Neoclassicism to international architecture building design is the Fourth article on architecture projects from practice. The project is located in the Al Muraqqabat area in UAE the second oldest area in the city. The area planning was modernized in terms of infrastructure and road networks. Adding to that the new metro links the area to all the city sectors. The area was planned and regulated to include low-rise buildings of ground and three floors without including any internal parking. In the subsequent years, the planning department of the city allowed owners to go higher and permitted them to construct buildings up to the ground and five floors including internal parking. The area planning permission is for residential, hotel apartments, and hotels. On the main roads commercial frontage is allowed with residential buildings only. In recent years the planning authorities permitted owners to go higher in construction up to ground and ten floors.
The area was built at the beginning of the late 1980s and it does not have a specific character in terms of building architecture design. Owner’s object to any loss of areas for architectural purposes and instruct and request the consultancy firms to utilize the plot area at maximum. The architecture of the building design does not follow a specific architectural style. The building architecture appears in its simplest form of having strips of balconies with normal windows. For commercial buildings, most of them have curtain walls in some areas and flat façade that do not relate to any architectural style. The buildings in this area are set for development by locals only and foreigners are prohibited from investing or developing in this area while there are many other areas far from the city center in the freehold areas for all nationalities.
The owner is a local holding a degree in engineering from the old generation and he is the sponsor of the consultancy firm that was responsible for the consultancy contract. The architectural design of this building started at the beginning of 2013 and the building and planning permission was obtained after the completion but was kept on hold due to less funding. The construction started in 2020 and is nearly completed these days as illustrated in the photo from the site.
The building was a proposal of a basement and ground floor parking floors seven upper floors and a gym floor. The concept design started as a hotel apartment and was designed and completed but after running the cost estimate the owner changed his mind due to the high construction cost. Adding to that the planning authorities demand certain regulations for these types of functions that increase the cost of construction and operation requirements. The firm proceeded to the architectural design of the building but was considered a residential building.
The owner demanded the firm utilize the area at the maximum and avoid complex architectural forms and that made the architectural design more challenging, but the result was a mix of two architectural styles the neoclassical and international styles.
As shown on the ground floor the architectural design incorporated the planning regulations for setbacks on all sides of the plot and no built-up area exists. The only permitted function within the setback is the driveway and ramps up and down to the basement. Adding to that the services rooms of electrical substation and low voltage room and watchman room with related services. The ground floor has a luxurious entrance with marble finish and gypsum work plus elevators and staircases.
On the second and typical floors, the building footprint follows the regulation’s requirements of setbacks as illustrated in the green dashed line. The firm incorporated the client demand of utilizing the area by eliminating the balcony design in all the flat of the floors. The typical floor consists of seven flats which of two are one-bedroom flats and the remaining are two-bedroom flats to maximize revenue from rents.
The planning authority allowed in recent years to include a gym floor and swimming pool on top of the permitted height of the plot. This is to give attraction to the building and brings more tenants because of these faculties people will have a desire to rent these flats and also to add price value to the rents because this regulation of having a gym and swimming pool floor was added in recent years. The gym floor is shown below.
Now, the external form is composed of two styles the neoclassical style simulating some classical details from the Renaissance architecture in the parapet, and columns in the façade. Adding to that a simulation of the international style exists on the second floor by covering the floor surrounded by an external curtain wall. The back and side elevation to Sikka has normal facades of plaster render and paint. As illustrated in the plans and the photo from the site under construction below.
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