Origami's interior makeover features simple forms in natural materials, and organic shapes reflecting the simplicity and minimalism of traditional Japanese culture," VSHD Design explained.

The interior features monolithic columns and walls informed by the architecture of temples, along with seating covered with draped fabric and textured glass partitions that contribute to the feeling of "intrigue and mystery", the studio said.

The restaurant is entered through the gaps between a number of six-metre-thick columns, designed to enhance the sense of separation between the mall and the main dining room.

A small retail space on one side of the entrance hosts a concession selling chocolates while on the other side, a low bar area with wooden stools and a glass-block counter provides a waiting area for diners.

"The solid shop front facade made of rammed-earth clay and glass bricks evokes a feeling of intrigue meant to draw people inside," said VSHD Design.

The narrow entrance also limits the amount of natural light entering the dining room, which helps to maintain the dark and intimate feel.

The restaurant is arranged over two split levels that offer different seating arrangements, with the main area featuring built-in bench seating arranged around its perimeter.

Three steps lead up to a space housing the sushi bar, which is illuminated by an overhead light box and allows diners to watch the chefs at work.

Black tiles covering the walls, floors and counter create a dark and minimalist ambience throughout the interior.

The furnishings, including wooden chairs and benches upholstered with draped white fabric, provide a more relaxed and tactile element.

"Overall, it is the lines, the materials and the colours incorporated within the design that uphold a Japanese sensibility and spirit, while still appealing to a modern sense of luxury," the studio said.

Rania Hamed founded VSHD Design in 2007 and has since worked on residential and commercial projects in countries including Jordan, Egypt and the United Kingdom.

The studio's projects in Dubai include a gym that references brutalist architecture and underground fight clubs, as well as a coffee shop with a curved ceiling and boulder-like counters.

The photography is by Oculis Project.

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Dubai-based Studio N has created a lighting scheme to emphasise the natural materials used in the Sensasia Stories Spa designed by interiors studio Roar in the Kempinski Hotel Mall in the UAE.

As the spa has no natural light, Studio N focussed on highlighting the variety of materials used in the space, which includes grey slate, stone, wood and hessian wallpaper.

"We were very conscious of how we illuminated each of the different surfaces and how light could help emphasise the natural characteristics of materials", the studio told Dezeen.

Overall the studio aimed to meet spa lighting guidelines while maintaining a calm and peaceful atmosphere in the space.

As the Sensasia Stories Spa is located in a busy mall, the lighting designers wanted the entrance space and reception area to act as a calm area of transition from retail to spa environment.

Concealed low-power and high-lumen LED lights were used to create a soothing environment, with under-counter lighting used for soft, ambient light in the the reception.

The 270-square-metre spa contains eight treatment rooms, along with an ice fountain, herb saunas, steam rooms, and pool, that are arranged around a central courtyard.

In this central space interiors studio Roar and Studio N created a large arched structure that contains illuminated arches. "We used linear grazers to pick out the texture of stone walls," said Studio N.

Strip lights were integrated into the pool's stairs and, in other areas, smaller lights and decorative light fixtures were used to create illuminated accent walls.

A recessed gobo projector was used to replicate the movement of water, which the studio said was "a subtle reference to the natural world".

The studio used recessed wide-beam pinhole downlights to provide general lighting to the space in a minimal style.

The lighting of each area of the spa can be controlled via a DALI lighting control system which allows lighting to be changed between lighting scenes. Treatment rooms can be changed between 'mood lighting', 'treatment' and 'cleaning scenes'.

Studio N is shortlisted in the architectural lighting design category at the Dezeen awards 2022 alongside Liftshutz Davidson Sandiland and Leo Villareal's Illuminated River installation and a theatre venue clad in luminous tiles in China, by Brandston Partnership.

The photography is by The Oculis Project.

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Furniture made of crushed dates and a floor lamp created with fish scales salvaged from an Emirati market are among five projects featured in design platform Tashkeel's annual exhibition, which is on display as part of Dubai Design Week.

Each year, Dubai-based Tashkeel selects a group of emerging designers from the United Arab Emirates to produce furniture that is developed from concept to completion in nine months as part of its annual Taween programme.

Five designs were included in this year's edition that focused on innovative materials, such as a chunky console table attached to a rectilinear mirror by architect Sara Abu Farha and engineer Khaled Shalka.

The table is made from "datecrete", a concrete-style material developed by Abu Farha and Shalka formed from crushed dates.

According to the designers, datecrete is the world's first date seed-based cementitious material that features no traces of resin or concrete. The product makes use of local UAE date waste, where the fruit grows natively.

Tibrah is a floor lamp by Emirati architect Reema Al Mheiri that features delicate lampshades made of treated fish scales sourced from Ajman Fish Market, which would have otherwise been thrown away.

The architect explained that she was informed by local poetry for the lamp's design, which takes cues from a story about a fleet of dhows, or traditional sailing boats, travelling back to a port.

SKin is another lighting project featured in the exhibition. It is a ceiling-mounted LED light that is characterised by an undulating structure created from kombucha "leather" and wrapped in mesh. The material was grown by yeast and bacteria culture during a fermentation process.

"The bacteria protect its culture from external microorganisms by weaving a cellulose biofilm that floats on top, which is almost like skin," designer Shaza Khahlil told Dezeen.

"SKin came about during careful observation of the properties and behaviour of the material. When the biofilm is left under the sun to dry, it curls and folds in a unique way each time, similarly to a leaf," Khahlil continued.

"Hence the shape and the structure of the light fixture were derived from a dry plumeria leaf, also known as frangipani."

Other pieces include Kaseeriya, a low-slung brown-hued bench by designer Ebrahim Assur, which was created using recycled cork, camel leather and pallets made from Palmade – a biodegradable material developed in the UAE out of discarded date palm leaves.

Saudi Arabian designer Huda Al Aithan also collaborated with local Emirati craftswomen to create Anamil, a horizontal pendant light with a striking, bulbous-shaped lampshade formed from palm fronds woven around a metal structure.

Al Aithan's lighting intends to celebrate the art of Safeefah – a traditional Emirati weaving technique.

Tashkeel deputy director Lisa Ball-Lechgar defined the platform's aim as "contributing to a vibrant, self-sustaining design sector that fosters talent while celebrating and incorporating its natural resources".

"While collaborating with engineers, scientists and manufacturers as part of [the 2022 designers'] journey of research and experimentation, participants developed fresh, functional designs that draw deeply on the nature and traditions of the UAE," she said.

Other projects on display at this year's Dubai Design Week include an installation by architecture studio OBMI, which features curved canopies that are designed to mimic Middle Eastern mangrove forests.

The images are courtesy of Tashkeel. 

The Tashkeel projects are on display at Downtown Design as part of Dubai Design Week, which takes place from 8 to 13 November 2022 in Dubai. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Debate newsletter features a pair of Dubai skyscrapers designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now.

Architecture firm Stefano Boeri Architetti has adapted its Vertical Forest concept for a pair of Dubai skyscrapers.

The two towers, planned to be 190 and 150 metres tall, will incorporate "2,640 trees and 27,600 shrubs" as well as "a system of greenhouses and hydroponic gardens".

Hydroponic gardens are engineered to grow plants in a vertical formation using water-based, mineral nutrient solutions in place of soil. The concept was designed to increase tree planting in areas with high levels of residential developments.

Readers were skeptical about the project, with one saying the innovation doesn't make buildings "more sustainable or ecologically sound", whilst others thought the Vertical Forest trees "will be tortured in Dubai and never stay green".

Other stories in this week's newsletter include Norman Foster's angular retreat in Martha's Vineyard, OMA's designs for a stepped shopping centre in Tokyo and Burberrys' digital clothing collection in collaboration with Minecraft.

Dezeen Debate

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You can also subscribe to Dezeen Agenda, which is sent every Tuesday and contains a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, as well as Dezeen Daily, our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours.

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US studio OBMI has designed Once Upon a Forest for Dubai Design Week, an installation featuring gently sloping organic shapes that nod to the mangrove forests that characterise parts of the United Arab Emirates.

Once Upon a Forest was created by OBMI for the eighth edition of Dubai Design Week. This year, the event is themed Design With Impact and aims to question how designers can become more sustainable.

Visitors to the installation are invited to enter a maze-like arrangement of structures topped with undulating canopies, which the architecture studio designed to reference the mangrove forests that cover much of the UAE's landscape.

OBMI handcrafted the installation from 2,700 metres of bamboo, 350 square metres of jute rope and 30 kilometres of jute mesh, all of which were sourced from the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.

Once Upon a Forest was created using solely sustainable materials and construction methods, according to the architecture studio.

"Our goal is to educate and inspire the community about the benefits and beauty of the mangrove forests by providing an immersive experience that ignites the senses and showcases nature's power to mitigate climate change," OBMI told Dezeen.

"The mangrove forests are the UAE's most valuable natural treasure and the installation honours the diverse environment of the seven Emirates in the city's urban centre."

An integrated audio-visual experience plays information about the mangrove forests within the installation, which intends to serve as an educational "oasis" for visitors within Dubai Design District.

"The floating canopies play with light and shadows to create an intimate and serene ambience, delivering a dreamlike experience that mimics nature, acting as a place of refuge and inspiration," said the architecture studio.

OBMI said that after Dubai Design Week draws to a close at the end of this week, Once Upon a Forest will be repurposed for various other events during next year "as a celebration of Dubai's culture and natural landscape".

Earlier editions of Dubai Design Week featured projects including Exil Collective's showcase of work by emerging Lebanese designers and an installation of bricolage chairs made by working-class migrants in the UAE.

The photography is by Sebastian Böttcher.

Dubai Design Week takes place from 8 to 13 November 2022 in Dubai. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Italian studio Stefano Boeri Architetti has adapted its Vertical Forest concept for a pair of skyscrapers in Dubai, which will be covered in thousands of trees.

Revealed by Stefano Boeri Architetti yesterday at the COP27 climate change conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, the project comprises two tapering towers at 190 and 150 metres tall.

Together, they will integrate 2,640 trees and 27,600 shrubs on the facades, along with "a system of greenhouses and hydroponic gardens", the studio said.

Hydroponic gardens are engineered to grow plants in a vertical formation using water-based, mineral nutrient solutions in place of soil.

According to the studio, the project has been commissioned by investment initiative Impact One to bring the benefits of "urban forestry" to Dubai.

"The project, commissioned by Impact One, represents the first Vertical Forest prototype for the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) area with the aim of integrating the benefits of urban forestry such as the absorption of fine dust particles, microclimate regulation and reduction of the greenhouse effect together with innovations as part of the management of the water system in arid climates and the optimization of energy production from renewable sources," said Stefano Boeri Architetti.

Stefano Boeri Architetti has developed a reputation for buildings that host plants since conceptualising the Vertical Forest and building its first prototype in Milan in 2014.

It has since designed vertical forests for Eindhoven, Huanggang and Egypt's New Administrative Capital, which all feature local plant species to suit their respective climates.

Vertical Forests consist of skyscrapers with planted facades, with the concept designed as a way to combine high-density residential development with tree planting in city centres.

The vertical forest towers decrease in size as they extend upwards, with jagged edges and peaks formed from projecting balconies, similar to the Valley skyscraper by Dutch studio MVRDV in Amsterdam.

According to Stefano Boeri Architetti, a key part of the project is "the management of the water cycle" and the incorporation of renewable energy sources.

The tower will incorporate a desalination and grey water recovery system, alongside photovoltaic surfaces that will contribute clean energy to the towers.

Stefano Boeri Architetti is the eponymous studio of architect Stefano Boeri, which was founded in 2011. Today its main office is in Milan, but it works from Shanghai and Tirana.

Other recent projects by Stefano Boeri Architetti include the Hanji House pavilion at this year's Venice Art Biennale and the Floating Forest on the Darsena dock for Milan design week.

The images are courtesy of Stefano Boeri Architetti.

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German studio Atelier Brueckner and its design partners have created an immersive exhibition at the Museum of the Future in Dubai that aims to investigate the world in 2071.

Named Journey of the Pioneers, the permanent exhibition was created for the recently opened Museum of the Future, which was designed by local studio Killa Design.

Atelier Brueckner split the exhibition, which was shortlisted for this year's Dezeen Awards, into three sections that aim to investigate what the world may look like 50 years from now. The sections focus on life in space, bioengineering developments and the future of wellbeing.

According to Atelier Brueckner, each district was designed using different materials and methods to represent their distinct but interconnected narratives.

The first district focuses on life in a space station, the second on an organisation that aims to regenerate endangered ecosystems, and the final district examines the future developments of well-being rituals.

"The experience touches on subjects and narratives that are relevant in the present day and foreseen to be still the challenges that we will face in the future," said Atelier Brueckner.

"The experience is both informative and transformative and calls on the visitors to embark upon an expedition to a future for which they will, through individual choices, become part of a collective effort to create a better future for all humanity."

