The comprehensive masterplan for the Qasr al Hosn site in Abu Dhabi has been awarded this year’s WAN Gold Award in the category ‘Mixed Use’.
The Qasr al Hosn Fort is Abu Dhabi’s oldest building and the city’s cultural heart. The fort is located on a 400 x 400 metre site, which also comprises the city’s Cultural Foundation. Today the site is transformed into a vivid public park, which enhances the site’s historic buildings as important landmarks in the city.
Simultaneously, the project adds several new functions to the Al Hosn site making it an asset to the entire city of Abu Dhabi – restaurants, facilities for cultural activities, a breathtaking Musallah prayer hall, and an impressive open landscape with water elements and shady pocket spaces for breaks in the Middle Eastern sun.
The terrain is a sand flat with minimalist indigenous planting to reflect the topography in which the Qasr al Hosn was initiated c.1760. The landscape unifies Abu Dhabi’s Modern and Traditional heritage while providing a sense of place and time.
SLA delivered extensive indigenous planting design and expertise to the project. The masterplan, buildings and landscape is designed by CEBRA.
10.06.2025
SLA creates 104 new neighbourhood parks in Abu Dhabi
We are happy to share that we have completed one of the largest urban greening projects to date in the UAE: 104 new neighbourhood parks across Abu Dhabi, designed to improve health, biodiversity, and the everyday quality of life for all Abu Dhabi’s residents.
01.06.2025
SLA and GHD win major design project for Ookwemin Minising
We are incredibly excited to share that we – together with our partner GHD – have won the assignment as prime consultant for Ookwemin Minising: Toronto’s new 39.6-hectare island neighborhood planned for more than 15,000 residents!
23.05.2025
SLA exhibits New Nordic City Nature at Oslo National Museum
Today, the exhibition “New Nordic – Cuisine, Aesthetics and Place” opens at the National Museum in Oslo. SLA and Dyvik Kahlen have made a specially designed pavilion for the museum square – that takes visitors from the Michelin kitchen out into the urban realm. Its roof and landscape are planted with native, edible species from Oslo’s shores and forests, and offers a taste of New Nordic City Nature.