JOINING THE DOTS
Growing up in war-torn Beirut, Fadi Sarieddine witnessed a harrowing period of destruction that made him want to play a role in rebuilding his country. He studied architecture at the American University of Beirut and later in the Bartlett School in London and spent time working in Lebanon and the UK before he moved to Dubai. The Fadi Sarieddine Design Studio in Dubai’s D3 creates futuristic designs and deals with both architectural projects as well as interior and furniture designs for offices, retail and restaurants.
“When I came to Dubai in 2004, the emirate was trying to forge an identity for itself. And I was also trying to find my space through my designs that wanted to retell the story in a different way.”
Through his projects in Dubai, Fadi has challenged set ideas. “The Emaar Boulevard originally had a total disregard for pedestrians. But as we worked on reactivating it, we felt that it had a lot of potential for restaurants and cafes that would engage pedestrians. Initially the weather prevented urban planners to activate the public domain. But then we realised that Dubai has a good seven months of walkable weather that cannot be disregarded.” Fadi acknowledges the old traditional forms but breaks the mould of conventional thinking. “I believe in forward thinking designs. It is important to marry the old school with new ideas. If you understand traditional architecture, but start on with a clean slate, you can forge a new identity,” he explains. Whether it is working on the extension of the existing Vida Hotel in the MBR Boulevard, reactivating the boulevard or creating a vertical village in a 25-storey tower in Barsha Heights or maybe even a cluster of 12 villas sitting in an enclave surrounded by the desert, Fadi has kept in mind the setting, the local materials, the need for privacy and regional roots.
For Fadi, the identity of the city is not its aerial view but its urban life at ground level. Friendly pedestrian feel is important, he says
“Take Villa Ria, the 12 villas in an enclave, for example. The project combines contemporary architecture with warm materials and uses landscaping effectively to create the feel of a small village. We have used stone and wood. Similarly in many residential homes, it’s important to keep in mind factors of privacy and segregation of guests. Traditionally the private parts of the house should not be exposed to guests and the house as a whole should not be exposed to neighbours. There is a veil to the house and it’s important to keep such factors in mind.”
For Fadi, the identity of a city is not its aerial view but its urban life at ground level. It’s important to create that friendly pedestrian feel in more areas of Dubai. “As a city Dubai has not really grown from the centre, but has spread its footprints afar and is now trying to fill the gaps. The speed of this country is remarkable and while Dubai tries to join the dots, it is also looking at a 100 years from now. The leadership of Dubai is already looking at 2071, when the UAE turns 100 years and the futuristic vision of this country will create a new identity for it in the years to come.”