The first district presents the OSS Hope space station – the "largest man-made object in space". Within the exhibition, visitors can look out from "space" to see a digital image depicting the Earth 50 years from now.

During the immersive experience, visitors are "recruited" to undertake a fictitious mission aligned to the space station's overall aim – "to use the sun's energy to provide power for mankind by harvesting it from the moon and then transmitting it down to the Earth".

As a nod to its futuristic theme, the exhibition's surfaces were 3D-printed, according to Atelier Brueckner.

The second district is named the HEAL Institute – an organisation that uses bioengineering to help regenerate damaged ecosystems.

Also included is a "digital Amazon", which intends to showcase how life in the rainforest is interconnected.

"In 'the Forest', visitors gaze upon a majestic Ceiba tree at the sound of rain, as thousands of dancing point clouds overlay the scenery with the choreographed, but invisible life, that infuses the Amazon," said Atelier Brueckner.

This district also features The Library, which includes 2,400 laser-engraved crystal jars that represent different species. This includes single-cell organisms, plants and mammals, which will either be alive or extinct by 2071.

The third and final district is described by Atelier Brueckner as "the space where the pioneers encounter themselves". It aims to be a space where visitors can reconnect to their senses while exploring what the future of well-being will look like in an increasingly technological world.

The district includes a number of therapies and treatments using technologies, such as "Movement Therapy" where visitors can explore and discover the benefit of dance. Additional therapeutic areas in the space include Grounding, Connection, and Feeling.

The district also includes "The Centre", which is designed as a space for relaxation and contemplation, and Atelier Brueckner chose earth and clay-like tones on the district's walls to be in keeping with its theme.

"The design approach for the whole experience was an exercise in the creation of suspension of disbelief, crafting convincing environments through the choice of materials and the overall spatial design, and through the intricate score-like staging of the various narrative & sensorial components," said Atelier Brueckner.

"With moments of tension and moments of release, rhythmic crescendos and climaxes, and phases of decompression and contemplation."

In addition to the main exhibition, the museum includes a space showcasing future innovations and products, in addition to a space with an "immersive and engaging landscape dedicated to children".

The exhibition's design was created in collaboration with creative studio Framestore; VR platform Altspace; media studio, Galerija 12; research studio, Superflux; digital art collective, Marshmallow Laser Feast;  creative studio, Certain Measures; design agency DeepLocal; artist and author, Emilie Baltz; and design studio, Jason Bruges Studios.

The exhibition is a Dubai Future Foundation project and under the creative direction of designer and curator Brendan McGetrick.

Journey of the Pioneers been shortlisted in the exhibition design category at this year's Dezeen Awards alongside Ginza Ecological Map, Weird Sensation Feels Good – The World of ASMR and Greenwood Rising: Black Wall Street History Center exhibition.

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The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features an elevated circular metropolis proposed to encircle the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now!

This week, architecture studio ZN Era envisioned a skyscraper called Downtown Circle, which would be built around the world's tallest building in downtown Dubai.

Set to be 550-metres tall and 3,000 metres in circumference, the skyscraper would be composed of two interconnected main rings that will house residential, public, commercial and cultural spaces.

Other stories in the latest newsletter include Michael Heizer's monumental City sculpture, which he completed in the Nevada desert after 50 years, a toilet that has been designed for life on Mars and BIG's plans for "an entire city in one building".

Dezeen Agenda

Dezeen Agenda is a curated newsletter sent every Tuesday containing the most important news highlights from Dezeen. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Agenda or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to Dezeen Debate, which is sent every Thursday and contains a curated selection of highlights from the week, as well as Dezeen Daily, our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours on Dezeen.

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Architecture studio ZN Era has envisioned a skyscraper called Downtown Circle, which would be built around the Burj Khalifa in downtown Dubai.

Set to be 550-metres tall and 3,000 metres in circumference, the skyscraper would be composed of two interconnected main rings that will house residential, public, commercial and cultural spaces.

The structure would wrap around the tallest building in the world, the Skidmore, Owings and Merrill-designed skyscraper Burj Khalifa in downtown Dubai.

ZN Era calls Downtown Circle "a continuous metropolis" and believes it would provide a solution to the rapid urbanisation and population growth in Dubai.

"The proposed megastructure offers an alternative to the singular and unconnected high-rises found in most metropolitan areas," said the studio.

"With a circumference of 3,000 metres, the downtown circle functions as a continuous metropolis which is flexible and forward-looking."

The mixed-use skyscraper would be broken down into smaller units that include offices, houses, apartments and research centres.

A green layer would be sandwiched between the rings, which the studio refers to as the buildings' "green lung".

"As a response to the dilemma of how to build densely while retaining liveability, the downtown circle project establishes a sustainable and a self-sufficient vertical urbanism," ZN Era said.

"In order to give back to the natural environment, the plan includes proposed areas for rainwater harvesting and solar power," it continued.

"As an integral part of the urban ecosystem, the design also stores carbon and filters pollutants from the air, in addition to providing sanctuaries for wild plants and food production."

In the Skypark, residents would be able to traverse canyons, dunes, swamps and waterfalls. It would be designed to connect people to nature and encourage a healthier, outdoor lifestyle.

A transport system running along the outer ring of the megastructure would be designed to connect passengers across the metropolis within a fleet of pods.

Rising population growth and urbanisation in cities across the world has prompted other architecture studios to design futuristic urban centres including The Line, a 170-kilometre-long mirrored skyscraper that will house nine million people near the Red Sea.

Danish architect Bjarke Ingels and his studio BIG are masterplanning Telosa, a city for five million set to be built in the US desert.

The images are courtesy of Pictown.

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Interiors studio VSHD Design has added a curved ceiling and boulder-like marble counters to this minimalist coffee shop in Dubai.

Located on the street level of the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), the Orijins coffee shop is sparsely decorated using muted colours and natural materials.

VSHD Design, which was founded by local interior architect Rania Hamed in 2007, designed the cafe to mimic the "beautiful imperfections found in nature" and in particular a collection of water-smoothed stones picked up from the shores of the Red Sea.

Orijins' desaturated colour palette references sand, shells, stone and wood, while the dramatic curved ceiling and the seven uneven marble blocks that form the coffee bar lend a weathered quality to the 105-square-metre space.

The marble blocks with their abstract shapes were drawn by hand but cut by automated CNC machines, creating a mixture of smooth and rough edges.

These heavy forms are contrasted with slender metal furnishings and tactile textiles such as fur, boucle and heavy weaves, which were selected to complement the interior's raw finishes.

Plaster walls and polished concrete floors provide a neutral backdrop for the scheme.

The cafe is lit by a slim LED strip that runs along the length of the space, highlighting the gentle curve of Orijins' ceiling. Spotlights are positioned over the bar area and a brushed-aluminium sconce custom designed by VSHD decorates one of the walls.

"Orijins represents the design firm's interpretation of what it means to be calm, to sit still and to observe the beauty that can be found even in our flawed, everyday reality," said VSHD Design.

"It's the feeling of calm and serenity one gets when sitting on a rock by the sea."

Other cavernous coffee bars include the Blue Bottle Coffee shop at the Shiroiya Hotel in Maebashi, Japan, where Keiji Ashizawa paired brick floors with a warm colour palette.

The photography is by Oculis Project.

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A museum in Dubai dedicated to the future, which has been dubbed "the most beautiful building in the world" by the emirate's ruler, has officially opened its doors.

Designed by local studio Killa Design, the museum stands in a prominent location alongside Dubai's elevated train line, a short distance from the Burj Khalifa skyscraper – the world's tallest building.

Designed to be "an architectural and cultural icon", the museum consists of an elongated ring shape with a void at its centre, sat on a grass-covered mound.

The distinctive form led Dubai ruler and UAE vice president Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum to state that the museum is "the most beautiful building in the world".

Built for the Dubai Future Foundation, the seven-storey building contains a combination of exhibits dedicated to the future and workshops for testing and developing emerging technology.

"The Museum of the Future is a 'living museum', constantly adapting and metamorphosing as its very environment drives continual and iterative change to its exhibits and attractions," said Mohammed Al Gergawi, chairman of the Dubai Future Foundation.

Killa Design's museum contains a 1,000-capacity multi-use hall, a 345-seat lecture theatre as well as numerous laboratory spaces.

Five floors of gallery space contain exhibits dedicated to space exploration, a digital recreation of the Amazon rainforest and prototypes of future products.

The 77-metre-high building is supported by a steel structure, developed with engineering studio Buro Happold, which was "digitally grown" using parametric tools.

This structure means that the building has no internal columns.

It is clad in stainless steel with windows in the form of quotes from the emirate's ruler written in Arabic calligraphy.

The three sentences written on the building say: "We may not live for hundreds of years, but the products of our creativity can leave a legacy long after we are gone"; "The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. It isn't something you await, but rather create"; and "Innovation is not an intellectual luxury. It is the secret behind the evolution and rejuvenation of nations and peoples".

This year Dubai is hosting the coronavirus-delayed Expo 2020 Dubai.

The event contained pavilions designed by some of the world's leading architects including Santiago Calatrava, Foster + Partners and Grimshaw. We rounded up 10 must-see pavilions at the expo.

The photography is courtesy of Dubai Future Foundation.

Project credits:

Client: Dubai Future Foundation
Developer: North25
Architect: Killa Design
Lead consultant (design, site supervision and contract administration): Buro Happold
Structural engineering, facade engineering, sustainability, building services engineering: Buro Happold
Bridges, transport, infrastructure, geotechnical engineering, access, people flow modelling, fire and life safety, specialist lighting, acoustics, waste and logistics: Buro Happold
Project manager and employers representative: Matthews Southwest
Landscape Architecture: Cracknell
Cost consultant: AECOM
AoR/EoR: Rice Perry Ellis
Exhibition design: Atelier Brückner
AV/ICT: Mediatech
VT: RBA
Civils: CDM Smith
Programming: Matrix
H&S: Atkins
Security: Arkan
Auditorium: Theatre Projects

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A sustainable construction consultant has attacked Grimshaw Architects' Sustainability Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai for having an embodied carbon footprint of almost 18,000 tonnes – a figure that is double the recommended level for a building of its size.

Simon Sturgis, a consultant who advises on low-carbon construction, described the emissions as "very high" and said its design is "completely OTT".

Its spectacular steel canopy is responsible for "significant unnecessary emissions," said Sturgis, who runs low-carbon consultancy Targeting Zero.

"This design is not where you would start if you wanted to make a truly sustainable Sustainability Pavilion."

A lifecycle assessment sent to Dezeen by Grimshaw Architects shows that the construction process caused carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions of 1,050 kilogrammes per square metre, despite claims that the building would "set an example for sustainable building design".

Sturgis said the building is "comparable with a typical, average, new, multi-storey office building" in terms of its carbon footprint.

The pavilion, called Terra, has a built area of 17,000 square metres, meaning it has an embodied carbon footprint of 17,850,000 kilogrammes, or 17,850 metric tonnes.

Building is self-sufficient in energy and water

Grimshaw's pavilion is one of three flagship structures at Expo 2020 Dubai, which opened earlier this month, a year later than planned due to the pandemic.

Containing 6,000 square metres of exhibition space, it sits at the heart of the Expo's Sustainability District and promises to show visitors "how we can change our everyday choices to reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impact".

Made of steel, concrete and carbon fibre, the pavilion is shaded by a giant 130-metre-wide oval canopy topped with photovoltaics. Further photovoltaics are arranged on funnel-shaped structures surrounding the pavilion.

"The iconic Sustainability Pavilion, designed by the world-renowned Grimshaw Architects, has set an example for sustainable building design" explained the Expo's PR, who said the building is "net-zero for both energy and water."

This means that it does not rely on the electricity or water grid. Instead, it generates power via its rooftop photovoltaics and derives clean water by recycling wastewater, condensation and brackish surface water.

"The pavilion also uses cutting-edge water-reduction strategies, water recycling and alternative water," said the PR.

Grimshaw Architects chairman Andrew Whalley described the project as "an opportunity for the UAE to showcase innovations in energy efficiency, generation and water management for the region and deliver an aspirational message about the natural world and technology to a global audience."

Whalley added that the building was designed so that only minor alterations will be required to turn the building into a permanent sustainability museum at the end of the six-month expo.

"We expect this will be a 50-to-100-year building," he said.

The building has achieved LEED Platinum certification, which is the highest level available under the LEED sustainability certification system. It has also achieved LEED Zero Energy and LEED Zero Water certification.

LEED targets are "more nuanced and specific to the building design and usage requirements" than other standards that focus on embodied carbon, Whalley said.

However, LEED's scoring system is seen as being skewed towards rewarding operational performance rather than construction performance, despite the fact that embodied carbon accounts for around half the lifecycle emissions of a building.

