January 2023

MIDDLE EAST

EDITOR’S NOTE

In typical Dubai fashion, 2023 kicked off in high gear with one of the world’s most iconic ultra-luxury hotels opening in the emirate to much fan-fare. We spoke to the Landscape architecture firms behind the famed Atlantis The Royal ahead of the big reveal to hear about the challenges and design processes involved in landscaping this mega project, which had its opening date delayed by two years due to the pandemic (to the benefit of the landscape). See page 14

Also in this issue, we gain insight into what it takes to build a career in this industry with an interview with George El Khoury, senior project manager for landscaping at U&A, an architecture and urban planning firm in the UAE.

Beyond our regional and local coverage, we transverse to the ends of the earth to learn more about landscapes from around the world. Peatlands in Península Mitre is located at the southernmost city in the world in southern Argentina. It is an invaluable natural carbon sink now designated as a Natural Protected Area. 20,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), these lands were covered by ice and while the landscape is still harsh to this day, it’s also exceptionally beautiful. Learn more on page 34.

We’ve included project proposals from architecture firm Luca Curci Architects, in collaboration with Tim Fu Design, who have designed Floating City, a project proposal for a sustainable floating city for 50,000 people. The project has been conceived by an international team of architects and designers with the support of Artificial Intelligence and aims to provide a solution to coastal cities in the face of climate change. See page 30

SYSTRA Dubai also share their proposal with us for an Indian Garden of Peace, part of the Art et jardins I Hauts-de-France in Amiens, France. The creation would be a Remembrance Trail around the Gardens of Peace in the Hauts-deFrance region for the soldiers who fought for France in World War I.

Enjoy the issue!

Please email us admin@landscape-me.com if you would like to have your company’s landscape projects featured in the magazine.

Managing Partner: Ziad Maarouf Amine

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Administrative Assistance: Sarry Gan

Art Director: Ramon Andaya

Contributors: Jimena Martignoni, George El Khoury, Natasha Smith, Parin Shah, Kerstin Schöpker, Supatsorn

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Dubai Municipality opens registration for the Most Beautiful Green Front Yard Competition

Dubai Municipality has opened the registration for the Most Beautiful Green Front Yard Competition that aims to promote aesthetic gardening culture and encourage people to preserve and care for the beauty of their residential areas by utilising outdoor spaces and planting in front of their homes. This initiative aligns with the Municipality’s goals to encourage social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and community involvement.

Registration Period

Registration is open until February 28, following which a period will be allocated for the yards to be prepared and applications to be finished. Following evaluation, winners will be declared in April 2023. Winners of the contest will get prizes of up to AED 100,000 (AED 50,000 for the first place, AED 30,000 for second, and AED 20,000 for third).

The Municipality has further established guidelines for participation. These prerequisites include: the property

owner or tenant must be a resident of the Emirate of Dubai; obtaining a no-objection certificate from RTA to cultivate in the area in front of the house; participant approval for jury visit and photography of the garden site; participant approval for publishing pictures and videos on social media channels and on various other media; and registering for the competition through the Dubai Municipality website. The application for registrations are available at www.dm.gov.ae.

Participati on Criteria

Dubai Municipality has set certain criteria for evaluating the participants. The first is related to the aesthetics of the design, so that the plant and non-plant elements are consistent, varied, and of different lengths and colors in an aesthetic way, in addition to the availability of night lighting. While the second criterion from the technical side provides for the employment of creative ideas, the use of innovative techniques and unconventional

scientific methods, and the provision of a sustainable irrigation system that does not affect service lines and pedestrian traffic.

In order to maintain the aesthetic design in terms of harmony and homogeneity in design lines and type of elements and variety of length and colour of plant and non-plant elements and nightlights, Dubai Municipality has also established assessment standards to examine the applications. Furthermore, the Municipality will ensure that the technical features that utilise original concepts, innovative tools, cutting-edge technologies, unconventional scientific approaches, as well as a sustainable irrigation system do not interfere with services or pedestrian mobility.

The third factor that the Municipality will consider is the environmental element, which includes preserving environmental sustainability through rational use of water and the use of renewable energy. This aspect further specifies the effects of vegetarian foods, trees, and cultivating local plants. The fourth criterion emphasises the social aspect of a yard’s appeal for recreation or agriculture.

The competition aims at promoting aesthetics of streets and green areas by encouraging the community to care for front yards, along with boosting the demand for plants from the nurseries and usage of recycled water.

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SOME OF THE BEST PERFORMERS ARE ON THE FIELD BEFORE THE MATCH EVEN STARTS

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS AIM FOR ZERO EMISSIONS BY 2040

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Announces New Industry-wide Benchmarks to Address Climate Change and Biodiversity Crises

The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) has set new goals for the profession. Together the ASLA Climate Action Plan and the Climate Action Field Guide for ASLA Members chart a pathway for landscape architects to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions in their projects and operations and increase carbon sequestration by 2040.

The Climate Action Plan was developed by a high-profile Task Force of five landscape architects chaired by Pamela Conrad, ASLA, founder of Climate Positive Design, and a 17-member Advisory Group. It outlines a bold vision for 2040 and a set of 71 actions to be taken by 2025.

By 2040, all landscape architecture projects will simultaneously:

Achieve zero embodied and operational emissions and increase carbon sequestration

Provide significant economic benefits in the form of measurable ecosystem services, health cobenefits, sequestration, and green jobs.

Address climate injustices, empower communities, and increase equitable distribution of climate investments

Restore ecosystems and increase and protect biodiversity

“Landscape architects are already helping communities achieve this vision. As we increasingly experience the impacts of the climate and biodiversity crises, we know we need to act faster. We are the only design professionals who bring all the pieces together to plan and design what communities need to prepare themselves for a changing world,” said ASLA President Eugenia Martin, FASLA.

“ASLA has developed its first Climate Action Plan in the spirit of great optimism. We envision communities becoming healthier and economically stronger because they have committed to drawing down carbon, restoring ecosystems and

increasing biodiversity, and reducing reliance on vehicles – all while ensuring everyone in their community has equitable access to these benefits,” said ASLA CEO Torey Carter-Conneen.

