RCR Arquitectes, in collaboration with Muraba, unveils design for Muraba Veil, a new form of skyscraper for Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 

Called Muraba Veil, the height of the Muraba Veil is 380 meters, and the building is unique in that it is 22.5 meters wide, the width of one apartment.

In an effort to adapt architecture to the site and work with nature rather than against it, the team offers a novel skyscraper design for the area. The 2017 Pritzker Prize Laureates RCR Arquitectes and Muraba present a modern architectural style that incorporates vernacular heritage and tradition.

Muaba Veil, Canal View

This fifth collaboration between Spanish RCR Arquitectes and Dubai-based Muraba, the result of a ten-year partnership, brings a common goal of working in harmony with the natural environment while letting the distinctive features of each site inform the concept. 

Muraba and RCR propose a new type of skyscraper for the area that takes advantage of Dubai's culture and climate. It's an attempt to adapt architecture to the location by collaborating with nature rather than against it.

The 73-story tower, which has been approved and registered with RERA, will have 131 units, including Exclusive Residences with two to five bedrooms. It will also have a variety of carefully chosen recreational amenities, such as a restaurant, gallery, padel court, private meeting spaces, a private movie theater, and a wellness spa.

The top engineering consulting firm in the world, WSP, was chosen to provide engineering services for Muraba Veil. Arup will provide client advisory services.

Despite Dubai's hyperbolic architectural landscape, Muraba Veil is a bold, jaw-dropping sight that rises from the dunes above the most futuristic and cosmopolitan city in the United Arab Emirates. 

The first layer to reveal the building is the "Veil" itself, a specially designed stainless steel mesh that is responsive and porous, reflecting the various hues of the sky and dematerializing the architecture's presence. Inspired by centuries-old domestic architecture, the structure's unusually narrow profile and appearance could only be accomplished with the most recent engineering and design. 

Traditionally, domestic architecture has sought to satisfy basic human needs for privacy, security, and refuge as well as a close relationship with nature.

Muraba Veil, 4 Bedroom Duplex Outdoor Living

The interior of the Veil is modeled after the Arabian house, which is a representation of a paradise on earth. It emerges in layers, softened by shade and greenery, and eventually reaches the inner courtyard, the cool, social, and pleasant center of the house. The entire width of the building is occupied by each of the 131 Exclusive Residences. 

The residences, which are screened by a veil inspired by the Mashrabiya and have spacious outdoor areas on either side, benefit from two perspectives and a mild breeze that naturally lowers the temperature—the Arab courtyard reinvented.

The Veil is ultimately intended to serve as a haven for this location and this time, providing the chance to live a calm, secluded, and possibly contemplative life while hovering over the city. It is a haven for the mind and body, a haven from the present, the tangible, and the virtual. Guests can have the feeling of being both freed by space and swathed and protected from the heat of the outside world wherever they go in the Veil. 

Muraba Veil, Wellness Pool

Hidden beneath a massive dune-like carapace at the base of the tower, the cavernous subterranean spa is a wellness club that includes a number of experiential pools, treatment rooms, and a gym, as well as a restaurant, lounges, "oasis," and an amphitheater. This is true not only of the deep, high, wide rooms, and terraces of individual residences, but also of the Veil's other world.

"We are passionate about ensuring our buildings are responsive to the place, that they belong to the site and the native landscape where they are situated," said RCR Arquitectes.

"They must communicate with nature and be infused with the atmosphere of the local culture," the firm added. 

The residential tower's slim profile conceals its use of traditional ventilation and natural light techniques, utilizing an architecture that is both creative and reflective. It is situated in a prime canal-side location adjacent to Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai's main transportation thoroughfare. 

The architectural treasure is a well-protected piece of art, with a gallery tour devoted to its distinctive features that is by appointment only. It was crafted with precision, performance, and beauty in mind.

Spain-based firm RCR Arquitectes won the 2017 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Having worked in their hometown for more than 30 years, the founders Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, and Ramon Vilalta have a strong bond with the local architecture and landscape.

Top image in the article: Muraba Veil, Oasis.

All images courtesy of RCR Arquitectes.

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