Grimshaw prioritised decarbonisation of operational carbon

"When the building was originally designed in 2015, we prioritised the decarbonisation of operational carbon for the building, particularly as it was located in the Middle East," Whalley told Dezeen.

Operational carbon refers to emissions caused during the building's use, whereas embodied carbon refers to emissions caused during the construction process and its value chain.

"Embodied carbon evaluation is a relatively new field, and the measurements and benchmarks are very much in flux and can vary significantly by building type and region," he added.

"As knowledge of this area increases then benchmarks and targets are changing."

Whalley pointed out that the pavilion's embodied carbon footprint represents "a 41 per cent reduction from an equivalent new building in the region."

He added that the lifecycle assessment, which was carried out by Buro Happold, "includes an assessment of embodied carbon but also goes beyond that to consider other important potential material impacts such as ozone depletion and impacts on marine environments."

Pavilion's embodied carbon is double the target set by LETI

Sustainable buildings should aim for embodied carbon footprints of between 400 and 500 kg per square metre, according to the Embodied Carbon Primer published by the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI).

"Surely to be worthy of the name Sustainability Pavilion it should be in this zone and not double," said Sturgis.

By comparison, Sturgis pointed to Hopkins Architects' recent Living Planet Centre for the UK branch of the World Wildlife Fund, which has an embodied carbon footprint of less than 500 kg per square metre.

But Whalley argued that the building could not be compared to typical residential or commercial buildings and said the targets set by LETI are not appropriate.

"Terra is a very usage-intensive building and does not benefit from a regularity of form or economy of scale that a typical residential or commercial building does," he explained.

"The floor loading requirements are much higher than a residential building for instance, due to the potential uses of the spaces and levels of peak occupancy."

"Likewise, finishes and MEP [mechanical, electrical and plumbing] requirements are also required to be of a higher specification, which tends to lead to higher embodied carbon."

Sturgis said the steel-and-concrete canopy was "completely OTT".

"You have a huge density of steel and concrete structure at the roof centre, which is completely OTT in relation to the type of building it is trying to be," he said.

"This decision alone, to cantilever the roof, is directly responsible for significant unnecessary emissions."

Low-carbon materials "nothing special for a Sustainability Pavilion"

Sturgis said that the building's use of recycled steel and ground granulated blast-furnace slag to replace some of the cement "is normal for an office building but is nothing special for a Sustainability Pavilion".

"What about the use of sustainable materials like timber instead of all the concrete and steel?" Sturgis asked.

"This a standard 20th-century modernist design which is trying to be squeezed into a 21st-century sustainability pot," Sturgis concluded. "No amount of photovoltaics will fix that. The design needs to start from a completely different place."

Sturgis pointed out that Grimshaw Architects is a signatory to climate action group Architects Declare but said its design for the pavilion "suggests that they do not understand what this means. Where is the innovation fit for today?"

The built environment is responsible for 40 per cent of global emissions, with embodied carbon emitted by construction supply chains responsible for around half of those.

Next month's COP26 climate conference will see the embodied carbon emissions from the sector come under the spotlight for the first time at a dedicated built environment day.

Despite being an Architects Declare signatory, Grimshaw Architects is among hundreds of practices that have failed to sign up to the RIBA's 2030 Climate Challenge, which helps firms plot a path to designing net-zero buildings.

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The Dubai Expo has officially opened with pavilions designed by architects including Foster + Partners, WOHA and Santiago Calatrava. Here we round up 10 of the most interesting.

UAE Pavilion by Santiago Calatrava

Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, the host nation's pavilion was informed by the shape of a falcon's wing.

The building is topped with 28 carbon fibre "wings" that can be closed to shelter the roof solar panels.

Singapore Pavilion by WOHA

Singapore studio WOHA created a plant-filled pavilion for the country's pavilion at the expo.

Described by the studio as a "three-dimensional garden", the building has a series of raised walkways that wrap around three plant-covered cones.

Finland Pavilion by JKMM

The Finland Pavilion was built around a calm, timber-lined space where people can escape the bustle of the expo.

Designed by Helsinki studio JKMM Architects, the pavilion was covered in a white tensioned industrial fabric to evoke the appearance of Finnish snow.

UK Pavilion by Es Devlin 

The UK's contribution to the expo is a cone-shaped cross-laminated timber pavilion created by British designer Es Devlin.

It was designed to display an AI-generated poem across its facade.

Mobility Pavilion by Foster + Partners

This trefoil-shaped pavilion, designed by UK studio Foster + Partners, anchors the expo's mobility district.

Each of the building's three cantilevered forms contains a gallery with an immersive exhibition designed by London-based design consultancy MET Studio.

Italy Pavilion by Carlo Ratti Associati

Carlo Ratti Associati designed the Italy Pavilion to investigate reusable materials and natural cooling.

It was topped with three boat hulls – coloured green, white and red to match the Italian flag – and surrounded by a curtain made from 70 kilometres of recycled plastic rope.

Swiss Pavilion by OOS

The attention-grabbing Swiss Pavilion has a facade that acts as a giant mirror, which reflects the giant red entrance carpet.

Named Reflections, the pavilion was designed by Zürich-based architecture studio OOS to make visitors reflect on the image of Switzerland.

Sustainability Pavilion by Grimshaw 

Anchoring the sustainability district, the Sustainability Pavilion was designed to generate all of its own water and energy.

UK studio Grimshaw topped the pavilion with a 135-metre-wide, solar-panel-covered canopy.

Dutch Pavilion by V8 Architects

Also located in the sustainability district, the Dutch Biotope pavilion was built around an 18-metre-high "food cone" covered with edible plants.

The pavilion is topped with colourful solar panels for power and extracts water from the desert air to irrigate the plants.

Opportunity Pavilion by AGi Architects

Spanish-Kuwaiti studio AGi Architects designed the main pavilion in the opportunity district.

Named Mission Possible, the building was built around a covered plaza.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Architecture studio WOHA has created a plant-filled pavilion covered in a "three-dimensional garden" at Dubai Expo 2020.

Set opposite the Grimshaw-designed Sustainability Pavilion and next door to the Dutch Pavilion in the expo's sustainability district, the Singapore Pavilion was designed to be a nature-filled place of retreat from the bustle of the event.

"The core concept for the Singapore Pavilion was to create an oasis in the desert, an escape from the hustle and bustle of the expo, where visitors are instinctively drawn to nature," said WOHA director Phua Hong Wei.

"We wanted the pavilion to take visitors on an experiential journey through a three-dimensional garden," he told Dezeen.

The building was built around three plant-covered cones that contain a series of exhibition spaces.

Visitors to the pavilion take a route up through the building on a series of walkways that pass through hanging gardens and around and into the cones.

At the top of the building is an open space containing a cafe and sunken auditorium for talks.

WOHA designed the pavilion to demonstrate how planting can be used to reduce the impact of building in the Dubai climate.

"It is a prototype that showcases strategies that are scalable and adaptable, from buildings to cities," said Wei.

"The symbiosis of building and nature makes a sustainable, yet attractive and accessible environment," he continued.

"Beyond the man-made and natural systems, the design adopts passive strategies like overhang for shading, an open floorplan for natural cross-ventilation and high volumes for daylighting."

The pavilion does not require mains power or water. The roof canopy is topped with 517 solar panels that will provide 161 megawatt hours (Mwh) of power during the expo, while a water desalination system will treat 40 cubic metres of water each day to irrigate the plants.

"More importantly, the lush oasis is self-sustaining in the harsh desert environment," explained Wei.

"It does not draw power from the power grid or water line. It shows that buildings can be both sociable and sustainable, at no compromise."

"We see the pavilion as interlinked systems, similar to nature," continued Wei.

"It photosynthesizes and is sheltered by a maximized solar canopy. The clean energy generated from the canopy powers the entire infrastructure," he continued.

"It draws water from the ground, desalinates, feeding the drip-irrigation, mist-fans and water feature, cooling the environment through evapotranspiration."

WOHA believes that the pavilion demonstrates how buildings can be designed in a more responsible way in the light of climate change.

"The World Green Building Council states that building and construction accounts for close to 40 per cent of carbon emissions in the world," said Wei.

"Rather than 'taking and emitting', the pavilion shows that buildings should do more, give back and make a positive impact on our environment," he continued.

"To achieve a balance and restore climate stability, we need to rewild our environment and restore biodiversity. It is a cost-effective and nature-based solution."

The also demonstrates how architecture is developing in Singapore within its own hot climate.

"The pavilion mirrors Singapore's story of thriving in a challenging environment," added Wei.

"Like land-limited Singapore, the pavilion sits on one of the smallest plots in Expo but makes an impactful statement despite its size," he continued.

"It shows how Singapore is designing a positive future, one that is nurtured by nature. It also shows our role as architects and designers to think big and tackle key issues of our present for future generations."

The Singapore Pavilion is one of many national pavilions at the Dubai expo, which runs for the next six months. Among the other pavilions is the UK Pavilion designed by Es Devlin, UAE Pavilion by Santiago Calatrava and the Italy Pavilion by Carlo Ratti.

Photography courtesy of Singapore Pavilion, unless stated.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Spanish-Kuwaiti studio AGi Architects has created a pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai that is built around a covered plaza that acts as a place where people can gather.

Named Mission Possible, the pavilion anchors the Opportunity District – one of the expo's three main districts alongside Mobility and Sustainability.

A wide and shallow staircase leads visitors from the ground floor to the pavilion's main level, which includes a long and narrow building and two smaller ones positioned around a central plaza.

These buildings house the pavilion's main exhibition spaces, as well as a Mission Possible store and a cafe.

When designing the pavilion AGi Architects took cues from the notion of a plaza, which is loosely defined as an enclosed open space in a built-up area.

Mission Possible's blocky volumes are arranged under a metal canopy featuring six textile layers of fabric by Serge Ferrari.

"The canopy represents clouds and the dreams that we all aspire to achieve to build a better world," said Joaquin Perez-Goicoechea, co-founder of AGi Architects.

"Colourful elements overlap, creating layers, playing with transparency, light, shadows and colour," he told Dezeen. "All this allows us to create a welcoming environment in which visitors can take a break."

Industrial design company Flexbrick wrapped the pavilion's facade in a unique ceramic textile that features a scattering of lit-up sections which glitter after dark.

This ceramic tile also cover's the pavilion's floor, which has been dubbed as the "terracotta carpet," and is designed to form a neutral backdrop created to bring diverse groups of people together.

Perez-Goicoechea explained that the universality of a plaza is Mission Possible's central design focus.

"The concept design behind the Opportunity Pavilion is based on the relationships among people and the impact of their actions," he explained.

"That is why the project revolves around people and, hence, the design of that central 'plaza' that stands as a meeting point where they can interact and interconnect."

Mission Possible presents an exhibition designed by Alec Fit Out and Icaria Atelier, which is focused on The Sustainable Development Goals, a set of targets created by the United Nations in 2015.

The pavilion houses an interactive exhibition that features pathways addressing current issues related to water, food, and energy, which are hosted by three specialist guides.

The United Nations also has a dedicated space inside the pavilion called the UN Hub.

AGi Architects was founded by Joaquín Pérez-Goicoechea and Nasser B Abulhasan in 2006.

Mission Possible joins two other pavilions on show at Expo 2020 Dubai that represent the event's defining themes – Foster + Partners' trefoil-shaped Mobility Pavilion and Grimshaw's Sustainability Pavilion.

The photography is courtesy of Expo 2020 Dubai.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Zürich-based architecture studio OOS has covered the front of the Swiss Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020 with a giant mirror.

Set alongside a giant red carpet, the pavilion is named Reflections and aims to make visitors think about the image of Switzerland.

"The meaning lies in the reflection," explained Christoph Kellenberger, founding partner of OOS.

"The reflection of Switzerland. The reflection of the red carpet. The reflection of all the visitors," he told Dezeen.

Designed by OOS in collaboration with scenography designer Bellprat Partner and landscape architect Lorenz Eugster, the pavilion is a simple cube.

However, it is brought to life by its mirrored facade that has a funnel-shaped indentation facing the large red carpet area for queueing.

"The funnel-shaped mirroring of the front welcomes visitors on a discovery tour from afar," said Kellenberger.

"This not only encourages visitors to reflect on themselves and others but also leads to an examination of the image of Switzerland," he continued.

"The reflection is also intended to bring people into contact with each other and is the translation of the Expo's leitmotiv: Connecting minds, creating the future."

Within the pavilion, visitors walk up a pathway in a fog-filled room that leads to a view of a mountain top.

"We developed a walking tour through Switzerland that leads through the natural fog high up the mountain to a panorama over the sea of fog," explained Kellenberger.

"The pavilion represents Swiss values such as inventiveness and openness, as well as the beauty of the Swiss landscape," he continued.

"The experience of feeling real fog on their skin and then looking out over the sea of fog into the Swiss mountains is intended to awaken a desire to visit Switzerland."