The ASLA Climate Action Plan is based in science. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has found humanity can only put a maximum of 340 more gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere if we want a good chance of only increasing temperatures by 1.5° C (2.7° Fahrenheit), instead of 2° C (3.6° Fahrenheit). To advance the goal of keeping warming to 1.5° C, ASLA signed on to the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) Climate Action Commitment in 2021. The commitment was presented at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland and is supported by 70,000 landscape architects in 77 countries

The ASLA Climate Action Plan is rooted in the three goals (practice, equity, and advocacy) and six initiatives of IFLA Climate Action Commitment.

The ASLA plan will direct all ASLA programs and investments through 2025. Goals will be advanced through 21 objectives and 71 actions. Goals and actions will be revisited and updated in 2025 and every five years until 2040 and beyond.

To accomplish the plan, ASLA, as a non-profit association, has also committed to achieving zero emissions in its operations by 2040. ASLA is calculating baseline Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for its 2022 Conference on Landscape Architecture in San Francisco and headquarters operations in Washington, D.C. and has committed to reducing its overall emissions by 20% by 2024. ASLA will use its own journey to zero as a learning opportunity for its members, EXPO exhibitors, and partner organizations.

Aldar Properties, in partnership with Diamond Developers, has launched

The Sustainable City

a sustainability-centric community offering a new way of life for Abu Dhabi residents.

The family-friendly development, which builds on the strengths of The Sustainable City – Dubai, is a walkable community in the surrounds of open green spaces, leisurely walkways, and community farming plots.

The project is underpinned by a central green spine that runs the length of the community, featuring parks, lakes, and biodomes where vegetables will be grown and distributed throughout the community.

Jonathan Emery, CEO at Aldar Development said: “The Sustainable City – Yas Island is a landmark project for Aldar, reflecting our commitment to provide an increasingly diverse range of curated living experiences that our local and overseas customers tell us they want to live and invest in.

“This new community is a hugely powerful response to the strong demand we see for a more sustainable way of living, with the emergence of a more environmentally conscious customer group who seek a natural lifestyle experience that focuses on low carbon emissions, energy conservation, and the fundamental principles of a circular economy.”

He added: “The community will be brought to life in partnership with Diamond Developers, experts in the creation and management of sustainable cities, and champions of placemaking and a low-carbon future.

With a strong focus on enabling an active community, The Sustainably City – Yas Island will also be home to a range of communal facilities and amenities, including an equestrian centre with stables, a track and two arenas, a gym and multiple pools, cycling and jogging tracks, football, basketball and padel courts, retail and F&B outlets, and more.

Within this low-emissions community, a network of communal battery-charged buggies and bicycles will be available so that residents and visitors can move around while their cars remain parked on the outer edge of the development.

The community’s design philosophy has a focus on increasing walkability and accessibility at all levels.

Jubail Island introduces vibrant new destination surrounded by nature:

ISLAND LIFE WITHIN A STONE’S THROW OF ABU DHABI

The Souk – Jubail Island’s modern and vibrant destination constructed by Lead development, is the connecting hub for the six villages on Jubail island, it will provide residents with a central hub that combines wellbeing, connectivity, leisure, retail and commercial services – a destination like any other. Away from the hustle and bustle of the capital, The Souk captures the essence of community life on the island and is the perfect haven to enjoy a relaxed lifestyle with family and friends, through sports and wellbeing activities across the parks, swimming pools, sports facilities and play areas for children. The Souk’s prime location will also provide increased connectivity to other destinations on the island, such as Jubail Mangrove Park, Jubail Beach Club, and the Marina.

The Souk is unique in that it contains an integrated set of service and entertainment facilities with designs that blur the boundaries between architecture and nature, guaranteeing absolute comfort and convenience for residents. The central hub includes a mosque, nursery, specialized clinic, sports gym, supermarket, and restaurants. Located at the town center, the Souk also provides offices and commercial services with distinctive creative spaces.

Offering complete enjoyment and luxury living, The Souk provides residents with the opportunity to own a property in a vibrant destination situated among breathtaking nature, overlooking picturesque sea views and with the convenience of first-class facilities at the doorstep. The Souk offers stunning options for potential buyers – from all nationalities – with a wide range of luxury housing units distributed over low-rise buildings consisting of three or four floors

known as Jubail Terraces, which contain apartments with a variety of options of studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, in addition to the duplexes.

As well as the exceptional location which combines the lively atmosphere of the city with the tranquility of nature, the Jubail Terraces residential units are characterized by their modern architectural designs, created in harmony with the natural surroundings. This is combined with spacious interiors, and wide terraces overlooking the stunning skyline of Abu Dhabi as well as the town center.

“The launch of The Souk community brings another unique addition to Jubail Island, through which we seek to integrate a high-quality and sustainable way of life for residents and visitors alike to experience. Thanks to its prime location situated at the main gate of Jubail Island, and containing all the convenient elements for living, work and entertainment, The Souk will be a major destination that redefines the living experience for residents of the island.” explained Mahmoud Dandashly, Chief Business Officer of Lead Development.

The AED10 billion Jubail Island, a project developed and managed by LEAD Development, will be home to an idyllic collection of six residential village estates located between Yas Island and Saadiyat Island.

Nestled among the breath-taking natural beauty and rich biodiversity of the mangroves, the landmark community will offer residents every convenience and amenity, seamlessly blending sustainable living, luxury and wellness in an iconic new addition to Abu Dhabi’s real estate landscape.

INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE EL KHOURY

Can you please give us a brief about your educational background and your experience in the GCC area?

I graduated in 2003 from the Lebanese university in Beirut as an agricultural engineer and later obtained my master’s degree in landscape architecture. I served my mandatory military service before I traveled to Dubai in 2005, to start my career as a junior landscape architect. As Dubai was booming in 2007, I set up my own contracting company starting out small at first, and then as my experience grew in the region, I moved to a bigger contracting organization before moving into the consultancy field, where I still am today working with U+A.

When did U+A first start doing business in the GCC region?

U+A was set up in the GCC region in 2006 by chartered architects Pedram Rad and Pierre Martin Dufresne. Led by their combined 40 – year global experience they gained from countries in the Asia pacific, North America and the middle east. U+A has grown into an award-winning brand with offices and reach in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, London, Riyadh, and Montreal Canada.

What does your role entail with U+A?

