Practice Update
July 2011
Manarat Al Saadiyat completed, enhancement of sales areas
Work has now been completed on the Manarat Al Saadiyat Project on Saadiyat Island with AEDAS architects for TDIC, with the building holding a series of art exhibitions including a modern art collection with the famous pop art picture of Marylyn Monroe, by Andy Warhol, making an appearance.
The perimeter and car park semi-desert landscape using low irrigation plants, gravels and in particular native ghaff trees is now establishing well and our design approach is becoming more clearly evident.
ASTF continued to work on a series of enhancements to the project which have been designed and carried out because the site is now also being used as a sales venue for prospective purchasers of the adjacent villa development.
The Saadiyat Story Exhibition in Manarat Al Saadiyat has since been voted the ‘Best Leisure Development in the Arab Achievement Awards’ in 2010 whilst Saadiyat Island itself was awarded the ‘Middle East’s Leading Tourism Development Project by the 2009 Word Travel Awards’.
Formal Entrance Plaza with shaded walkway from car park
Manarat Al Saadiyat article
ASTF were pleased to receive praise for our work in last year’s Christmas day edition of the National newspaper in an article called “Best of the Best” by journalist/landscape architect Nick Leech, describing the scheme as “richly detailed and contemporary landscape from a humble palette of concrete blocks, cobbles, kerbs and readily available low water demand plants”. The project indeed had a modest budget for its size and the palette of materials was definitely limited by the tight programme as well as cost. Photographs of the completed project are shown in the Projects Section of the website.
National Newspaper article December 25th 2010
Fanr Restaurant completion
The final piece of the jigsaw for the project at Manarat Al Saadiyat was the re-design of the Restaurant area which included the design of a water feature which the client wanted to resemble the traditional ‘falaj’ or irrigation channel typical of the Middle Eastern region. Maximum noise from water was the brief but the client was persuaded to modify this based on the potential to drown out any potential conversation and the overriding cost of pumping huge amounts of water. The result was a series of uplit cascades which used minimum water volume but created movement, noise and flickering light effects more suitable for its context.
Fanr Restaurant completed in January 2011
New staff
Phil Allen joined our team in April from the UK. He is overseeing a landscape team responsible for the implementation of the Al Muneera, Khor Al Raha project, which forms part of the significant 43 km waterfront city of Al Raha Beach in Abu Dhabi for Aldar. ASTF are appointed as landscape sub-consultants to Waterman Middle East, who are both engineers and executive architects on the project, the concept architects being SCDA in Singapore.
With a labour force of over 12,000 workers, this extremely complex and challenging project consists of an island and mainland separated by a seawater canal covering a 50 acre site, that overlooks Yas Island and the world-famous Formula 1 circuit. Al Muneera consists of water-linked gardens, courtyards, promenades and contemporary public plazas, furnished with a rich tapestry of nearly 100,000 palms, trees, shrubs and groundcover plants.
Phil’s special interest and past experience is in the hospitality and tourism sectors, in which ASTF has recently gained valuable experience in the UAE and elsewhere in the region.
He has 15 years of International experience in the fields of Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Landscape Masterplanning. His body of work includes the design of over 30 retail, leisure, hospitality, mixed-use, residential, health and education projects, across over 12 countries throughout the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Al Raha Beach in Abu Dhabi indicating Al Muneera site at Khor Al Raha
Al Muneera Site towards Yas Island and the future Formula 1 facilities, March 2008
Aerial View of Al Muneera site (Image by architects)
Al Muneera beach front area looking towards Yas Island Formula 1 circuit facilities and hotels
Work being carried out and inspected at Al Muneera
Other projects
ASTF continues to work on the landscape masterplan concept with Aedas Architect masterplanners in Dubai, for a significant large scale residential settlement development project in Afghanistan, which we hope will move forward later this year towards schematic design, design development and construction documentation. The scope of our work will include hard and soft landscape as well as irrigation, signage and wayfinding, external lighting and water features which we will achieve through our team of established specialist sub-consultants.
Other current projects include a new Five Star Hotel and Restaurant near the Corniche in Abu Dhabi, redevelopment of the Moevenpick in Dubai, large private residence in Muscat and Leisure Villas project in Salalah.
New prospects
ASTF continues to work and/or bid for work in the UAE other Gulf Cooperation Council Countries including Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the Levant and others in the MENA region such as Egypt and Algeria. We also have bid for work as far afield as Jordan, Kazakhstan, India and Armenia and continue to cooperate with The Terra Firma Consultancy Ltd our parent company in the UK who last year celebrated its 25th birthday.
