From the UAE’s thriving design landscape, six key projects have been shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival that runs from 1-3 December this year. The shortlist spans across two main categories, Completed Buildings and Future Projects, which comprise more than 400 entries from around the world, according to The National.

Abu Dhabi’s Zayed National Museum, which is currently under construction, is nominated in the Future Projects category. Envisioned by award-winning British architectural firm Foster + Partners, the building has been conceived as a monument and memorial to His Highness, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, founding president of the UAE, and will be the centerpiece of the Saadiyat Island Cultural District.

Buhais Geology Park Interpretive Center in Sharjah, via Hopkins.co.uk

Scheduled for completion in 2022, the contemporary building features elements of traditional Arab design, with its galleries housed within a mound that references the topography of the Emirates. It comprises a cluster of five lightweight steel structures, some 123 meters in height, which have been sculpted to serve as solar thermal towers, and depict the wings of the falcon, the UAE’s national bird.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COcyaXWBIT3/?hl=en

Abu Dhabi-based Al Fay Park, which spreads across 27,500 square meters and houses more than 2,000 trees, has also made the cut in the Landscape – Urban Context section of the Completed Buildings category. Located on Al Reem Island, the forest-like space has been designed by Danish SLA Architects and will be open to the public in January next year.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMmeAc7MW9B/

Another project nominated from the UAE capital is the Qasr Al Hosn park-scape, which is a 140,000-square-meter park built around the Qasr Al Hosn Fort. The site was originally built as a watchtower in 1760 to protect the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi Island, according to Danish architectural firm Cebra, which completed the project.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CMRvqdds-RY/

Among the nominated UAE buildings is Sharjah’s House of Wisdom by Foster + Partners, and Buhais Geology Park’s Interpretive Center, which has been designed by Hopkins Architects, one of the United Kingdom’s leading architectural practices. Expo 2020 Dubai’s Sustainability Pavilion, Terra, by UK-based Grimshaw Architects, has been nominated in the Display section of the Completed Buildings category.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CK_wWxsH0h0/

Cover image via Fosterandpartners.com