This project is a residential compound containing five family villas, one reception villas (Majles) and mosque. The site is in Khobar which in brief has hot and humid summers, cold and dry winters. It is located on a plot facing the Persian Gulf Sea.
Our design approach of the project was to move from a reclaimed land to a multi-ecosystem habitat. The site is located on a reclaimed land, with a low ecological value and deprived habitat that used to be an ecologically rich and biodiverse mangrove forest.
Other than the absence of habitat, we were presented with 3 main environmental challenges: very high sun exposure on the southern and western side, prevailing winds from the north-east side, poor soil and seawater intrusion on site. The main landscape solution that we presented is the creation of 6 ecological areas where each has a precise list flora that would be planted to attract specific fauna such as birds, pollinator and insects.
The ecological areas proposed are:
Acacia Savannah Plains, Food Production, Oasis, Mangrove and Wetlands, Coastal Desert and Desert.