Following the mountain experience, visitors descend into an exhibition hall that focuses on Swiss innovation, before exiting from the side of the pavilion.

An additional event space is located on the roof of the building.

Despite the bright sunshine expected at the expo, the studio was not concerned about the reflected light.

"The main entrance faces west (and Mecca) – and thus sunset," said Kellenberger.

"The reflection of the evening sunlight makes the red carpet shine. The visitors receive sun umbrellas which lead to a playful image in the reflection of the facade," he continued.

"And if you look at the local architecture, reflective surfaces are often used."

Kellenberger also expects the pavilion to be popular with visitors as a spot for taking selfies.

"It was already clear on the opening day of the expo that the pavilion is a magnet for visitors," he said.

"Many visitors take a picture or selfie of themselves right on the red carpet: so the iconographic shot is something they're sure to take home with them."

OOS' Swiss Pavilion is one of numerous national pavilion's designed to promote nations at the Dubai Expo, which is open for the next six months.

Es Devlin created a timber structure that presents an AI-generated poem for the UK's pavilion, while Carlo Ratti topped the Italy Pavilion with a trio of boats.

The photography is by Jon Wallis, unless stated.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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UK studio Grimshaw has designed a pavilion topped with a 135-metre-wide, solar-panel-covered canopy to anchor the sustainability district at the Dubai Expo.

Named Terra, the pavilion stands at one of the main entrances to the site and generates all its own water and energy.

Designed as the main permanent building within the sustainability district, the pavilion contains 6,000 square metres of exhibition spaces that are largely embedded in the ground.

These spaces are covered with earth roofs and shaded by a giant tree-like canopy made from 97 per cent recycled steel that supports more than 1,055 solar panels.

Informed by the drought-tolerant Ghaf Tree, this angled, oval-shaped canopy is supported on a central column.

The structure forms a key part of the studio's strategy to create a building that is self-sufficient in both water and electricity.

The solar panels on the main canopy, along with eighteen smaller, rotating Energy Trees that surround it, are expected to generate four gigawatt hours of electricity annually.

Grimshaw's Sustainability Pavilion was also designed to reuse 100 per cent of the water it uses.

The main canopy acts as a collection area for stormwater and dew, while further water is captured in smaller water trees surrounding the main structure.

Also surrounding the main building are a series of gardens planted to create a water-efficient landscape that is used to filter, supply and recycle water.

"Key to our design approach was developing a ranked matrix of project and place-based potential, leading the team to prioritise designs, which will have the greatest potential to yield positive transformational change for our client and the communities in which the project is situated," explained the studio.

"For this project, we can point to both the combination of passive design strategies, energy efficiency optimizations and on-site energy generation, as well as the on-site water reuse as the key prioritizations."

The pavilion is arranged around the column supporting the tree-like canopy. An open courtyard is wrapped around the column, with the exhibition spaces contained in a series of concrete structures embedded in the ground.

The external walls of the exhibition halls were constructed from gabion walls filled with stone from the Hajar Mountains.

The pavilion's immersive exhibitions were designed by New York-based designers Thinc in collaboration with the Eden Project.

In the galleries, visitors will be taken on a journey into the world's forests and sea and be shown the impact humans are having on the world.

The pavilion was built for Emirati real estate development company Emaar Properties and will contain exhibits focused on sustainability throughout the six-month expo.

Following the event, the building will be converted into a permanent museum dedicated to science and sustainability.

The Dubai Expo is the latest World Expo – an international exhibition designed to showcase architecture and innovation.

The six-month event will see contributions from 180 countries, including pavilions from the UK and the Netherlands, as well as the Qatar Pavilion and the UAE Pavilion by Santiago Calatrava.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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UK studio Foster + Partners has designed a trefoil-shaped pavilion to anchor the mobility district at the Dubai Expo.

Named Alif after the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, the mobility pavilion stands at one of the main entrances to the site, which is marked by an Asif Khan-designed gateway. Its name was chosen to symbolise the start of the process of movement.

The Foster + Partners-designed building has a distinctive trefoil shape with three large petals that cantilever outwards from the building's base.

Each of the petals was built to contain a gallery with immersive exhibitions designed by London-based design consultancy MET Studio.

"The core concept was to create an internal vessel for Expo's three sub-themes of mobility, this provided the trefoil plan, each theme having its own 'hall'," said Gerard Evenden, senior executive partner at Foster + Partners.

"Creating an engaging external landscape for all people to enjoy was our next idea," he told Dezeen. "Finally, making the building sustainable and adaptable for legacy underpinned how we realised the design in detail."

The pavilion, which will remain on the site after the Dubai expo ends, is wrapped in a series of horizontal aluminium louvres.

Designed to evoke a feeling of movement, while referencing chrome fenders and aircraft wings, the louvres shade windows in the building's facade.

"We referenced wind tunnel images and aeronautical elements to capture the idea of movement in the external envelope of the building, the horizontal bands flow around the building, widening to allow light inside and lifting to create the entrance canopies," said Evenden.

"We wanted to reflect and capture movement around the building so the curved fins reflect surrounding movement and light, they also allow the pavilion to transform from day to night, picking up the colours and light of the Expo."

"The use of stainless steel references aircraft wings, rockets and racing cars," he continued.

"It was also chosen over aluminium because of its performance in the environment and the ease of fabrication to accommodate the building’s complex geometries."

Visitors enter the pavilion at one of the three entrances between the petal forms where the aluminium fins are raised.

They proceed to a circular passenger lift, which according to the expo's organisers is the world's largest lift, that takes them to the top of the building.

Visitors then proceed down walkways that lead to each of the gallery spaces. The first looks at the history of mobility and contains three nine-metre-high statues created by Academy Award-winning design studio Weta Workshop.

The second gallery explores the modern era, while the third focuses on the future.

"Good expo pavilions are always about the harmony between architecture and visitor experience, the building is as much an exhibit as what's inside," explained Peter Karn, creative director of MET Studio.

"Here it is the navigation through the space that really connects the two. The large central platform lift takes visitors to the top and then a series of descending ramps bring them down through each of the immersive acts," he continued.

"This sense of constant movement, as if you are unravelling the story of human mobility as you move, really heightens the experience."

At the base of the building is the exit alongside a cafe and gift shop. A series of private spaces for events are located above the exhibits on the top floor.

Surrounding the pavilion a 330-metre track, which will be used to demonstrate current innovations in transport, encircles the building.

The Dubai Expo is the latest World Expo – an international exhibition that has contributions from 180 countries. These include the UK Pavilion designed by Es Devlin, the boat-topped Italy Pavilion and the Qatar Pavilion and the UAE Pavilion, which were both designed by Santiago Calatrava.

Photography is courtesy of Expo 2020 Dubai.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Helsinki studio JKMM Architects has created a calm, chapel-like pavilion as the Finnish contribution to Dubai Expo 2020.

Located in the Mobility district at the Dubai Expo site, the Finland Pavilion is covered in a white tensioned industrial fabric that was designed to evoke Finnish snow.

"In designing the pavilion, we sought to bring a fragment of Finnish nature to UAE and Dubai," said Teemu Kurkela, founder of JKMM Architects.

"The pavilion was inspired by the thin white layer of first snow that covers the Finnish landscape at the beginning of winter," he told Dezeen. "In Finnish, it is called 'Lumi', which means snow."

The fabric skin is pulled up at the centre, like a draped curtain that marks the entrance into the pavilion. Evoking a tent, this refers to both the Finnish and Middle Eastern nomadic heritage.

"The main entrance was inspired by a traditional Arabic tent," said Kurkela. "Two cultures meet in the architectural concept of the pavilion."

The entrance leads to a space lined with curved slatted-wooden surfaces described by the studio as a "gorge-like space carved into the building".

This top-lit space was designed to be a calm space away from the bustle of the surrounding expo. The floor is made from Finnish granite tiles.

JKMM Architects hope that this space will be an ideal place for having in-person meetings during the six-month-long event.

"Hopefully, this will be the best space in expo for meeting face-to-face," the studio said.

Surrounding the central gorge is a space containing an exhibition that aims to demonstrate how nature and technology can be utilised to develop happiness, as Finland is the happiest country in the world.

The display, which includes a 53-metre-long film display, was designed by Futudesign, Sun Effects and Flatlight Creative House in collaboration with JKMM Architects.

Following the expo, the pavilion will remain on the site for five years, after which it will be dismantled. JKMM Architects estimates that more than 80 per cent of the materials used in its construction will be recycled and reused.

Overseen by Paris-based intergovernmental organisation the Bureau International des Expositions, the Dubai Expo has contributions from 180 countries.

Other national pavilions at the expo include Es Devlin's timber UK Pavilion, which incorporates an AI-generated poem in its facade and the Qatar and UAE Pavilion that were both designed by Spanish Architect Santiago Calatrava.

Photography is by Marc Goodwin.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Italian studio Carlo Ratti Associati has created a building that aims to investigate reusable materials and natural cooling for the Italy Pavilion at Dubai Expo 2020.

Designed by Carlo Ratti Associati, architect Italo Rota, with architect Matteo Gatto and multidisciplinary studio F&M Ingegneria, the pavilion is topped with three boat hulls and surrounded by a curtain made from 70 kilometres of rope manufactured from recycled plastic.

The pavilion was intended to demonstrate how temporary structures do not need to be hugely wasteful.

"One of the things that always bothered me about expos, Olympics or temporary exhibitions is the fact that we build a temporary city and then everything goes to landfill," said Carlo Ratti Associati founder Carlo Ratti.

"So we wanted to try to say well, how can we do a pavilion where everything tries to be circular and we don't waste anything at the end, you know, it's an experiment – some of these will work. Some of these will not, it will try different angles," he told Dezeen.

The Italian pavilion's structure is formed from 150 slender vertical steel pillars, each 27 meters high, that support a trio of 40-metre-long upturned boat hulls manufactured in collaboration with shipbuilder Fincantieri.

They are coloured red, white and green to represent the Italian flag and after the expo, they will be reused as boats.

"Most of the materials you see here are assembled in a way that can be dismantled and recycled," explained Ratti."One reuse angle is the roof. The roof actually can sail on its own. Think about that reinterpretation – it's like [UK architecture studio] Archigram's moving city, but this time the boats that compose the roof can continue to sail in the oceans."

Hung between the hulls is a wave-shaped roof membrane made from ETFE and covered with a layer of perforated metal sheets to filter the sunlight that enters the building.

This is part of Carlo Ratti Associati's strategy to create a pavilion that did not require air conditioning.

The roof membrane is combined with ropes made from two million plastic bottles that are hung around the exterior to enclose and shade the building in place of walls.

"All the facades are actually ropes – the air goes through the facade," said Ratti. "So this is one of the few non-air-conditioned buildings on the site."

"Today, it's very hot," he continued. "There's a difference between outside and inside of around 10 and 15 degrees. Again, it's not perfect, but it's good. Air conditioning can turn the beach into a refrigerator, but it's just a waste of energy."

As well as being used to create an alternative to air conditioning, the ropes – like the boats – were chosen to evoke a nautical connection.

According to the studio, this references historical trading connections between Italy and the Middle East and ties into the expo's theme – "connecting minds, creating the future".

Within the pavilion, escalators take visitors to the top of a series of ramps that lead down through the exhibits that showcase Italian design and innovation.

Ratti and the exhibition designers were keen to make sure that the pavilion did not present a "cliche" of Italian design and architecture.

"It's so easy when you think about Italy, and the way people talk about Italy, often you end up with a cliche," said Ratti.

"The point was that can we actually turn that historical knowledge into a way to elaborate the future. The pavilion is a lab about experimentation."

Overall, Ratti hopes that the pavilion demonstrates how architecture should be used to experiment.

"What we need to do more and more today, especially in this moment of architecture, is to experiment like, well, nature does try new things to see what works, what doesn't," he said.

"So this is an experiment through different angles, especially with the aim of being a bit more circular, and sustainable."

The Dubai Expo is the latest World Expo – an international exhibition designed to  showcase architecture and innovation.

The six-month event will see contributions from 180 countries, including pavilions from the UK and the Netherlands, as well as the Qatar Pavilion and the UAE Pavilion by Santiago Calatrava.

Photography is by Michele Nastasi.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Swiss-Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has created a pavilion informed by the shape of a falcon's wing for the UAE at the Dubai Expo 2020, which opens today.

Designed "as a symbol of the UAE's pioneering spirit", the host nation's pavilion stands near the centre of the expo site alongside the Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed central Al Wasl Plaza.

"The UAE Pavilion was designed to embody the main theme of Expo 2020 Connecting Minds, Creating the Future and serve as a symbol of the UAE’s pioneering spirit," Calatrava's office told Dezeen.

