
Mixed-Use Residential & Commercial Building
- Al Samha, Abu Dhabi
- Architecture
- Commercial
Overview
A corner building that puts retail and services on the street frontage and residential floors above, with the two uses separated on the elevation by a single continuous line rather than by a change of language.
Presentation sheet
The presentation sheet as issued — floor plans, zoning and circulation diagrams, form development, section and material palette.

Design narrative
The corner is where the building has to work hardest, so it is where the plan puts the entrance, the deepest recess and the tallest glazing. Everything else on the two street elevations repeats quietly from there.
Residential floors are set out on a single structural bay that runs the length of the building. That bay sets the window width, the balcony width and the shop-front module below, which is why the elevation stays regular across a change of use.
Limestone cladding, a wood-tone finish at the openings and a dark metal frame at the base: three materials, each doing one job, coordinated with the authority submission from the first drawing rather than the last.
Materials

Limestone cladding

Wood tone finish

Dark metal finish

Glass

Vertical screen
- Architecture, structural design, authority submission, MEP coordination
- Design development
- Private client
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