I have recently started with U+A as a Senior Landscape Projects Manager, managing the landscape supervision department of our own company projects, external consultants, and specialist contractors. The landscaping department has evolved last year from an outsourcing

strategy to a fully-fledged inhouse department led by a team of professionals and expert landscape personnel.

I have been involved in many mixed use and urban development, industrial, residential, commercial, and luxury hospitality projects, for example, I’m working on the iconic “Marsa Al Arab” project by “Jumeirah”, “Vida Marina” by Emaar, and the ongoing “Dorchester, The Lana Hotel” by Omniyat.

What differentiates landscape design here in the Middle East compared to the other countries?

I’d say it would be the speed of submission and handing over of projects, yet we manage to do deliver projects without compromising on quality, which makes the projects in the region stand out from others around the world.

Another noticeable challenge we face is the extreme and harsh weather conditions especially in our landscaping field, Landscape professionals go to exhausting lengths to design sustainable landscaping elements so the projects can endure the extreme weather, this then takes a skilled contractor to execute it.

How important is the relationship between contractors and landscape architecture companies?

I believe that no contractor can survive without an architect and vice versa.

The beautiful design would forever remain on paper if a reliable contractor does not get deeply involved, understand the design and help to achieve it. This also brings the importance of the mutual understanding and coordination

U+A Sr. Project Manager, Landscape

between contractor and consultants, which lets the design move from conceptional phase to successful to outstanding. An architect should always have a right hand to depend on when creating a complicated design, at this stage, a cooperating contractor can make the dream happen.

One of the most important aspects of landscape design is its influence on quality of life and social interaction. How has this evolved in recent years?

Like many other things in life, people’s thinking has changed post-pandemic, as well as our behavior and lifestyle. On the other hand, many things haven’t changed due to their necessity in life, landscaping was one of them, having a landscaped garden or park became a safe haven and an escape for so many after a stressful day. This is unlikely to change in the future. People will always turn to nature for stress relief, therefore landscape architecture and design is likely to grow in prominence.

Only a decade ago, many people would not have considered hiring landscape designing until the construction project was completed. How has the value and perception of a Landscape architect’s work changed?

I think landscape architecture is not something that extends the project but is an essential element. Take driving towards your house after entering the community you live in, landscaping is the first architectural element to catch our eyes. So Yes, I think urban planning and landscape architecture leave a big and positive difference in people’s lives, and changes the mindset and perspective of the place we live in.

What is the pit and peak of doing your job?

Like any other architect that has managed projects in this part of the world, implementing the design as it stands is a challenge due to many aspects, as the architect must overcome many obstacles like selling the design to many of the stakeholders, and to properly coordinating with all other architects from the early stages of the design, this by itself is not something always practical and doable due to commercial restrictions and different scopes of works.

Talking specifically about our work which has many components like hardscape, softscape, and irrigation, the most challenging aspect that we should address, is weather challenges, sun exposure, extreme harsh conditions that affect planting growth, performance, overall look of the landscape, where we must choose very specific plants that can overcome all obstacles all year round. Another problem we face and we should address, is the high expectations of clients at the time of planting, where every client expects landscaping to

be overmature right at the handing over of his project or even before. They tend to ignore that if this were to happen, it would hugely increase the budgetary cost of the project, and make it go beyond its feasibility limits.

Furthermore, the desert region we live in, and the type of soil we use, requires many additives and soil amendment to achieve the ultimate plant growth, and to save on irrigation water that would be another running cost during and beyond the life cycle of the project.

As someone who is well established within the industry, what do you see as the main challenges we face in the near future.?

As the business in the region is growing, the main challenges that we have been facing and will keep facing daily is the water need for all components. Water is the most critical element that all of humanity is suffering from due to global warming and increase of population.

In this part of the world, we plant in desertic medium and in very hot weather and climatic conditions, therefore, water demand is very high as it’s being challenged by the high percolation rate due to existing sandy soil type, and high transpiration/evaporation rate. Sustainability of landscaping design and execution is a difficult result that all architects struggle to achieve, considering the feasibility of the project, which by itself is another challenge to lead the project to a successful completion.

What advise can you give to the aspiring landscape architect?

Being a Landscape architect who worked as a contractor and faced site issues, and in some instances had to implement beautiful but non-workable designs, I would advise any landscape architect to be on site as much as possible to inspect how his design is being implemented, ask questions about existing changes and redesigns due to site conditions, track his designs and compare it year after year, and most importantly feed himself with lessons learnt.

What is the secret to success in this industry?

One of the key aspects to everything in life is time management. I always ensure to manage my time and I never underestimate any professional task related to any project.

Managing one’s time is another way of managing client’s satisfaction and performing professionally in every project the architect is engaged in.

Another way of success is balancing between work, family, and social life, which in my opinion is a very clever way of overcoming all daily issues and problems, as they say, life ends but work never ends.

Landscaping Palm Jumeirah’s biggest jewel

After being delayed for more than two years due to the pandemic, Dubai’s ultra-luxury resort, Atlantis

The Royal celebrated a speculator opening ceremony this month, with water and fire taking center stage in the landscape design of the iconic hotel.

Surging 43 storeys high and spanning 406,000 square meters, Atlantis The Royal is a show-stopping project that aims to reimagine and challenge the confines of modern resort architecture. Transforming the bespoke resort luxury vertically into a 500-metre-long, 178-metre-tall, mega structure, this architecturally unique icon is defined by a never-before-seen sky garden concept.

The resort is positioned on the outer crescent of The Palm Island – a location that allows the building to have two different types of waterfront views: the Arabian Gulf or the sheltered lagoon of the Palm Island and the Dubai skyline. The iconic architectural vision by Kohn Pederson Fox (KPF) is set within a lush oasis designed by US-based landscape architecture firms SKS Studio and 40NORTH, headed by principals Sean Simms and John Galloway, respectively. Both are based in Kansas City, Missouri in the Midwest US, but have a local presence in the region with offices in

Business Bay, Dubai. “Having offices in multiple time zones has provided many benefits including the ability to have projects working around-theclock, increasing the collaboration and coordination of each project,” explained SKS Studios.