"Located in the Opportunity District of Expo 2020 Dubai, every aspect of the pavilion is representative of the host country, from the building's architecture, which resembles a falcon, the UAE’s national bird, to the surrounding landscape."

The four-storey pavilion was informed "by a falcon in flight" and is topped by a series of locally produced carbon fiber "wings" that can be closed to shelter the roof solar panels.

Each of the wings pivots around a single point and the entire roof can be opened in three minutes.

"The conceptual framework was based on inspiration from the grace and force of a falcon, the UAE's national bird," said Calatrava's studio.

"By channelling the powers of mobility, synchronized flow, and technological innovation, the relationship between architectural spaces and structural systems fuse together to create connections that connect the overall space with the main theme of Expo 2020."

At the centre of the 15,000-square-meter pavilion is a sphere-shaped void that serves as an auditorium with a capacity of 200.

It is surrounded by a multi-level gathering space, which is topped with a circular skylight that incorporates the Expo 2020 logo.

Within the rest of the pavilion are a series of immersive exhibits dedicated to both the history and future of the country.

"The UAE Pavilion offers visitors an opportunity to explore the history and future of the United Arab Emirates – from its origins to its thriving present and its visionary future," the studio continued.

"We hope that visitors see it as a testament to the passion and dedication of the people of the UAE, serving as a reminder of the values of the nation, its resilience, and boundless future."

In line with Expo 2020's theme of sustainability the pavilion was certified LEED Platinum and is compliant with the Dubai Green Building Regulations and Specifications (DGBR).

It is surrounded by landscaping containing 80 trees and over 5,600 plants, of which 2,350 are "considered to be of cultural importance to the UAE".

The Dubai Expo is the latest World Expo – an international exhibition designed to  showcase architecture and innovation. The six-month event will see contributions from 180 countries and is expected to attract around 10 million visitors.

Calatrava also designed the Qatar Pavilion at the Expo, while the UK Pavilion is a timber structure with a facade that contains AI-written poems.

Photography is by Palladium Photodesign / Oliver Schuh + Barbara Burg, courtesy of Santiago Calatrava.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Swiss-Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava has designed a curved structure that pays homage to Qatar's coat of arms for the country's pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Calatrava's Qatar Pavilion opens today with the rest of Expo 2020 Dubai, which was rescheduled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, and will now take place until March 2022.

Representing Qatar at the international event, the pavilion was informed by the country's national emblem adopted in 1976.

Qatar's coat of arms includes two curved and crossed swords, illustrated to look as if they are holding a patch of seawater, on which a traditional dhow boat and an island with palm trees are positioned.

According to the architect, the sweeping shape of Qatar's pavilion echoes the essence of this insignia, through a design that exudes "movement, mobility, strength and tradition."

"The Qatar Pavilion pays tribute to the country's coat of arms, which is rooted in its rich history and cultural heritage," said Calatrava, who heads his eponymous practice.

"Each element informed the curvilinear design of the pavilion which evokes the image of sails on passing ships," Calatrava's office told Dezeen.

"The structure’s surroundings tell as much of a story as the building itself. The entrance to the pavilion is marked by a sculptural monument that represents two intertwined palm trees and is surrounded by water features that serve as an homage to the Arabian Gulf which encompasses the nation of Qatar."

The pavilion's curved structure is the same neutral colour as a lower building that intersects it, with both volumes encompassing 960 square metres.

Nearby, a gold-coloured structure intends to echo the palm trees on Qatar's coat of arms, while the pavilion's soaring angles reference the curved form of the dhow.

"The pavilion’s design emulates a modern interpretation of Qatar’s progressive outlook of the future and history," the studio said. "We hope visitors will walk away truly understanding the essence of Qatar."

Inside, two main galleries and exhibition spaces aim to provide an immersive and experiential education on the history of Qatar, along with sections that focus on the country's present and future.

"The project draws inspiration from the urban fabric from which it rises, to serve as an extension of the country," added Santiago Calatrava CEO, Micael Calatrava.

Though Santiago Calatrava isn't a Qatari studio, it feels "part of the nation," it added.

"We have a team on the ground in UAE, run by Micael Calatrava (Santiago Calatrava’s son)," the studio said. "The Calatrava International office was settled in Doha, Qatar, before relocating to Dubai many years ago, so we are very much a part of the nation and understand it on a deep level."

"Aside from that, our firm process always includes immersing ourselves in the region’s built environment before designing a structure."

The Dubai Expo is the latest World Expo – an international exhibition designed to showcase architecture and innovation. The six-month event will see contributions from 180 countries, including pavilions from the UK and the Netherlands.

The photography is courtesy of Santiago Calatrava.

Expo 2020 Dubai will run from 1 October 2021 – 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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British designer Es Devlin has unveiled a cross-laminated timber pavilion, which is the UK's contribution to the Dubai Expo 2020.

The UK Pavilion has been designed to display a series of AI-generated poems during the international event, which opens in Dubai this week.

Constructed from cross-laminated timber, the cone-shaped pavilion has a circular facade made from protruding slats.

Poems created from words submitted by visitors and generated by AI will be written in English and Arabic using LED lights on the facade.

"Shaped like a giant wooden conical musical instrument, the UK Pavilion gathers words donated by each visitor," Devlin told Dezeen.

"It uses an advanced machine learning algorithm to generate the cumulative collective poem which illuminates its twenty-metre diameter facade."

The structure, which is the first UK pavilion designed by a female designer, aims to draw attention to both the growing importance of algorithms and the diversity of the UK.

"Algorithms are among us, they are an ever-growing part of our culture, their output is based on what they are trained on and who trains them," said Devlin.

"The pavilion is at once an expression of the ideal of a culturally diverse Britain that I grew up with, tempered with our growing awareness of the part algorithms play in shaping the future of our culture."

Within the pavilion, there will not be an exhibit. "The building is the exhibit", explained Devlin.

Instead, there is a curved void with walls covered in LED tiles that will also display donated words. This will be paired with a soundscape drawn from choirs from different ethnicities all over the UK.

Devlin hopes that the pavilion will project a sense of the UK's openness to the 25 million visitors expected to the expo.

"A sense of Britain as a place that's open, welcoming, questioning, uncertain, contradictory, inconsistent, fallible, sometimes nonsensical, majestic, comical, beautiful, and accessible to all," she said.

The pavilion was designed with structural engineer Atelier One, environmental design consultant Atelier Ten, executive architect Veretec and creative agency Avantgarde.

It was built from cross-laminated timber rather from concrete or steel to reduce its environmental impact.

"The pavilion is an act of European and international collaboration: its cross-laminated timber is thoroughly European: grown and assembled in Austria and Italy," said Devlin.

"The LED tiles were engineered in Belgium and manufactured in China, the algorithm was engineered in California, the list goes on..."

The pavilion is the UK's contribution to the Dubai Expo 2020, which opens to the public on 1 October.

It follows Wolfgang Buttress' beehive-inspired UK Pavilion at the Milan Expo in 2015 and Thomas Heatherwick's Seed Cathedral, which was created for Shanghai Expo 2010.

Devlin sees her pavilion as sharing similar ideals to these two past pavilions.

"The poetry has a tentative, provisional, vulnerable and inquisitive quality – I think both Wolfgang Buttress and Thomas Heatherwick successfully avoided any trace of national bombast in their beautiful works for Milan and Shanghai and I have very much tried to continue their thread."

The Dubai Expo is the latest World Expo – international exhibitions that showcase architecture and innovation by countries from all over the world and take place every five years. Dubai will be followed by the Expo 2025 Osaka in four years time.

Photography is by Ry Galloway and Alin Consstantin, courtesy of Es Devlin.

Expo 2020 Dubai is open to the public from 1 October to 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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London practice Pirajean Lees has converted a nightclub in Dubai into a restaurant informed by Japan's jazz age and the grandiose parties of silent film actor Sessue Hayakwa.

The restaurant, which serves modern twists on Japanese classics, is named Mimi Kakushi after the distinctive bob haircut worn by the young Japanese Moga, or modern girls, who adopted western fashions in the period after the first world war.

This jazz age aesthetic is also reflected in the interior of the eatery, which is layered with rich textures and materials including traditional joinery, hand-painted walls, beaded curtains and bespoke stained glass windows.

"Mimi Kakushi embodies Japan when jazz was swinging into 1920s Osaka, bringing modern art and western fashions to it," explained Clémence Pirajean and James Michael Lees, who founded Pirajean Lees in 2007.

In particular, the duo looked to the larger-than-life persona of Sessue Hayakwa, Japan's first silver screen star to find success in Hollywood.

"Hayakwa perfectly personified this era," said the studio. "Known for his lavish parties, gold-plated car and castle-style mansion, Hayakwa's story became the foundation for the design."

The existing architectural features of the nightclub, such as the level changes in the ceiling and structural columns, guided the spatial layout of the restaurant.

In the reception, diners are welcomed by hand-painted walls before making their way past a Japanese colonial-style bar with views across the sushi counter to the tables beyond.

An open kitchen, visible throughout the space, creates a sense of theatre in the restaurant.

All electrical and mechanical equipment, as well as the ventilation system, is hidden behind a straw ceiling grid to preserve a "residential feel" within the commercial space.

Throughout the project, Pirajean Lees was careful to filter the strong Dubai sun, which penetrates into Mimi Kakushi from two different directions.

To the east, a bespoke stained glass window was installed on the existing facade, bathing the space in warm, amber light. To the south, a wooden bead curtain is used alongside mirrored tables and walls to refract the light.

"Mimi Kakushi is on the top floor of the building, with dual exposure on the east and west with fully glazed elevations," the studio explained.

"It gets direct, strong sunlight all day long, which can be very uncomfortable when dining. We understood that instead, we could use it as an advantage, as a design element in itself to transform the space throughout the day as the light changes."

Sliding lattice screens made from dark timber can be used to divide the open-plan restaurant into a sequence of smaller spaces for privacy and special events.

All lighting, as well as the scalloped-edged tables and a selection of the seating, were designed in-house by Pirajean Lees.

Other Japanese restaurant interiors include Kotori in São Paulo, which incorporates traditional joinery techniques, and London's Maido sushi restaurant with its 1960s-style glass block wall and dark cherry wood panelling.

Photography is by Maha Nasra Eddé.

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Dubai-based studio Dabbagh Architects has wrapped the Mosque of the Late Mohamed Abdulkhaliq Gargash in UAE in white stone facades containing geometric forms and calligraphy.

Named after businessman Mohamed Abdulkhaliq Gargash, who passed away in 2016, the mosque was designed by Dabbagh Architects founder Sumaya Dabbagh – making it one of the first mosques in the UAE to be designed by a woman architect.

Funded by the Gargash family, the building is set alongside a busy road in the industrial Al Quoz area in the south of Dubai.

The family wanted the building to have a contemporary feel and be a calm space for prayer away from the bustle of the city.

"We aimed to create a sanctuary, a sense of calm amongst the visual clutter and noise of the industrial Al Quoz district," Dabbagh told Dezeen.

"The design approach is a response to the site, the setting, local materials available and equally importantly the experience created," she said.

"All of these considerations have created a contemporary design that is of its time and place."

Unlike traditional mosques that are often made up of multiple blocks, Dabbagh Architects aimed to create a simple, clean form that would make the building stand out.

"Religious buildings are often used to express opulence and status," said Dabbagh.

"For the Gargash Mosque, the client's brief was to have simplicity. Thus the minimal design approach has created a building that stands out in its setting."

The building is separated into two blocks by a linear courtyard that is sheltered by a perforated canopy.

The larger of the two blocks contains the dome-covered main prayer space on the ground floor with the women's prayer area on the first floor.

On the other side of the courtyard are the ablution facilities and residences for the Imam and Moazen.

The mosque's stone walls are covered with a recessed geometric pattern made of triangles, some of which perforate the stone to allow natural light into the building.

A verse from the Quran written in calligraphy was also recessed into a band that wraps around the walls of the prayer hall.

"Muslim prayer is performed throughout the day at prescribed timings: at dawn, midday, afternoon, sunset and at night," explained Sumaya.

"This discipline creates a human connection with the natural day and night rhythm," she continued.

"The experience created through the design of the mosque seeks to enhance this connection through a controlled introduction of natural lighting."

The geometric pattern extends across the mosque's minaret, which was also designed to have a contemporary form.

Dabbagh hopes that overall the project has succeeded in creating a mosque that evokes "a sense of the sacred".

"Our philosophy focuses on creating a memorable experience through our design," she said.

"This is particularly important when designing a place of worship. Through deliberate design means such as the Quranic verses in the calligraphy externally, the proportion of the main space and the use of natural light in strategic locations," she continued.

"The intent is to evoke a sense of the sacred and intangible end result is created through these tangible means."

Previous mosques on Dezeen include Cambridge Central Mosque in the UK by Marks Barfield Architects and a brick mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Photography is by Gerry O'Leary Photography.

