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Haitham Abdelrehim

Al Ruqa Al Hamrah, Sharjah, UAE · Multi-brand automotive facility · 2025 · FACE Architecture + Design

Gargash Multibrand Facility — Mercedes-Benz, GAC & Tesla

A 34,800 m² automotive facility for Gargash bringing Mercedes-Benz, GAC and Tesla together on a single site, with shared back-of-house behind three distinct brand worlds.

Render — Mercedes-Benz showroom, entrance elevation under the canopy
Location
Al Ruqa Al Hamrah, Sharjah, UAE
Year
2025
Sector
Commercial / Automotive
Scope
Concept design
Status
Concept design report issued, January 2025
Role
Senior Architect — led the Mercedes-Benz building

The project

Car brands arrive with thick rulebooks. Mercedes-Benz's Retail Experience guidelines and GAC's store construction handbook set materials, ceiling heights, display geometry, lighting levels and signage zones before a line is drawn, and a multi-brand facility has to satisfy all of them without becoming three unrelated buildings sharing a car park. The plan answers by separating identity from infrastructure: showrooms and customer lounges take the road frontage, while the workshop, stockyard, wash and back-of-house are centralised behind them and shared.

Within that framework the Mercedes-Benz building sets the tone — ground and mezzanine of about 3,190 m², with the showroom, G-Class lounge, boutique and consultation rooms on the ground floor, handover bays worked into the customer journey, and offices above on the mezzanine. Sharjah Municipality's plot conditions shaped the envelope: three-metre setbacks to side and rear, a G+M+1 height limit, and a rule against window units on the façade, which pushes the elevation towards glazed bays and solid panels rather than punched openings. Civil Defence, SEWA and RTA approvals were part of the same concept programme.

Render — the three showrooms on the plot from the air, shared back-of-house behind
Render — the glazed showroom bays from the approach road
Render — Mercedes-Benz reception and vehicle display
Render — the showroom display floor

“Separate identity from infrastructure: three brand worlds, one shared back-of-house.”

Render — feature vehicle display
Render — consulting lounge
Render — G-Class lounge
Render — vehicle handover bay

Process

The programme diagram that separates the three showrooms from the shared back-of-house, and the Mercedes-Benz building's plans, customer journey, elevations and sections from the concept report.

  • Programme and adjacencies — three showrooms on the frontage, shared workshop, wash and stockyard behind

  • Mercedes-Benz showroom — ground and mezzanine floor plans

  • Mercedes-Benz showroom — sales customer journey

  • Mercedes-Benz showroom — front and side elevations

  • Mercedes-Benz showroom — sections

Diagrams

  • One roofMercedes-BenzGACTeslaShared service, handover and workshopCustomer frontage — full-height glazing under the canopy

    Diagram — three brand worlds under one roof: showroom zones along the glazed frontage, shared service and workshop behind

What I did

  • Led the Mercedes-Benz building through concept design under the design director
  • Applied the Mercedes-Benz Retail Experience guidelines to plan, elevation and customer journey
  • Resolved the showroom-to-workshop and handover-bay sequence
  • Worked within Sharjah Municipality's setback, height and façade conditions
  • Coordinated with the multi-brand masterplan so the three showrooms share back-of-house and circulation

Colophon

Location
Al Ruqa Al Hamrah, Sharjah, UAE
Year
2025
Sector
Commercial / Automotive
Typology
Multi-brand automotive facility
Scope
Concept design
Status
Concept design report issued, January 2025
Role
Senior Architect — led the Mercedes-Benz building
Client
Gargash Enterprises
Size
≈ 34,800 m² plot · Mercedes-Benz showroom G + M, ≈ 3,190 m²