The design of Atlantis The Royal reflects the classic form of Atlantis’ nearby property Atlantis The Palm, while bringing it forward with a futuristic form that showcases the progressive, modern architecture of the Dubai skyline. As a re-imagining of traditional sculptural towers, it takes the form of a stack of individual blocks, each offering a bespoke private experience from a private core per stack. The six striking towers are adjoined by a 90 x 33 metre sky bridge, which, along with the dramatically illuminated openings between each block, creates a clearly identifiable pattern on the night skyline. KPF has designed a simple yet stunning visual identity that evokes the monumental arches and arcades of

Roman aqueducts through which the sun and sky are framed as part of the architecture itself.

The architecture, water views and interior design were all inspiration for the design of WET, the world’s leading water feature design firm, responsible for world-famous attractions including the Fountains of Bellagio and the record-breaking HSBC Rain Vortex at Jewel Changi Airport. The connection

with water is made through a series of water features along the resort’s main axis that guides visitors from their entry, as they pass through the Firefalls feature to experience the climatic finale of Skyblaze. The fountains highlight the power of water’s presence and its effect on us, whether creating quiet, contemplative moments or wowing us with the spectacular. Collectively, the combination of water and fire when in so

many features is something never done before in the world. The water features include: Firefalls, two highly reflective walls of glass clad in rippling water and embracing programmable plumes of fire; Deluge, two three-storey cylindrical glass elevators immersed in cascades of water; and Skyblaze, a 28-metre high fire and water fountain, composed of myriad water forms, fire bursts, lights, and performative music.

The interior of the new iconic resort was designed by G.A Group, one of the world’s pre-eminent luxury hotel and residential interior design firms responsible for projects such as W Shanghai, Corinthia London, W Taipei, Palace Hotel Tokyo and the upcoming 1Hotel Mayfair. The original design brief conceptualised by G.A Group was inspired by the oldest inhabitants of the Arabian desert, the Bedouins; known for their resourcefulness and hospitality, the tribes would traverse thousands of miles across the sand dunes using water wells, which were the lifeblood of the desert. The precious commodity of water is constantly celebrated throughout the

property, with water features, sculptures and colour palettes peppered throughout to guide guests on their discovery of the resort. Examples of this can be found in the dramatic 11.5 metres tall lobby sculpture, Droplets, which represents the first drop of rain in a dry desert, to the Deluge water elevators, which invites guests to quite literally walk-through water to reach the next part of the resort. Cloud burst light fixtures feature at each elevator bank and hundreds of raindrop shaped light pendants delicately stud the lobby ceilings.

Alongside cutting-edge innovation inside the resort, SKS Studio and 40NORTH worked together to create moments through the property where the resort landscape (typically found on the ground of a hotel) are transported vertically into the tower. Taking the form of Sky Pool Villas and Sky Terraces, these spaces are shaded from the floors above and ventilated by the oceanic winds and pools, creating passively cooled spaces that aim to extend the time guests can enjoy outdoors from six to almost 10 months of the year. These take inspiration

from Mozarabic courtyards, which were traditionally cooled by shading, plants and ornamental fountains. All of the resort’s elevated pools are acrylicfronted, inviting guests to swim up to 43 stories in the air, while simultaneously looking out to the skyline and beyond. This surprising experience of being both over and beneath water is truly unique.

From early in the design phase, Simms and Galloway collaborated with design consultants from around the world including previously mentioned KPF of New York, IBI of Toronto, GA Group of London, SMD of Paris, France, and project lighting designers Light Touch / PLD headquartered in Dubai. Not only was communication and coordination between design disciplines emphasized but the team continued to be engaged during construction by having a full-time site supervisor on the project to ensure that the design vision was maintained throughout construction.

Some considerable challenges presented during the design, including the development of a landscape sited primarily upon a podium of underground

facilities including parking structures, kitchens, and equipment rooms to support the mega-resort. The podium structure limited the amount of soil available for plants, as well as multiple security and vehicular egress and access points along the facade of the podium. These challenges required a creative approach to achieve a successful design and installation. This was but one example of the landscape architects working with other consultants to create practical and achievable installation details. By having team members onsite during construction, SKS Studio and 40NORTH were able to ensure that their design was fully realized, without compromise.

New materials and technology were employed during the design and construction of the project, including the design and use of exterior porcelain

tiles to mimic Sukabumi natural stone from Indonesia. A solution was required that would provide increased durability and reduce maintenance issues for the operator. By having the SKS Studio/40NORTH site supervisor closely coordinating with designers, contractors, and manufacturers a solution was developed to achieve these goals, including maintaining the vision and aesthetic of the original design.

Atlantis The Royal in numbers

• A 43 story-high, 795-room resort tower overlooking the Arabian Sea and Palm Island and unparalleled views of the Dubai skyline. And a second tower with 231 ultra luxury residences with private elevators and individual pools.

• 93 swimming pools, in total for the resort and residences, including a 25-metre lap pool, an adult pool, a family pool, and 44 infinity pools made entirely of acrylic for the luxury suites.

• An impressive “Skyblaze Fountain”, combining the elements of fire & water into an amazing spectacle engineered by WET Design.

• Largest privately-owned stretch of continuous beachfront in Dubai at over 2 kilometers.

• 57,000+ square meters of pavers & stone cladding.

• 500+ planter pots.

• 5,000+ Palms & Trees planted.

• 90,000+ Shrubs & ground cover plants.

• 40,000 square meters of irrigated turf.

• 1,800+ meters of railings.

Pure fascination on Dilmunia Island with the OASE saltwater musical fountain

Seawater fountains dance on Bahrain’s Dilmunia Island

Bahrain’s Dilmunia Island is a complex consisting of retail spaces, hotels, residential areas and commercial facilities – all linked by a 1.7 km waterway. In a bid to bring this large expanse of water to life, the main focus of the Dilmunia Island project managers was finding a solution that worked with saltwater, which was as durable as it was unique in design. The goal was to create musical fountains that would display unprecedented show effects and atmospheric water patterns to accompany and delight residents and tourists alike as they make their way along the canal.

OASE with its undisputed expertise in seawater systems focused on a suitable project design in a challenging environment. The fountain system needed to be an exceptional centrepiece for a wide variety of occasions: Whether it‘s a memorable event, at specific show times or during everyday life, the designers of the Dilmunia canal wanted to bring together and astound families from Bahrain and tourists from all over the world. The technical system itself therefore needed to be as inconspicuous as possible to allow the emotive experience of watching the fountain to be the main focus.