Project credits:

Lead architects: Dabbagh Architects
Structure engineers: Orient Crown Architectural
MEP engineers: Clemson Engineering
Landscape architects: WAHO Landscape Architecture
Client: Family of the late Mohamed Abdulkhaliq Gargash

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Photos reveal the Museum of the Future in Dubai, which was designed by architecture studio Killa Design and engineered by Buro Happold, with its exterior largely complete.

Created for the Dubai Future Foundation, the Museum of the Future will contain exhibitions on innovative design and was designed to have a dynamic form that represents the Dubai government's view of the future.

Located alongside Dubai's elevated train line a short distance from the Burj Khalifa, the torus-shaped building forms a ring around a void that was designed to represent unknown knowledge.

"The Museum of the Future aims to be a catalyst for pioneering concepts and ideas, inspiring those who see and visit the building to innovate, create and discover," said Tobias Bauly, project director at Buro Happold.

"The core concept of the building was to create a form that represents the client's vision of the future – dynamic and innovative," he told Dezeen. "The torus shape of the building captures the perpetual energy of the city."

The exterior of the building is covered with windows that form a poem by Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed about his vision for the city's future, written in Arabic calligraphy.

To create the desired form and unique cladding, while aiming for a sustainability rating of LEED Platinum, Killa Design and Buro Happold developed new parametric modeling tools.

These included a "growth algorithm" that was used to "digitally grow" the building's internal steel structure.

"Parametric design tools were developed for the project to solve specific design and buildability challenges," said Bauly.

"The resulting digital optimisation fundamentally enabled feasible and efficient design solutions to be realised for primary aspects of the project such as the structural diagrid, the facade and its glazing," he continued.

"The original vision of the shape, along with its inherent complexity, was never comprised to enable something 'similar' or 'easier' to be built in its place," he added. "That would have been the easy way out!"

Created with the aim of making one of the "most advanced buildings in the world", the studio says the museum exemplifies a new, digital design approach.

"At the outset, the project aspired to drive our industry towards a new digital approach to design and construction, and the project has delivered on that aspiration," said Bauly.

"Our project architects and engineers have gone through a digital transformation of their own, along with this building. And yet at the heart of it all is a lesson in the continued need for teams of people to work collaboratively to create, innovate and look towards our future. "

This year Dubai will host the Expo 2020 Dubai, which was postponed due to coronavirus. The organisers recently released images of buildings by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, Grimshaw and Foster + Partners that will host the event.

Photography is by Phil Handforth.

Project credits:

Client: Dubai Future Foundation
Developer: North25
Architect: Killa Design
Lead consultant (design, site supervision & contract administration): Buro Happold:
Structural engineering, facade engineering, sustainability, building services engineering: Buro Happold
Bridges, transport, infrastructure, geotechnical engineering, access, people flow modelling, fire and life safety, specialist lighting, acoustics, waste & logistics: Buro Happold
Project manager and employers representative: Matthews Southwest
Cost consultant: AECOM
AoR/EoR: Rice Perry Ellis Cracknell (Landscape),
AV/ICT: Mediatech
VT: RBA
Civils: CDM Smith
Programming: Matrix
H&S: Atkins
Security: Arkan
Auditorium: Theatre Projects

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Design office Roar Studio combined industrial materials such as concrete and stainless steel with decorative terrazzo and broken ceramic tiles for Drop Coffee, a cafe in Dubai's Dar Al Wasl Mall.

The Dubai-based studio was asked to design an interior that would suit the flow of visitors to the cafe, who enter the space from two different entrances – one connected to the outdoors and one to the mall.

It chose to keep the design simple by focusing on the materials used and framed the bar area of the cafe in pale wood and LED lights to create an eye-catching centrepiece.

"This is the second outlet for this homegrown Emirati brand," Roar Studio founder Pallavi Dean told Dezeen.

"Their main drive was to achieve a minimal space where the coffee bar is a central feature and creates a theatrical moment – the making of the coffee is at the front and centre stage."

The ceiling of the cafe is concrete and the studio also painted the walls with a concrete paint finish, which is complemented by a terrazzo-effect tiled stone floor in grey and white hues.

Its colours and shapes are picked up on the main wall, which was decorated with a mosaic of broken ceramic tiles that form an abstract pattern similar to the floor.

"We sourced basic white tiles from Rakceramics – a local manufacturer – which were then broken on-site to compose a patterned wall," Dean explained.

"We aren't trying to reinvent the wheel by using broken tiles – our idea was to form a counterpoint to the terrazzo effect porcelain flooring as though the chips of the broken tiles were used in the flooring."

A large counter in pale wood is connected to the ceiling by beams in the same material, framing the bar area of the store. The counter is covered in stainless steel, which was chosen for both practical and aesthetic reasons.

"The coffee bar has a stainless steel countertop which is extremely sturdy and hygienic but also allows the light to bounce through the space because of its reflectivity," Dean said.

Around the base of the bar, lighted skirting made out of glass blocks give the impression that it is floating above the ground. By the side of the bar, the enclosed kitchen area features a wall made from matching glass blocks, enabling visitors to see the silhouettes of Drop Coffee's staff while they work.

The studio also chose to work with certain materials to help create a less noisy atmosphere for the visitors.

"The ceiling is acoustic foam sprayed, an effect that adds to the industrial aesthetic and helps muffle the noise in the open-plan space – not to mention the noise generated by the coffee machines," Dean explained.

Drop Coffee already has one cafe in Dubai and the plan is for each of the branches to be associated with a different colour, with burnt orange used for Roar Studios' design.

The colour has been dotted throughout the space and was used for seating as well as on clamp-style tables set along one wall for customers who want to have a quick coffee standing up.

Roar Studio was founded in 2013 as Pallavi Dean Interiors by Dean, who was a Dezeen Awards 2020 judge, and rebranded as Roar Studio in 2018. It has previously designed a high-tech learning space for children in Dubai and issued a white paper about the ways in which Covid-19 will impact the design of schools and colleges.

Photography is by Oculis Project.

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The organisers of Expo 2020 Dubai have released images of buildings by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, Grimshaw and Foster + Partners that will host next year's coronavirus-delayed event.

Dubai Expo 2020 was originally scheduled to begin later this month, meaning that many of the buildings on the 438-hectare (1,083 acres) site to the south of Dubai are largely complete.

The rescheduled event will now open a year from today on 1 October 2021.

At the centre of the 438-hectare-site, which has been masterplanned by American architecture firm HOK, stands the Al Wasl Plaza enclosed in a spherical building.

Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, the plaza at the intersection of the expo's three thematic districts will be covered with a steel trellis with a pattern informed by the expo's logo.

Standing alongside the Al Wasl Plaza, the United Arab Emirates' national pavilion designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is also nearing completion.

The building, which was modelled on "a falcon in flight", will contain exhibition spaces, an auditorium, cafe areas and VIP lounges.

Extending out from the central plaza are three leaf-shaped thematic districts that each culminate in a thematic pavilion.

Aiming to "deliver an aspirational message about the natural world, ecology and technology to a global audience," the Sustainability Pavilion was designed by the New York and Dubai offices of architecture studio Grimshaw.

The structure has been designed with a large overhanging roof that will provide shade for the surrounding gardens and exhibition spaces, as well as being a platform for solar panels. It will also harvest fresh water from the humid air.

Surrounding the pavilion are a series of solar trees, which will track the sun and provide additional electricity.

Following the expo the Sustainability Pavilion will reopen as a science museum.

Set in a dedicated plaza near the site's south entrance, Foster + Partners' trefoil-shaped Mobility Pavilion is also largely complete.

Conceived "as a fairground" for demonstrating technological innovations related to mobility, the pavilion will include a partly open-air 340-metre track for visitors to see vehicles in operation.

The third thematic district will focus on Opportunity, with a pavilion designed by AGi Architects. However, the organisers have not released images of this building.

The Dubai Expo 2020 organisers also revealed images from within the thematic districts, which contain over 86 permanent buildings designed by UK studio Hopkins Architects.

Three central pedestrian walkways, each running from the central plaza to the trio of thematic pavilions, will be shaded by a series of tree-like structures.

Along with the main thematic pavilions, the expo will feature 192 national pavilions, including a structure by Es Devlin for the UK and a pavilion topped with stained glass-style solar panels for the Dutch Pavilion.

Each of the site's main three entrances will be marked by a 21-metre-high gate designed by British architect Asif Khan.

Expo 2020 Dubai will run from 1 October 2021 until 31 March 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Graduates from UAE's Zayed University present projects including an Arabic calligraphy centre and a place of worship that challenges "repetitive approaches to mosque design" in this VDF school show.

The 10 works exhibited below were created by undergraduate interior design students at the College of Arts and Creative Enterprises (CACE). Projects from the rest of this year's graduating class can be viewed in the school's 360-degree Virtual ShowCACE.

College of Arts and Creative Enterprises (CACE), Zayed University

University: Zayed University
Course: BFA Interior Design
Tutors: Lina Ahmad, Karim Musfy, Omid Rouhani, Mehdi Sabet and Marco Sosa
Studio: ADR 496 Senior Project
Graduate show: Virtual ShowCACE

Course statement:

"The Interior Design Senior Project at CACE is an advanced course, requiring students to utilise the depth and breadth of their conceptual and technical abilities to conceive, develop and present an original interiors project.

"Usually, CACE would have hosted its end of year graduate ShowCACE in spring but due to the global Covid-19 pandemic, we are highlighting students' work via a virtual online exhibition this year. The interior design department has developed a dedicated website to highlight the work of its graduates."

Calligraphy Hub by Aysha Al Hashmi

"With the gradual loss of the Arabic language, Arabic identity has begun to fade away. I wanted to highlight this problem through a proposed Calligraphy Hub, which was designed for the Manarat Al Saadiyat arts centre in Abu Dhabi.

"The space draws visitors' attention to the beauty of their language in an artistic way, to help them regain a sense of pride in their identity and origins. I wanted to create a space where all people but especially the young could learn, experience and enjoy the art of calligraphy to help save their culture and history."

Email: aysha.alhashmi@outlook.com
Website: caceidexhibition2020/sadaa-almansoori

Al Shindagha Architectural Incubator by Alia Al Maktoum

"This proposal encompasses an architectural incubator in the Al Shindagha neighbourhood of Dubai. The incubator will aid the development of new business ventures by providing low-cost commercial space, management assistance and shared services.

"The proposed space will cater to designers, in particular, helping them to start up businesses that contribute to the development of the creative industries in the area. Via the incubator, visitors, students, faculty and professional architects and interior designers will have the chance to explore the district as well as the neighbouring museums."

Bait Al Shabab by Maryam AlAmeri 

"Bait Al Shabab's primary focus is on the young people in the Emirate of Sharjah through creating a dedicated space to share knowledge, experiences, hobbies, interests and relaxation with people from all walks of life.

"Bait Al Shabab, or the House of Al Shabab, will provide Sharjah's youth with an opportunity to have it all in one place – a place that is made just for them and will serve their needs and desires. The project is based on a building that is more than 100 years old, which is preserved and reused to serve the needs of Bait Al Shabab."

Email: MaryamAl3amri@gmail.com
Website: caceidexhibition2020/afra-khalil-almalki

Elham by Maryam Albannai

"Elham means inspiration and muse, signifying a belief in the creative abilities and joys of autism. It is a place where children with autism can develop their creativity and express themselves through art.

"Through the medium of design, this project seeks to eliminate learning and communication difficulties faced by autistic children and help them develop their confidence. Elham is about possibilities, focusing on what autistic children can do instead of what they can't. The project nurtures the creative ability of each child and provides them with the skills to lead active and fulfilling lives in the future."

Purity Cafe by Sadaa Mubarak Almansoori 

"In my childhood, I spent most of my time in the garden of my family house surrounded by the sight and smell of trees. The sun peeking through the branches and the occasional breeze of clean air helped me to feel comfortable and relaxed.

"Due to harsh weather conditions in the United Arab Emirates, there is a lack of outdoor seating that can actually be used in the summertime, which made me miss the feeling of being close to nature. In response, Purity Cafe creates the experience of being outdoors throughout the year inside an environmentally-controlled interior."

Email: 201409798@zu.ac.ae
Website: caceidexhibition2020/sadaa-almansoori

Enlightenment by Khawla Ahli

"As an interior designer, I believe my role is to design solutions that are both aesthetically pleasing and sustainable. This senior project represents both a futuristic and environmentally-conscious space. The design of Enlightenment implements new techniques in terms of space division and lighting design as well as its materials and colour scheme.

"Its atmosphere creates the illusion of living in the future while housing a future-focused academy that aims to educate students about how to plan and propose solutions to climate change by adopting new technologies."

