Qasr Al Muwaiji Garden

IGA Role: Landscape design & Supervision

Collaborations: Architectural Design by Machado and Silvetti Associates, Boston

Location: Al Ain, UAE

Al Muwaiji Fort is a historic site of great importance within the city of Al Ain. In order to pre- serve it as part of Al Ain’s architectural heritage, new uses are proposed which incorporate the Fort into the living structure of the city and guarantee its long-term future.

The site, which is to be developed as the Gulf Research and Exhibition Center dedicated to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed and providing access to collections related to Gulf History, will therefore have its 35.000m2 surrounding palm grove landscaped into a public garden.

The outdoor extension of the Center carries as much history as its indoor spaces and should reflect the inspiration of the traditional context.

With an approach that is sympathetic and respectful of the history and architecture of the Old Fort and its surrounding, the landscape design proposes to:

• Preserve the idea of a serene and bucolic grove of date palms which not only offers a poetic transition from the activity of the surrounding modern city but serves as a camouflage screen on which the design of the new architectural extension depends.

• Adopt the same components and characteristics of the traditional architectural language in a new interpretation that responds to the needs of the new program and the adaptive reuse.

• Reintroduce the traditional landscape practices and initiate the visitors on the Falaj irrigation system, the different layers of plantation created with and below the palm trees which provide a micro-climate of a different sunlight intensity, shade and temperature.