OASE was able to draw upon its wide range of products and technical solutions that are compatible with saltwater in order to alleviate the effects the seawater would have on the system, for example corrosion and issues caused by marine life and deposits. Designs and materials that are optimised for saltwater applications – plus expertise regarding proper installation, requirements during operation and maintenance intervals – were used as a basis for planning the project from the very beginning. The team were met with challenging conditions during the implementation phase because of restrictions due to the Coronavirus pandemic, as these prevented the OASE team travelling to the construction site. Thanks to perfectly coordinated collaboration with the trained and reliable OASE partners in the country, it was still possible to complete the installation of the fountain system in an extremely short time.

The First Specialised Landscape Magazine in the Middle East

Dilmunia Project: Visitors and tourists are fascinated by the large variety of show effects, colours and water patterns

The Dilmunia canal now acts as a central link on Dilmunia Island, helping to attract residents and visitors to shops and restaurants by creating a lively atmosphere. Having such a wide range of show programs and silent water features provides an enormous variety of eye-catching moments and reactions. As visitors make their way along the canal today, they see tourists and residents alike stop and lose track of time as they wonder what is coming up next. Children gather in anticipation of the breathtaking water, light and music shows every day – and especially on weekends – before making their way home with a smile on their face.

The client‘s vision of creating a state-of-the-art water feature along the entire length of the 1.7 km canal – running from the marina in the north of the residential area to the Dilmunia Garden at the south end of the island – was successfully realised in the shortest possible time and under incredibly difficult conditions. Using the latest OASE technologies meant that this work of art could be created in such a way that it saves space and energy, is easy to install, and – most importantly – will be functional for many years to come. It fits elegantly into the design concept for the island and helps to unify the complex and its various uses into a holistic experience.

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Splash Deck Fountains: Perfect for public areas where space needs to be multifunctional

Al Liwan business and residential complex: Creating atmosphere also with smaller and medium sized fountain installations

Indian Garden of Peace to pay tribute in France

By SYSTRA Dubai

SYSTRA Dubai has submitted a proposal for the Indian Garden of Peace, a competition organized by Art et jardins I Hauts-de-France for the creation of a Remembrance Trail around the Gardens of Peace in the Hauts-de-France region for the soldiers of the countries that fought for France in the World War 1.

The design proposal entitled, ‘Shantivan Indian garden of Peace’ is to be a part of the larger peace trail enabling the transformation of a cultural project into a societal and social project that questions the challenges of tomorrow, principally of Peace. The design proposal pays tribute to Indian soldiers by taking inspiration from their journey

Design Program

1. Entrance

2. Cobble Pathway

3. Sunken Pathway

4.

5.

6.

7. Chakra

8.

9.

10.

Human - like sculptures

Path overlooking crop planting

Orchard Garden

Earth pit

Grass Mound

Exit

through the war to attain peace displaying boundless bravery and faith for the country they had fought for. It is proposed to be a place to come and experience the triumph of these brave souls and to go back with the lingering feeling of tranquillity and peace.

The Garden trail starts with a sail of life depicting existence, then takes us to a place of intellect – reasoning about the abstract matters through reflections on huge mirror figurines along the path. From there we move on to a space of choices - which lets us choose the vision and way symbolising the choices we make at various stages of life and conflicts. Then comes the stage of desire to see what is beyond or in terms of conflictsthe desire to see the end, which leads us to a central Orchard of Peace – inspired by traditional productive Indian gardens, a place to reflect, reciprocate, perceive the journey made to reach this far and to connect back to the roots. At the culmination of this journey, is the Chakra filled with soil brought from India designed to resemble values from the mother land. The end of the trail reflects the thought ‘That there is never a Victor in War‘ and Peace is the way to look forward.

The central axis of the garden is inspired from the direction of India from France, symbolising the sight to homeland. The movement through the garden is derived from the Circular Parikrama. It is the circumbulatory movement pathway that holds a high cultural regard in diverse cultures of India. The walking trail in the garden has taken stimulus from the Trench warfare imposing the feeling of being trapped onto the visitors. The visual vistas of this garden are designed to depict the various thoughts and feelings of the solider at war and the after feeling of Peace at the end.

A short stretch of the pathway is lowered, surrounded by tall hedges on one side and supported by a gabion wall on the other side, to create shallow trenches. Tall human like sculptures standing in a carpet of red flora depict the atrocity of war, while also reflecting the contrast between war and peaceful life.

As one walks out from the narrow stretch, the pathway widens out looking at the vegetation reminiscent of crops from India, reminding India as an agricultural land - the farmlands to which the soldiers probably yearned to go back home to with intermittent tall trees forming the backdrop.

The spiralling cobbled path leads on to the orchard garden filled with fruit trees at its culmination - inspired by traditional productive Indian gardens. Gabion wall with varying height segregates the central orchard garden from external distraction and provides an enclosed space with Ring / Chakra at the focal point with the earth pit as the soul of the garden. Grass mound at this central orchard garden space is designed to generate a feeling of curiosity to climb up and look beyond – for hope of something better as the result of war.

The gabion wall discontinues to make passage for the subdued exit, screened from direct view by vegetation from the entry. The message of peace adorns the wall as we leave.

Team:

Parin Shah, Lead Landscape Architect

Anirban Bhattacharya, Senior Landscape Architect

Priyanka Nuthalapati, Landscape Architect

For any queries, mail to pshah6@systra.com

A classic

hotel

is reenergized by landscape revamp

Le Meridien Hotel is now a landmark in Zhengzhou City

By: Shma

Le Meridien Hotel is located in an urban intersection of Zhengzhou City, China. It is a small-scale renovation project with around 6,000 SQM of landscape area in the front of the existing five-star hotel completed in 2013 by Neri & Hu. The client’s brief outlined a stunning hotel frontage landscape to improve the overall appearance, as well as resolving the ground parking spaces and vehicular movement. Since the hotel is located in a densely populated area we set out to achieve a landscape that is interactive, imaginative and artistically crafted to become a new landmark for this neighborhood.

In a nod to the historical weaving textile industry of Zhengzhou, landscape architects Shma Company Limited created a sculptural-like landscape weave and fold to reveal an aesthetically pleasing public space. A series of undulating lawn

stripes represent the silk being woven - up and down - into fabric sheets by traditional machines.