Email: 201509798@zu.ac.ae
Website: caceidexhibition2020/maryam-tahir

The Flame by Najat Saif Albraiki

"As an interior designer, I've always been interested in human psychology, as well as studying the way human bodies move and occupy a space. I am committed to designing with sustainability in mind whenever possible and with a primary focus on clients' needs and visions.

"I attempt to design with a focus on the human interactions that will take place within a space and the functionality of the design at hand. My design proposal The Flame is a multipurpose space that allows young Emiratis to interact in a fun and safe environment."

Email: Najat.albraiki@outlook.com
Website: caceidexhibition2020/najat-saif-albraiki

Rahma by Amna Al Shamsi

"Mosques are iconic Islamic architectural features that have gone through a series of great transitions throughout history. They are places of worship and places were the community can gather for vital social interactions.

"Rahma is a mosque that is designed to offer services for the benefit of the local community, providing them with a calming and spiritual place. The project is situated at the Al Ain Mineral Water warehouse in Dubai hopes to serve the high number of low-income expats in the area while also challenging repetitive approaches to mosque design."

Difa'a by Afra Khalil Almalki

"Difa'a, which means warmth and cosiness, provides a safe, clean home to domestic animals in need. It's a home for pets! Most animal shelters place animals in cages instead of allowing them to move freely.

"But Difa'a is designed as a welcoming place for pet lovers, owners and those looking to adopt a pet. It includes a daycare, boarding service and playroom to create a positive environment."

Email: afralmalki@gmail.com
Website: caceidexhibition2020/zainab-ashoor

Coffee on Track by Zainab Ashoor Saeed

"DMX Motocross Club is a place where anyone interested in biking can practice and participate. I designed a three-story coffee shop made from repurposed shipping containers that were dumped on the site, stacking them on top of each other to create outdoor and indoor seating areas and an exhibition space.

"The proposal focuses on incorporating nature into the sandy surroundings, to give visitors a feeling of relaxation and help them feel energized after a long day on the tracks."

Email: 201307126@zu.ac.ae
Website: caceidexhibition2020/shamsa-al-mazrouei

Virtual Design Festival's student and schools initiative offers a simple and affordable platform for student and graduate groups to present their work during the coronavirus pandemic. Click here for more details.

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Fifteen architecture graduates from the American University in Dubai (AUD) present work addressing the living and working conditions of local labour workers and other pressing social concerns in this Virtual Design Festival school show.

The projects represent the final outcome of the Architectural Design Studio X part of the BArch course at the AUD's School of Architecture, Art and Design (SAAD).

A jury of international experts, as well as the wider AUD community, voted on the students' work, handing out awards in a series of categories including sustainable and innovative design.

Bachelor of Architecture, American University in Dubai

University: American University in Dubai
Course: BArch (ARCH502)
Studio: Architectural Design Studio X
Tutors: Anna Cornaro, Abdellatif Qamhaieh and Takeshi Maruyama

Course statement:

"This is a final capstone course in which students implement their thesis research by developing a project that incorporates all the principles of design, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of architectural design and evidence of professional capability.

"The final outcomes of the course are exhibited in a senior showcase, where a jury of experts is invited to vote. The 2020 Architecture Senior Showcase took place online between May 1 and May 3.

"A jury of 50 international experts, coming from the industry, academia and press, voted on the projects, declaring a first, second and third place as well as honourable mentions and design awards.

"Another series of awards involved the local and global community, including professors, alumni, faculty members and students, who voted directly on social media."

First place: Cohesion Labor Community Hub by Maya Roufail

"The project targets the alienation of the labour community from the city and the modern cosmopolitan society of Dubai. It is designed for a site centred between some of Dubai's earliest industrial districts – the Al Qouz industrial areas one to four.

"The project proposes reconnecting the four plots divided by the road intersection to create a floating frame that fosters integration, communal coherence and empowerment among the labour workers.

"The design reflects the character of the industrial context and the relationship between the four plots. It aspires to improve the wellbeing of the existing labour community by incorporating spaces for working and co-working, self-development and free time as well as a larger mosque."

Maya Roufail
Email: maya.roufail@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/cohesion

Second place: Coalescence by Nour Rouhana

"The project is comprised of multiple masses inserted into the Dhayah mountain. These are designed to house different heritage activities such as pearl diving, bird watching and mountain climbing to rejuvenate the past and surface it back to our present and future.

"The masses blend seamlessly into the topography while adding an element of linearity to the mountain’s geometry. A facade treatment of louvres and Corten steel is applied to give the illusion of lightness and camouflage the facade.

"As visitors travel upwards, the views continue to change from one landscape to another. Eventually, the journey leads the visitors to the top, where the forts stand tall overlooking the city."

Nour Rouhana
Email: nour.rouhana@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/coalescence

Third place: The Spaces In Between by Munira AlMulla

"Dubai's fragmented urban landscape has interrupted the connection between the built environment and the human soul.

"The rise of suburbanization has led to the abandonment of human-scale architecture and residents are in need of communal spaces. The lack of proximity between residential zones and public spaces has led to detachment, isolation and lack of walkability.

"As a response to those urban and social concerns, this project aims to revitalize Dubai’s neighbourhoods by using alleyways and other in-between spaces to create community hubs."

Munira AlMulla
Email: munira.almulla@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/spaces-in-between

Honourable mention: Resonance by Chaza Myriam Sandouk

"As the youngest child in my family, I developed a passion as a pianist to stem my loneliness. I believe that sound has an effect on humans on a spiritual and physical level. Hence, I decided to create an educational music institute.

"This project consists of four buildings divided into four functions – music, dance, art and common space – on top of several outdoor meditating spaces. Its shape was formulated based on sounds recorded in Dubai, from higher to lower frequencies.

"The roof consists of openings inspired by the pattern of the desert flower hymenocallis, which create a pattern of lights and shadows throughout the interior. The journey inside is intended to make people feel and see the sound rather than hear it."

Chaza Myriam Sandouk
Email: chaza.sandouk@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/resonance

Honourable mention: Flare by Abdelazim Abdelmoaty

"Dubai is a prominent and notable city that has great cultural values and raw resources. Through increased globalization, Dubai has transformed itself from being a fishing village to a modern metropolis.

"This has caused Dubai to lose its cultural identity. Despite being a global city with a huge economy, Dubai is also more dependant on the import market of the fishing industry than the export market to fulfil its requirements, which can cause an economic deficit.

"As a response to this dilemma I designed a fishing cultural centre, which would incorporate fish farming, entertainment and exhibitions. The aim is to solve the social, environmental and economical problems of Dubai in relation to the fishing industry."

Abdelazim Abdelmoaty
Email: abdelazim.abdelmoaty@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/flare

Innovative Design Award: The Nexus by Pouyan Mohammadi

"Nexus is a vision of humanity's lifestyle in the future. It emphasizes the integration of new technologies and explores how our transport system and homes could and should look.

"It not only improves the walkability of the city but also encourages people to use fewer cars. The project takes the evolution of living one step further and makes it more suitable to interact with the economy and time.

"Nexus was designed from the bottom up to target the basic needs of human beings and improve their daily lives. And it started as a project for every city."

Pouyan Mohammadi
Email: pouyan.mohammadi@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/nexus

Sustainable Design Award: Botanica by Mohamed ElKasery

"Botanica is a sustainable agriculture centre, which teaches people how to grow their own food. It is an innovative design proposal that fuses urban farming with education.

"The agricultural sector in the UAE is undergoing rapid changes. In order to use minimal water, modern irrigation systems and hydroponics are being increasingly employed. Farmers are decreasing in numbers, leading to a lack of organic food.

"The concept design is inspired by elements of nature and turns the UAE’s characteristic sand dunes into green space. The project will have a social, economic and environmental impact on the UAE by providing the country with a sustainable farming solution."

Mohamed ElKasery
Email: mohamed.elkasry@mymail.aud.edu
Project website:behance.net/gallery/botanica

Cultural Design Award: Marsa Alsahil by Obaid Salim AlSuwaidi

"Between the 1960s and 1970s, architecture in the UAE was reflective of bedouin, Islamic and Arabic culture and traditions. But with the onset of globalization, Dubai was transformed into an urban, westernized city.

"This project is located on the Dubai Creek, which was once home to many neighbourhoods. It proposes a new type of housing community, which integrates the old Emirati neighbourhood style with elements of traditional typology and architecture.

"Emirati architecture, which places importance on the environment, weather and socialising, is slowly fading. This structure foregrounds these elements and brings back the essence and the feeling of being in an old Emirati neighbourhood."

Obaid Salim AlSuwaidi
Email: obaid.alsuwaidi@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/marsa-alsahil

Community Design Award: Plug-in(s) by Nourelein Mohamed Amin

"Living in a shared dwelling is common among low-income workers around the world. It allows them to share facilities like kitchens, bathrooms and living rooms for a minimal cost. But often, these set-ups are classified as a type of informal housing.

"The aim of this project is to suggest a solution to this informal housing problem through a new housing typology. This combines the concepts of modularity and co-living in the hopes of creating a flexible co-living community that contributes to its neighbourhood.

"The typology relies on three main design concepts – modularity, flexibility and temporariness."

Nourelein Mohamed Amin
Email: noureleinashraf.amin@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/noureleina4c78

Faculty & Alumni Award: XYZ Connect by Christine Guirguis

"Connectivity is the primary way to reverse the social isolation experienced daily by the elderly. Nursing homes and retirement houses are often clinical and dull spaces where the ageing population is sent to wither away.

"The purpose of this project is to create a new typology for buildings, which improves the quality of life of the elderly while confronting the social taboo of traditional elderly homes.

"The project combines the typologies of assisted living, adult daycare and intergenerational spaces. It is located centrally, near educational zones and creates a hub of activities for different ages while establishing the facility as a place to volunteer and visit."

Christine Guirguis
Email: christine.rizkguirguis@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/xyz-connect

Professor Award, Dr. Anna Cornaro: Re-cultivate by Nada Yousif Husien

"The heritage and identity of the UAE lie within its historic roots in agriculture. But recent architectural developments have seen the roots harvested without re-cultivation. The shift towards sustainable agriculture can enrich and bring back this heritage to the community.

"Giving the urban community the opportunity to harvest and cultivate its own food will enrich their bond with the city. This connection is enhanced through programmes and activities that involve daily, physical farming practices such as cultivating vertical farms, gardens and private orchards for the residence.

"Connectivity is essential, providing public spaces for cultivating interactions and leading to a more diverse and successful agricultural community in the existing neighbourhood of Al Karama."

Nada Yousif Husien
Email: nada.husien@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/re-cultivate

Professor Award, Dr. Abdellatif Qamhaieh: Rooted by Aisha Ibrahim

"My proposal is to design a mangrove conservation, research and visitors centre. The aim of the project is to raise awareness of the important benefits of mangroves, to protect the species that live within it and to research innovative solutions to help them repopulate.

"The building's form is dictated by the need to protect the site from noise pollution while keeping the integrity of the site through the use of simple geometry."

Aisha Ibrahim
Email: aisha.ibrahim@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/rooted

Professor Award, Dr. Takeshi Maruyama: Cloning by Hassan Bacha 

"From the river in the sky above the Amazon to dust, diatom algae and the ice glaciers – these are the secrets to our oxygen supply. The desert we began in is the very one that ended up in the Amazon, showing how everything is linked and comes full circle.

"The main objective of the project is to design a replicated atmosphere space that is a clone of the outer-space atmosphere and environment. This will allow us to explore and experiment with its effect on building structure, materials and plants."

Hassan Bacha
Email address: hassan.bacha@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/cloning

Architecture Students Award: Vertere by Sandi Boutros

"The concepts of introversion and extroversion are also found in architecture. Vertere is an expression space that gives space for introverts and extroverts to share their ideas, express themselves, enrich society and form a hybrid connection among them.

"The concept is formed by studying the characteristics of introverts that are simple, pure and unique whereas extroverts are bold, expressive, outgoing and exposed. These traits characterize the project language of solid masses with exposed structures.

"Adaptable spaces, workshops and expression spaces allow the project to accommodate and adapt to different cultures and backgrounds."

Sandi Boutros
Email: sandi.boutros@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/vertere

People's Choice Award: Plug and Play Design by Faisal Al Abdulrazzaq

"With this project, I intend to change the way Kuwaitis purchase their first house.

"I've solved multiple problems that every Kuwaiti faces. Firstly, I created a way for them to be able to afford a house with only the amount that is handed to them with the housing loan from the Public Authority of Housing Welfare.

"I also created a house that can be expanded in the future if the family has more children."

Faisal Al Abdulrazzaq
Email: faisal.alabdulrazzaq@mymail.aud.edu
Project website: behance.net/gallery/plug-play-design

Virtual Design Festival's student and schools initiative offers a simple and affordable platform for student and graduate groups to present their work during the coronavirus pandemic. Click here for more details.

The post American University in Dubai architecture graduates tackle social issues in the UAE appeared first on Dezeen.

