The folks at London’s Baharash Architecture firm are not known for in-the-box thinking, so when they were tasked with designing an ecological resort in the middle of the desert in the UAE, they went big.
Like 157,000 square feet of solar panels big.
The Oasis Eco Resort, which was commissioned by Dubai’s Eco Resort Group, will contain 84 interconnecting suites that will provide accommodations for guests and a team of wildlife biologists and conservation staff who will live onsite.
Oasis Eco Resort 2:46
The 8,400-square-foot resort will be in Liwa, a southern region of the UAE that’s home to 50 villages and Bedouin tribes, and the goal is to have it up and running on 100% solar energy by 2020.
In order to support its residents, the zero-emission resort will draw water from a well and use it for crop irrigation, fish farming and to create a spring for wildlife to inhabit.
The $21 million project launched this month and is the first of several that will launch in the UAE over the next few years. “At the very early stages of the project, we found out that we could extract groundwater using a deep well,” says head designer Baharash Bagherian. “This gave us an opportunity to create a story around a spring, which was of critical importance to Bedouins for trade and transportation routes.”
We recommend pairing it with the equally practical Ski Dubai for the desert vacation you’ve always dreamed of.
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