Grimshaw, an architectural firm based in London, UK, has announced the launch of its new office in the d3 Design District in Dubai.

After many years of working on projects in the Middle East, the firm opened the Dubai office will serve as a central hub for its projects in the region, a number of which are now on site, said a statement from the company.

The practice continues to work on projects initiated from its Doha office, but now with an added office resource in the UAE to support a major project in its design and construction, the Dubai Expo 2020 Sustainability Pavilion, said a spokesman for the company.

Set to open in October 2020, the pavilion is a celebration of ecology and will be a working demonstration of sustainable design.

The core exhibition building is crowned by an over-arching roof structure with sizable photovoltaic panels designed to draw energy from the sun to power the site, and a series of ‘solar trees’ are designed to harvest water from the humid atmosphere. Importantly, as a legacy project for the Dubai Expo, the Sustainability Pavilion will remain on site as a permanent fixture, he stated.

Other key projects in the region include a high-end retail and entertainment destination; a grand-scale botanic garden in Oman; and a number of transit, sports and leisure projects in Qatar, he added.

A key part of Grimshaw’s design ethos is to gain a deep understanding of project locations in order to become immersed in the local culture and environment, said the spokesman.

While providing the opportunity for face-to-face client support, the Dubai office is also set up to collaborate with other Grimshaw offices across the global network to encourage knowledge exchange within the company, he added.

The Dubai office, he said, is currently displaying an exhibition titled ‘Emergence’, which explores three themes within Grimshaw’s work in the Middle East: ecology, legacy and future urbanism.

Additional initiatives include an Open House and VR Workshop at Dubai Design Week on November 14 – 15.-TradeArabia News Service