Al Khabeesi headquarters commercial and office building is the fifty-three article on architecture projects from practice. This project’s architectural design was completed in 2010 in the capital of UAE. The project was transferred for licensing in another city due to its location. Our consultancy firm signed an agreement with the consultant and the client to take off the building permit and planning approval with all its modifications. Construction was completed at the end of 2011. The project was designed to be an office and commercial building. The unique character of this design was it was easily modified into a bank headquarters of a famous brand in the country (FAB). The building is a commercial and office multistory building in the Al Khabeesi area. It is composed of two basement floors, a ground floor, four typical floors, and a roof floor. The architectural design is from the international style of architecture in terms of external form. I took the responsibility of architectural design development and coordination with other team members to complete the architectural design building permit approval in 2010. Managed some critical issues of the regulations for changing the function from office and commercial building to specific type of function a bank. The bank function requires specific functional requirements that fit its function in terms of security and easy operations. This area, Al Khabeesi was a newly planned area composed of industrial buildings of ground and mezzanine and one floor. In late 2010 the planning rules allowed on the main roads office buildings in some sectors of the area and residential in other sectors. The building heights are defined as ground plus four to five stories. The area is at the boundary of an airport development that is still expanding to date. See Figures 1 and 2 external photos of the project from the front road and backside road.
As apparent from the two project photos, the building’s architectural design is similar and identical on both sides and differs from the backside elevation. The area population is moderate-income people and it’s an attractive zone for tourists and foreigners to live in because of its proximity to the center of the city and most of the important facilities like the metro, the malls, and commercial units.
The basement floor is designed to fulfill the requirements for the car parking lots. Every 500 Sqft of the commercial area should have one parking lot. The basement and large areas of the ground floor were designed for that requirement. Due to a shortage of floor area in basement 1, the requirements for the car parking lots were placed in the second basement, and some of the services were shifted to the top roof floor. See Figure 3 basement one-floor plan.
Most of the service functions preferred that the consultant design it on the ground floor. As a general regulation, all setbacks should not include any function or building. In this project, as the regulation permits the electrical substation and LV room were located in the setback adding to that the ramp going to the basement floor. See Figure 4, the ground floor plan showing all the service functions. As apparent on the ground floor plan a space was designed to include a shopping area (supermarket or showroom).
The mezzanine floor is a typical floor of the upper floors but because it includes a building entrance and foyer for visitors there is a requirement for providing services for visitors, toilets-wash-and prayer room, and the remaining functional divisions are typical offices with their services inside. See Figure 5, the mezzanine floor plan. The first floor is identical to the mezzanine floor in terms of architectural design, but the difference is the prayer room area became a dining area for the building including its services. See Figure 6, the first-floor plan of the building.
The typical floors, 4 floors, are identical in architectural design. The typical floor is symmetrical in two directions, the x and y direction, and minor change in the area of vertical circulation. In the central area of the building is the core vertical circulation area including two elevators, as per calculation for the building, a staircase for internal movement, and a fire exit. See Figure 7 the typical floor plan of the project.
The common practice to include in the architectural design of any commercial building project, if allowable, is a service floor to fit in all the mechanical equipment’s and related components. The alternative solution is to have a roof floor that includes all services of electromechanical equipment’s and related components. In this project, the mechanical equipment’s occupied the roof floor due to a shortage of areas.
The front elevation shows the entrance and services functional design within the elevation design. The clear architectural language of the external face of the service room is presented in aluminum louvers shown in the elevation design drawing as well as the main entrance. The simple and clear functional indications in the elevation give easy access to the building for tenants and visitors. The front elevation is different than the other building elevations and it follows the international style architecture. See Figure 8 the front elevation of the project.
The CAD sketch section shows various architectural design matters. The floor height required for the ramps for the basement, the backside car park entrance to the basement, the air well and its required dimensions, the architectural features of the roof, the car park arrangement of the basement floors, and the roof deck at the top roof. See Figure 9, the project section.
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