The Interval space is defined by matching the existing lobby pillars and architectural orders to stitch the landscape and building together, seamlessly integrating with car parking layout. A water feature stripes in front of the lobby drop-off is designed as one of the welcoming elements.

Utilizing two different colors for the finishing of the stainless steel planters is designed to play with the unique public/private characters of this urban hotel. When seen from the adjacent public road, guests can see bronze colour, which projects an outgoing and fun energy to signify this urban corner, while black mirror material is used to achieve a calmer and more relaxing ambiance when perceived from the hotel side looking out.

Due to construction of a new underground metro station taking place beneath 50 per cent of the hotel’s landscape area, the landscape architects had to work cautiously in relation to paving patterns, manholes and planting soil depth to achieve a simplistic design result. This included camouflaging the four ventilation shafts and emergency staircase structure that pops up in the landscape with mirror finishes making them disappear visually.

After the landscape was completed, it lightened up the entire hotel district with the wavy lawn stripe, the unified reflective water feature, and the interplay of reflection from mirrored planter finishes. It’s a privately owned public space that has become a new gathering spot for locals and visitors, catering to various celebrations from meeting up with friends for lunch to wedding photoshoots. The landscape has created a new landmark for this intersection and draws interest from people in the local neighborhood and beyond.

Name of Project: Le Meridien

Location: Zhengzhou City, China

Landscape Architect: Shma Company Limited (http://www.shmadesigns. com/)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ Shmadesigns

Floating City

Floating City is designed to support the global response to the threat of climate change

Architecture firm Luca Curci Architects, in collaboration with Tim Fu Design, presents Floating City, a project proposal for a sustainable floating city for 50,000 people. The project has been conceived by an international team of architects and designers with the support of Artificial Intelligence.

Tim Fu

Luca Curci

The project combines sustainability with population density and it aims to build up a zero-energy city with 100% green transport systems. The sustainable city allows its residents to have a healthier lifestyle by connecting with nature, re-thinking the traditional concept of community and society.

Several renewable energy resources, such as wind, water turbines, and solar panels are also incorporated. Energy storage solutions. Water desalination. Food production and farming are integrated and follow a zero-waste policy.

Sea levels and Climate Change

Currently, half of humanity (4 billion people) live in cities and 5 billion people are projected to live in cities by 2030. The world’s cities occupy just 3 percent of the Earth’s land but account for 60-80 percent of energy consumption and 75 percent of carbon emissions.

Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies, communities, and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow. Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, weather events are becoming more extreme and greenhouse gas emissions are now at their highest levels in history.

By 2100, scientists project that the sea level will rise at least another foot (0.3 meters), but possibly as high as 8 feet (2.4 meters), if we continue carbon emissions at our current rate (NASA - The Effects of Climate Change).

Floating City is a project proposal for sustainable and resilient cities. Designed to adapt to the shifting needs of several coastal cities, particularly vulnerable to sea level rise due to their low elevation, like New York, Miami, New Orleans, Jakarta, Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo, the project has the potential to expand and accommodate more than 200,000 people.

LANDSCAPES OF HOPE AT THE END OF THE WORLD

Peatlands in Península Mitre, southern Argentina: an invaluable natural carbon sink now designated a Natural Protected Area

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago located at the southern tip of South America, lying between the Strait of Magellan (to the north and west) and Beagle Channel (to the south). Approximately a third part of the total area of this archipelago is taken up by the southernmost province of Argentina, where is located the city of Ushuaia, known as the southernmost city in the world, or sometimes “the end of the world.”

The end of the world, however, is far more remote than this city and it is shaped as the easternmost tip of land in the archipelago –called Península Mitre -where the South Atlantic Ocean flows to meet the Southern Seas and to converge at the Drake Passage, the water body that provides the shortest route to Antarctica. The

end of the world is harsh, isolated and exceptionally beautiful; also, the end of the world is guarded by the roughest ocean waters.

About 20,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), these lands were covered by ice. When continental glaciers retreated and sea level began to rise, beginning about 15,000 years ago, these glacial and postglacial processes originated the geological forms —valleys, lagoons, lakes— that represent this almost inaccessible region today, creating the most favorable conditions for the development of peatlands.

Patagonian Peatlands are distributed in humid areas along 2,000 kilometers from the Chiloe Island (west of mainland Chile) to the Tierra del Fuego archipelago

(Argentina and Chile). In the Argentinean part of Tierra del Fuego, peatlands cover 270,000 hectares of which almost 240,000 hectares are concentrated in Península Mitre. The total size of this remote peninsula is about 300,000 hectares of land, meaning that peatlands cover 80% of its terrestrial surface.

In 2019, a survey carried out by UNEP-WCMC (UN Environment Programme, World Conservation Monitoring Centre), whose results were shared by the Data Visualization Lab at National Geographic and are partially available at the UN Biodiversity Lab platform, shows that Península Mitre is the most important carbon sink in Argentina. Storing 315 million metric tons of carbon, this carbon sink is the equivalent of over three years of current carbon dioxide emissions from all of Argentina, the second largest country in Latin America.

In 2007, members of the International Mire Conservation Group (IMCG) conducted a pioneer field trip to the Atlantic coast of Península Mitre representing universities from Argentina, The Netherlands, Norway and Germany. This field trip was the first with a clear focus on the study of these peatlands and a highly relevant precedent for all following expeditions. The results of the in-situ studies, among other specific and new data gathered at the time, were published in the peer-reviewed e-journal Mires and Peats in 2014. The

work “Mires and mire types of Península Mitre, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina” (A. Grootjans, R. Iturraspe, C. Fritz, A. Moen and H. Joosten) concluded that “The mires and peatlands of the peninsula are of global significance. They are impressive, peculiar, extensive and largely pristine mires in a globally very rare climatic and biogeographical context embedded in a landscape with significant natural dynamics. Península Mitre deserves the highest possible protection, e.g. as a provincial protected area and a World Heritage Site.”

This and opposite pages: bird-eye views of the peatlands

The matted plant communities appear in the landscape as large soft surfaces slightly undulated and dotted by small pools of water.

