A $54m commercial and residential project in Abu Dhabi which is inspired by artefacts and elements of the Islamic world has been launched at Cityscape Abu Dhabi.
Kuwait-based Wafra Real Estate Company is using the four-day real estate event, which runs until Wednesday 25th April at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, to introduce the project to thousands of industry professionals.
Located on Reem Island, the project will have courtyards, mashrabiyas and elevated gardens as its key design aspects, to depict the intricacies of Islamic architecture and showcase the underlying Islamic values of privacy and spirit.
“The project is divided into two plots and is spread over a site area of 7,147m2 with a maximum of seven floors above ground level allocated for office use and 4,150 square metres with 35 floors allocated for residential use,” said Ahmed Al-Subih, marketing head of Wafra Real Estate Company.
“The fundamental organising element to most urban planned buildings and projects in the Islamic world was the courtyard; while the importance of a courtyard is to create an open space in the centre, we have attempted to create it as an object surrounded by the building programme.”
The project is planning to further realise this Islamic theme through patterned mashrabiyas which will adorn the exterior facade of the buildings. Gardens will also be introduced throughout the buildings to provide a cleaner and healthier roof level condition.
“The project is progressing at a rapid pace, with the licensing for the commercial complex complete and the residential license in its final stages, we hope to begin construction by the end of 2012,” added Al-Subih.
Meanwhile Reem Investments, another major Abu Dhabi based developer at this year’s Cityscape Abu Dhabi, is launching a new self storage facility in the heart of their emerging Rawdhat community development on Airport Road.
The self storage facility, known as ‘redbox’, will provide short and long-term, climate-controlled secure storage options accessible to customers 24 hours a day. Available spaces range from 2.3m ² to 27.9m ² and customers will only pay for the space they need.
“Reem Investments is always looking at enhancing the lifestyle in our developments. We have identified self storage, a common feature of most developed capital cities, as another special offering to people who live in and around our Rawdhat development,” said Bambang Sugeng Bin Kajairi, Chief Executive Officer at Reem Investments.
“This is the only high quality self storage of its kind on Abu Dhabi island and we are receiving enquiries now from commercial entities and individuals in the capital with a plan to open the facility in the last quarter of 2012.”
