The new headquarters combines architecture, engineering,
and workplace design to create a highly connected environment centered
on collaboration, employee experience, and sustainability.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has been appointed as lead architect
for Dubai Holding’s new headquarters in the heart of Dubai, adjacent to
the Jumeirah Emirates Towers and Museum of the Future. Conceived as a
highly connected corporate environment, the headquarters will bring
Dubai Holding’s businesses together in a workplace built around
collaboration, sustainability, and employee wellbeing.
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Located in one of Dubai’s
most prominent commercial districts, the headquarters responds to its
urban setting through a distinctive circular form, while creating a new
architectural presence alongside some of the city’s most recognizable
landmarks.
At the center of the design is an open-air atrium and landscaped
courtyard. Workplaces, terraces and shared spaces extend outward from
the atrium, encouraging greater interaction and collaboration across
Dubai Holding’s businesses. The building’s form, facade, and landscape
have all been rigorously designed to respond to Dubai’s climate,
balancing daylight, shading, and occupant comfort.
"We are creating a headquarters whose form grows directly from the way
it will be occupied—from the gardens and shared spaces at its center to
the workplaces that radiate around them,” said Design Partner Chris
Cooper. “The result is a building that brings together an unusually
ambitious structural idea with a highly human experience, while
responding directly to the light, climate, and character of Dubai.”
The headquarters is conceived as a fully integrated workplace that uses
architecture to strengthen connections between teams while providing
flexibility across individual working environments. Employee wellbeing,
sustainability and technology are central to the design, reflecting
Dubai Holding’s ambition to create a future-focused workplace designed
around its people.
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“SOM’s design translates
our ambition into a workplace that is distinctive in its architecture
and, most importantly, designed around the experience of our people,
said Amit Kaushal, Group Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Holding. "We
want this to be a place that supports how we work today while giving us
the flexibility to continue evolving for many years to come.”
SOM is leading the architecture, structural engineering, and interior
design of the headquarters through an interdisciplinary approach that
mirrors Dubai Holding’s vision for integration and connectivity. The
building’s circular form and structural design enable open, connected
spaces throughout the workplace, while allowing the surrounding
landscape and arrival experience to flow around and beneath the building.
The building’s facade, designed in collaboration with James Carpenter,
has been shaped to respond to Dubai’s climate, balancing shading,
daylight, and views across the city.
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The new headquarters has
been designed to support employee wellbeing, resource efficiency, and
long-term building performance. A sequence of gardens, sculpted
landforms, and walkways—designed in collaboration with Field Operations—connects
the headquarters to the surrounding district, and extends into the
building through elevated garden terraces and outdoor spaces. Together,
the architecture, building systems, and landscape create a workplace
responsive to the city’s environmental conditions, reflecting Dubai
Holding’s commitment to sustainable development.
About Dubai Holding
Dubai Holding is a diversified global investment company with
investments in more than 30 countries and a combined workforce of more
than 45,000 people. Established in 2004, Dubai Holding reaches millions
of Dubai residents and visitors through its extensive portfolio of over
AED 500 billion worth of assets that support the diversification and
sustainable growth of Dubai’s economy across 10 key sectors, including
real estate, hospitality, entertainment, retail, media and investments.
Learn more:
www.dubaiholding.com
Release
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Chicago, Illinois, USA