Photos: Joel Reyero

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago located at the southern tip of South America and Península Mitre is its easternmost tip of land. Here, peatlands cover 80% of the terrestrial surface, storing 315 million metric tons of carbon

From a landscape perspective —the visual and poetic quality of nature— Península Mitre and the surrounding areas that are the obliged route on the way from the city of Ushuaia are a breathtaking combination of luxuriant woods of southern beeches (the ancient Nothofagus species, survivor of the southern hemisphere’s extreme conditions), greenish reddish moorlands and the ever-present Beagle Channel — either intimately close to the road or as a chimerical water backdrop flowing into a distant ocean. The fact that since Darwin’s Beagle voyage in 1832, when the

British naturalist arrived to the coasts of Tierra del Fuego, these landscapes have remained mostly intact and almost untouched by humans, makes the journey and the arrival to these lands a bucolic, inexplicable yet naturally hopeful experience.

There are two only ways to approach the borders of Península Mitre by car: Costa Norte (North Coast), bathed by the Atlantic Ocean and Costa Sur (South Coast), bathed by the Beagle Channel and whose entry gate is Moat Bay; from this bay, the sight of extensive peatlands reveals a first hint of what can be seen and experienced

Photos: Joel Reyero

Iturraspe R., Urciuolo A.B., Iturraspe R.(jr.) (2012). Spatial analysis and description of eastern peatlands of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

once into the peninsula. The journey through this coast is undoubtedly the wildest and most hostile and therefore most like the end of the world, while the North Coast means the discovery of never-ending beaches and fantastic green capes. Once you reach either the north or south access, the exploration of the mainland is only possible by horse or foot, camping at night or having the rare chance to make a stop at some former rural construction.

Why peatlands are invaluable and especially in southern Patagonia?

Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems which are covered by a thick layer of peat. Peat is accumulated because the production of organic matter exceeds the decomposition of plant material that live under waterlogged conditions and oxygen deficiency over long time periods. Peatlands are primarily wetlands and as such they play major roles in the hydrological cycle: they store water, buffer extreme rainfall events and regulate water quality, groundwater recharge, and flood and drought mitigation. Also, they play a key role in biodiversity conservation and act as archaeological and paleoenvironmental archives.

However, what makes peatlands so significant for the health and balance of our planet is that they can naturally store large amounts of carbon. They have been doing this for more than 10,000 years and today, in the necessary transition to a net-zero carbon emissions society, their protection is vital. They cover less than three per cent of global land surface but estimates suggest that peatlands contain twice as much carbon as in the world’s forests. Peatlands represent one of the largest carbon pools in the biosphere.

In temperate, boreal and sub-arctic regions, with temperatures falling below freezing for long periods (reducing the rate of decomposition), peat is formed mostly from sphagnum mosses, herbs, shrubs and small trees that grows spontaneously.

The climate in southern South America is distinguished by strong constant winds and cool summers affected by the cold Humboldt Current. But precipitation is the determining factor for peatland vegetation: in the areas of the southern Andes more sheltered from the wind, with precipitations between 500 and 1,500 mm a year, “raised bogs” prevail and they are dominated by a type of moss called Sphagnum magellanicum; in the wind-exposed hyper-oceanic belt, where the oceanic winds determines very wet conditions, precipitations are higher than 2,000 mm a year and the type of peatland that prevails is the non-raised bog or “cushion bog”. Here Astelia pumila and Donatia fascicularis are the dominant vascular plants.

This unique bog ecosystem is exclusive to the Southern Hemisphere and represents especially strong carbon dioxide net sinks.

In this sense, academic studies realized in 2019 in a joint effort by the Austral Center for Scientific Investigations of Ushuaia, Argentina, and the Universities of Hamburg and Münster, Germany, expose that “cushion bogs are highly productive and constitute large sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide when compared to counterparts around the globe”.

The Peninsula Mitre and the Moat Bay area, where the land is a relatively pristine natural laboratory with less possible adulterating influences usually present in human impacted ecosystems, allow more accurate studies of the direct effects of global climate change on peatlands’ plant communities.

Astelia pumila, prominent in Península Mitre, is according to the “Wild for Life” campaign launched in 2020 by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), “the sponge champion of the world”.

Paradoxically, these superhero plants are tiny: Astelia pumila has thick and imbricate leaves that grow up only to 3 centimeters long and 0.50 centimeters wide and appear as compact prickly groups on the ground; Donatia fascicularis, the most common combination with Astelia, offers also tiny white flowers that bloom during the cool summer; Sphagnum magellanicum, the most typical of local peatlands’ mosses, has very small revolute leaves with a reddish appearance that make it quite recognizable from the distance or when photographed from the air. The spongy texture of this moss also makes the walking experience unique, the ground feeling like it’s waving back and forth.

There are other many species of plants that make up the peatlands of this isolated region of southern Argentina but these three are the dominant ones. With a water table near the surface, these matted plant communities typical of cushion-bogs appear in the landscape as large soft surfaces slightly undulated and dotted by small pools of water.

Visually, these natural carpets convey a strong sense of original beauty and might become a key destination for landscape lovers and explorers. Tourism of Nature, focusing on a well-balanced man-nature relationship and the conservation of ecosystems, is an alternative type of tourism that is part of the current protectionist proposals for this region.

As the only natural land-based option to indefinitely sequester carbon, peatlands are currently considered as super natural-based solutions for adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change, particularly global warming. However, this unmatched carbon sequestration activity can keep happening only if peatlands remain in their natural, wet state. Conversely, damaged peatlands are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions: degradation and overexploitation (drainage, conversion for agriculture, burning and mining) and global temperature increase would result in the release of huge quantities of greenhouse gasses back into the atmosphere.

In this case scenario, Península Mitre offers hope.

The protection of Península Mitre: “Thinking Global-Acting Local” as never before Highlighted by the UNEP as among the 11 mostrelevant peatland ecosystems on the planet, Península Mitre remains rather pristine and the chance of conserving it is more possible and more significant than for other peatland sites around the globe. Although random human activities have changed the original landscape to some extent —past practices of sheep breeding and logging, current cattle grazing and erosion caused by beavers introduced about 50 years ago—, high levels of preservation are still very possible.

