One year ago on the 16th of November UNStudio officially opened its doors in Dubai, and now will have a full-time team present in the Middle East.
“The Middle East is a dynamic, constantly innovating and ambitious part of the world. […] We are here in the Middle East to engage in conversations and identify new opportunities, stakeholders and engage with specialists, suppliers, authorities and developers to steer towards the design of sustainable buildings and places […] ”, Ajran Pit, UNStudio’s Managing Director says.
UNStudio was founded in 1988 by Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos. It is an international architectural design network with offices in Amsterdam, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and now in Dubai. More than 200 employers from 27 countries work in satellite offices of the company around the world.
Caroline Bos will be a keynote speaker in the talks, which will be held on the 8 November 2022 in “The Yard” in Dubai (4.30 pm – 6 pm) on the theme “Circularity and Sustainability in Architecture”. Caroline Bos is a Dutch architect. She is a co-founder of UNStudio with her partner Ben van Berkel. She teaches architecture at various schools around the world, writes books, gives lectures and talks. Her architectural drawings and models are shown at museums.
“Over the course of 20 years or so, concepts such as sustainability, circularity and healthy places for people entered and shaped the direction of our architecture. […] The term sustainability quickly became a bit hollow for us, however. We preferred to use the term ‘attainability’, a combination of affordability and sustainability. […] These days we see sustainability as an expanding idea that not only includes circularity, but that also has a human-centric – rather than a purely environmental – focus,” Caroline Bos said in the interview for the Cladglobal online platform.
One of the most ambitious projects of UNStudio is the wasl Tower, which is currently being built in the centre of Dubai. The developer wasl Asset Management Group says the construction will be finished in 02/2024.
Other projects by UNStudio in United Arab Emirates include the Museum of Middle East Modern Art, Khor Dubai, 2008; Lock Island Bridges, UAE 2008; Twofour54 Zone, UAE 2009; Dubai Star 2020, UAE 2015; Dutch/Dubai 2020 Expo Pavilion, UAE 2018.
To learn more about UNStudio, please visit its official website.