The newly opened ME Dubai hotel at the Opus by Zaha Hadid Architects features furniture by Zaha Hadid Design and curving sculptural balconies.

Set in Dubai's Burj Khalifa district, the Opus is a mirrored glass building occupied by a hotel, offices, serviced apartments and several restaurants.

Completed externally last year, the ME Dubai at the Opus is the only hotel in the world that can claim to have had both its exterior and interiors designed by the late Zaha Hadid.

Externally the building appears to be a giant cube with an amorphous hole pushing through its centre, although it is in fact a pair of towers connected at the top and bottom to create the void effect.

"The precise orthogonal geometries of the Opus' elemental glass cube contrast dramatically with the fluidity of the eight-storey void at its centre," explained Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) project director Christos Passas.

A four-storey atrium sits at the base of the two towers. Above the gap, a three-storey bridge starts 71 metres from the ground.

The inside of the void is lit up at night by a constellation of lights, each individually controllable, set into the undulating glass.

The ME Dubai hotel, which opened in March 2020, has 74 bedrooms and 19 suites.

Its lobby sits directly under the Opus' signature void, which forms its glass ceiling. Three stories of galleries with projecting balconies ring the perimeter of the space.

Gleaming white marble floors are highlighted by the golden edges of plush curved seating areas, upholstered in a rich burgundy.

Called Ottomans, these seating pods are by Zaha Hadid Design, the design wing of ZHA.

A golden wall curves behind the white hotel reception desks, which are angled and lit by strips of lighting that match the balconies above.

Slim golden edges top the glass balustrades of the balconies, which are set at an angle tilting back from the undulating edges.

Benches on the balconies, with deep navy cushions set in curving golden frames, are from Zaha Hadid Design's Petalinas collection.

Each hotel bedroom features a Zaha Hadid-designed bed, with a mattress that sits on a sculptural frame projecting from the wall.

In the bathroom, the sinks and showers come from Zaha Hadid's 2015 Vitae collection for Noken Porcelanosa.

Above some of the double sinks hang twin mirrors with curves that seem to match the Opus' central void.

As part of a drive for sustainability, the ME Dubai hotel makes every room plastic bottle-free, issuing every guest with their own stainless steel water bottle. Water dispensers are located all around the hotel.

In the dining areas there are no buffets, to cut down on food waste, and onsite composters digest organic waste.

Designs for the Opus were first unveiled in 2007 by Hadid, who died in 2016. It was originally due to complete in 2018, but was pushed back due to construction delays.

A recent video from the practice revealed an exhibition centre currently under construction on Unicorn Island in Chengdu, China.

Photography is by Laurian Ghinitoiu.

Project credits:

Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
Design: Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumacher, Christos Passas
ZHA design director: Christos Passas
Competition team: Christos Passas (Lead Designer), Paul Peyrer-Heimstaett, Alvin Huang, Daniel Baerlecken, Gemma Douglas, Saleem Al-Jalil
Design team (shell and core): Vincent Nowak (Project Architect), Dimitris Akritopoulos, Javier Ernesto-Lebie, Paul Peyrer-Heimstaett, Sylvia Georgiadou, Phivos Skroumbelos, Marilena Sophocleous, Chiara Ferrari, Thomas Frings, Jesus Garate, Wenyuan Peng
Base built supervision team: Fabian Hecker (Team Leader), Barbara Bochnak (Team Leader), Tomasz Starczewski, Kwanphil Cho, Bruno Pereira, Dimitris Kolonis
Hotel and apartment interior design team 1: Reza Esmaeeli, Bozana Komljenovic (Project Leads), Laura Micalizzi, Emily Rohrer (Senior Interior Designers), Veronika Ilinskaya, Eider Fernandez Eibar, Stella Nikolakaki, Bruno Pereira, Raul Forsoni, Thomas Frings, Chrysi Fradellou, Spyridon Kaprinis, Alexandra Fischer, Hendrik Rupp, Vivian Pashiali, Sofia Papageorgiou, Carlos Luna, Christos Sazos, Kwanphil Cho, Andri Shalou, Ben Kikkawa, Melhem Sfeir, Faten el Meri, Eleni Mente (Landscape Designer)
Hotel and apartment interior design team 2: Alessio Constantino (Project Lead), Sonia Renehan (Senior Interior Designer), Afsoon Es Haghi, Zsuzsanna Barat, Ekaterina Smirnova, Chafic Zerrouki, Nessma Al Ghoussein, Christina Christodoulidou
Bespoke Furniture Team: Maha Kutay (Project Director), Margarita Valova, Reza Esmaeeli, Raul Forsoni, Bruno Pereira, Carine Posner, Filipa Gomes
Project management: Gleeds [London], Omniyat [Dubai]
Local architects: Arex Consultants [Dubai], BSBG [Dubai]
Structural engineers: Whitbybird [London], BG&E [Dubai]
MEP engineers: Clarke Samadin [Dubai]
Facade engineers: Whitbybird [London], Agnes Koltay Facades [Dubai]
Lift consultants: Adam Scott, Roger Preston Dynamics [London], Lerch Bates [Dubai] Fire Engineering: Safe [London], Design Confidence [Dubai]
Acoustic consultants: PMK [Dubai]
Traffic consultants: Cansult Limited [Dubai], Al Tourath [Dubai]
Lighting consultants: Tim Downey, Isometrix [London], DPA [Dubai], Illuminate [Dubai] Interior Consultants: HBA [Dubai]
Security consultants: Control Risks [Dubai]
Kitchen consultants: MCTS [Dubai], AV Consultants EntireTech [Dubai]
QS consultants: HQS [Dubai]
Facade contractors: Brookfield Multiplex [London], Alu-Nasa [Dubai]
Hotel operator: Melia Hotels

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Expo 2020 Dubai will take place in 2021 after Bureau International des Expositions, the body that awards and overseas World Expos, voted to postpone the event due to coronavirus.

The fair will now open on 1 October 2021 and run until 31 March 2022, but will retain the name Expo 2020 Dubai.

Located on a 438-hectare area (1083 acres) site between Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the fair has been masterplanned by American architecture firm HOK.

It will feature 192 national pavilions, including Santiago Calatrava's design for the host nation and a structure by Es Devlin for the UK.

The Singapore pavilion is being designed by WOHA while the Dutch presence is by V8 Architecture. The US pavilion, by Fentress Architects, will feature a hyperloop simulator.

The vast site will feature a trio of 21-metre-high lattice entrance gates made of carbon fibre by British architect Asif Khan.

The expo is the first to be held in the Middle East and the largest event ever planned for the Arab world. It was originally scheduled to take place from October 20 2020 until April 10 2021.

The theme of the expo is Connecting Minds, Creating the Future, while the vast site will have zones dedicated to three subthemes: opportunity, mobility and sustainability.

Pavilions dedicated to the subthemes are being designed by Foster + Partners, BIG and Grimshaw.

Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) member states voted by a two-thirds majority on 4 May to postpone the event.

World Expos are held every five years. The last one was held in Milan, Italy in 2015. The 2010 expo took place in Shanghai, China. The first expo was The Great Exhibition, held in London in 1851.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the cancellation or postponement of events around the world, including the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the Venice Architecture Biennale, both of which will now take place in 2021.

For a full rundown of events impacted by Covid-19, see the dedicated page on Dezeen Event Guide.

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Dubai's Global Grad Show has announced an open call to universities and students for designs that address critical issues resulting from the coronavirus outbreak.

The call-out looks for design solutions to issues that have been highlighted by the coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak.

"Proposals must address collateral issues related to Covid-19," said the organisers of the Global Grad Show.

"Examples include improving the efficiency of self-quarantine, increase treatment capacity and screening methods, mitigate contagious behaviours individually and within groups, and enable collaborative efforts amongst private and public sectors."

Coronavirus is "uniting the world around a common concern"

The submissions will be assessed by a panel of experts in health, innovation and technology and those selected will each be awarded the equivalent of a year's university tuition fees.

"This initiative is our attempt to channel the intelligence and imagination of our partners to address a number of urgent, interconnected problems," said Brendan McGetrick, head of curation of the Global Grad Show and creative director of The Museum of the Future, which is currently under construction in Dubai.

"The Covid-19 pandemic has wide ranging impacts, from medical to economic to social to professional," he told Dezeen.

"But one of its most striking and potentially positive effects is in uniting the world around a common concern. Suddenly, we are more aware of the fragility of our lives and of life itself. This awareness opens up a possibility for new kinds of creativity, intelligence and care."

An acceleration programme will also be put in place to fund projects that have the potential to be produced and distributed at scale.

Students "are designing for post-crisis realities"

The Global Grad Show chose to focus its call for entries on the coronavirus as they believe that students and younger people have the potential to enact change, and expect that they will be the ones that need to make change happen.

"Partly out of frustration and partly out of pragmatism, more and more young designers are looking at issues like global pandemics and climate change as an inevitable fact of life," said McGetrick.

"They don't expect a solution, but instead assume that the current state of inaction will continue and that their lives will be defined partly by the economic, social and political fallout. In response, they are designing for post-crisis realities."

"Smaller scale solutions are vital"

McGetrick believes that small-scale solutions created by designers and student can have an impact on the world's larger issues, like the coronavirus outbreak or climate change.

"More and more it feels unrealistic to expect the unified governmental or international solutions that these problems seem to require," said McGetrick.

"The smaller scale solutions one finds coming from designers are vital – because they are not only original but also actionable," he added.

"A lot of the projects we feature are human scale, but address very large, essential issues of social and environmental good, which are essential for us to resolve and improve over the next 100 years."

Submissions to the Global Grad Show from undergraduates, graduates and professors from all academic institutions are open until 2 April. The selected projects would be announced online 16 April.

Designers and architects are already developing concepts that respond to the global coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than 200,000 people in over 180 countries.

Experience designer Bompas & Parr launched a competition to rethink hand sanitisers and raise money for charity, while Italian additive manufacturing start-up Isinnova 3D printed a crucial valve for a ventilator and a group of Chinese designers devised products for protection against the virus.

Image is of Frank Chou's Sterilising Lamp, which was designed in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

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IJP Architects and structural engineer AKT II have unveiled visuals for a two-storey bridge that will be built beside Santiago Calatrava's Dubai Creek Tower in the UAE.

Named Dubai Creek Footbridge, it has been designed by IJP Architects and AKT II with a 145-metre-span over the man-made canal in Dubai Creek Harbour.

It will be composed of a decorative web of steel that evokes traditional Islamic geometric patterns, to create a throughway and "Instagram-ready" viewpoint to the world's tallest structure.

The intention is for it to be as slender and light as possible, complementing the form of the Dubai Creek Tower rather than distracting from it.

"Santiago Calatrava’s Dubai Creek Tower, itself a stayed pylon, needed no competition," said George Legendre and Tim Fu of IJP Architects.

"A lightweight arched truss offered the simplest urban massing, for the maximum opportunity to impress," the pair told Dezeen.

"The bridge is entirely designed around the gradual discovery of its towering neighbour. The emergence of the public stair onto the upper deck is designed like a camera aperture framing its subject – 'Instagram-ready'."

Once complete, the two-storey Dubai Creek Footbridge will provide visitors with views of the surrounding city and also Dubai Creek Tower on both levels.

Its lower level is intended for pedestrians and provides shade from the sun, while the upper deck will be primarily used as a route for golf carts and cyclists.

The bridge will have a truss arch structure, composed of a web of high-strength steel. A truss arch is a type of structure in which all its horizontal forces are contained within the arch itself.

This was engineered to minimise the size of all its exposed structural members as far as possible, and ensure that the bridge has a slender aesthetic.

"A lightweight arched truss offered the simplest urban massing, for the maximum opportunity to impress," explained Legendre and Fu.

"To achieve the slenderness the bridge required we couldn’t use traditional mild steel," added AKT II's Paul Hutter.

"Therefore we based our competition design on high strength steels. This solution dramatically reduced the steel tonnage, produced a more efficient design and reduced the member sizes so they could be as slender as possible."

Elements of this structure have also been developed to help enhance the star-shaped pattern across its deck that references traditional mashrabiyas –  a type of carved latticework screen – and ornamented vaulted ceilings called muqarnas found in Islamic architecture.

According to Legendre and Fu, this combination of traditional architecture and a contemporary steel structure marries the modernity and tradition of found in Dubai today – "expressing the continuity between the cultural past and present".

IJP Architects and AKT II's design was a winning entry to a competition for the bridge held by UAE Real estate company Emaar. Apart from basic requirements and a site plan, no other background information was made available to those submitting for the competition.

Spanish architect Calatrava's Dubai Creek Tower is expected to surpass the 828-metre-high Burj Khalifa. It will feature rotating balconies, vertiginous observation decks and elevated gardens.

According to the team, the structure's curved profile is modelled on the lily flower and the minarets that are typical of traditional Islamic architecture.

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