Indeed, local protection policies have been implemented over the last 15 years and the legal fight to create a protected area in Península Mitre, which was first suggested 30 years ago, has gained momentum over the last five and was at last won at the end of last year. On December 6th, 2022, the provincial government of Tierra del Fuego passed the Law for the Península Mitre Natural Protected Area, creating an initial legal framework and committee of experts to safeguard both the land and sea space of the area —Península Mitre is also home to pristine

Photos Jimena Martignoni

sphagnum magellanicum, the most typical of local peatlands’ mosses, has a reddish appearance.

large ecosystems of kelp forests which play a key role as a blue carbon store or marine carbon sinks.

The recently protected area covers a terrestrial and marine surface of approximately 10,000 square kilometers and up to four nautical miles offshore.

In the current global context of unflagging environmental battles against climate change, this law means a great closure for a thirty year-wait and a relatively recent long series of decisions and milestones that have been shaping a road to achieve the indispensable goal of local protection.

The governmental actions at a provincial level started in 2008 with the Secretary of Environment/ Water Resources Agency of Tierra del Fuego firstly rejecting requests for mining licenses and the creation of a “Strategy and Action Plan for the wise use of the mires”. Supported by both national and international NGOs (Wetlands and Poverty Reduction Project, WPRP), the plan basically worked on peatlands use regulation, protection, planning and mapping. Later in 2009, the Andorra Valley, located north of Ushuaia and including a rich ecosystem of peat bogs, glaciers, rivers and lakes was declared a RAMSAR site (the southernmost in the

world). And in 2011, the Secretary of Sustainable Development and Environment of Tierra del Fuego outlined a single “sacrificial area” for regulated peat extraction as the only sector in the province allowing this activity.

Equally significant and completing the local legislative measures, the indefatigable work of nongovernmental organizations —with Sin Azul No Hay Verde (No Blue, No Green) the marine program of the formerly US-based NGO Rewilding Argentina, leading the way—, local activists and provincial legislators was key to the process of reintroducing and finally passing the bill for the creation of a Provincial Protected Area. This bill had been officially reintroduced in 2018, in 2020 and again in January 2022; in the meantime, the province had signed a Decree (December 2020) that designated Península Mitre a place of environmental interest, establishing temporary protection for the area.

Today, the creation of Península Mitre Natural Protected Area proves how international collaborative papers and ground-breaking expeditions, updates to local policies and the work of local and national decision makers with a degree of awareness and commitment higher than ever before, came together for a final greatly positive and significant milestone.

In an article published immediately after the law was finally passed, the National Geographic Society —which conducted an unprecedented expedition in 2018 to the Argentine area of Tierra del Fuego and the oceanic area of the Drake Passage, through its Pristine Seas marine conservation initiative— says: “We congratulate the community of Tierra del Fuego for protecting this area of enormous relevance for the whole world due to its extraordinary biodiversity, capacity to mitigate climate change and great attractiveness for nature tourism.”

As the only region on the planet where peatlands are so scarce (compared to the Northern Hemisphere), yet so significant with respect to their capacity as carbon sinks, the peatlands in Península Mitre represent not only unspoiled nature but also unspoiled ideas and possibilities.

Note: this is an updated version of an article originally published by Landscape Architecture Magazine. Jimena martignoni, June 2022.”

Photos: Jimena Martignoni

astelia pumila, that offers tiny white flowers in the cool summer, is a especially strong carbon dioxide net sink.

Books of interest

oUDoLf HUMMeLo

ISBN-9781580934183

PRISE-215.00Dhs.

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

“Piet Oudolf is best known for his now-iconic designs for the High Line in New York City and Millennium Park in Chicago. Hummelo, his own garden in The Netherlands, is visited by thousands of gardeners each year. It serves as his personal design and plant propagation laboratory, and is where he has honed his aesthetic and created new varieties of plants for over three decades. This title charts how the garden of one of the world’s best-known and most-loved plantsmen has evolved, and gives frank assessments of his experiments that have gone both well and awry. Hummelo, timed to coincide with Oudolf’s 70th birthday and his acceptance of Holland’s most prestigious cultural award, provides his throngs of followers with a chronology of how his naturalistic style and career has developed. Lush photography documents how the garden has changed and inspired him over the years, and text by prolific garden writer Noel Kingsbury will ensure a lively read for all home garden enthusiast”

rooteD in sesiGn

ISBN-9781607746973

PRISE-107.00Dhs.

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

A stylish and full-color guide to creatively integrating indoor plants with home decor from the owners of the popular Sprout Home garden design boutiques. Indoor plants play a large role in the design and feel of a space. Focusing on indoor gardening--from small containers and vertical installations with air plants to unique tabletop creations--Rooted in Design provides readers with the means to create beautiful and long-lasting indoor landscapes. Tara Heibel and Tassy De Give, owners of the successful Sprout Home gardening stores, offer expert advice for choosing plant varieties and pairing them with unique design ideas. Sharing practical tips honed through hundreds of plant design classes, Heibel and DeGive tell readers everything they need to know to care for their one-of-a-kind green creations

Ur B an e nviron M enta L Lan D scape

ISBN: 9781864706307

Author: Dieter Grau

Hardcover: 256 pages

Publication Date: (10 Jun. 2015)

BOOK DESCRIPTIONS:

The book provides the latest trends in urban environmental landscaping, with informative chapters on basic principles, dimensions, reference standards and considerations across a range of themes, such as public parks, public plazas, waterfront public open spaces, and urban street environments It Showcases a broad range of informative high-quality projects spanning the United States, Mexico, Australia, China, and Europe and provides comprehensive reference material for architects, urban planners, preservationists ,and landscape designers, and all who are directly involved in town planning in the urban environment. For each part, we selected the most striking cases with the newest design standards to showcase spectacular landscape design.

With its headquarter in Tokyo, Japan and world class stores spread over countries like America, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Taiwan and now in DUBAI – UAE, Kinokuniya is a globally known book seller of repute. The store in Dubai Mall is a massive 68,000 square feet wide paragon book gallery which stocks more than half a million books and thousand magazines in English, Arabic, Japanese, French, German and Chinese at any given time.

The Store is also a distinct cross cultural hub wide range of time to time multicultural events such a comic art demonstrations, language learning workshops, book launches etc.

The pleasant ambiance, stenographic design and add to it the impressive view of modern skyline – world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, Kinokuniya at The Dubai Mall is just the place to evoke emotions and add pleasure to your book shopping. You may like to visit our website for more information. www.kinokuniya.com

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