UAE University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
There was an exceptional opportunity to create a unique landscape for this large and expansive University campus. Al Ain owes its existence to the local oasis, providing life supporting water in a harsh desert environment. The landscape for the university uses the desert/oasis nexus for inspiration. The landscape concepts drawn from local climate and geography for its inspiration. The desert theme is used for the landscape surrounding the campus. The dry sparsely vegetated landscape provides an opportunity to create contrasting landscapes, which become more luxurious and detailed further into the core of the campus. This character directly relates to the characteristics of a desert reaching the edge of an oasis and suddenly changing to the greenery of the irrigated date palms. The experience of visiting the campus is to arrive at a vibrant tree lined boulevard, flanked by desert, leading into the luxuriant core of the campus crescent with it’s Great Hall and Library. The axis created by these building centres on the IT Building culminating at the Shared Laboratories to the South. Flanking these public buildings on the west is the Female Campus and on the East, the Male Campus.