Skip to content
Haitham Abdelrehim

UAE · Automotive showrooms · 2024 · FACE Architecture + Design

Mercedes-Benz Majlis & GAC Showroom

The concept pairs the screened enclosure of a Mercedes-Benz Majlis with GAC's open display frontage, coordinating two identities within one building.

The illuminated brick screen gives the Majlis an identity beyond the sign above its entrance.
Year
2024
Sector
Automotive
Scope
Concept design

The project

The project brings two showrooms together for Gargash Enterprises. Each has its own parking allocation and customer spaces, while the architecture gives both a clear address along the street. GAC uses a glazed display frontage beneath a continuous dark fascia. The Mercedes-Benz Majlis introduces a perforated brick screen with pointed arches, drawing on the architectural language associated with its name.

Inside the Majlis, the display floor, Maybach salon and handover spaces establish the customer sequence. Management and meeting rooms occupy the mezzanine, with vehicle storage behind the public areas. The GAC plan groups its principal displays, AION area, lounge and café at ground level. Along the shared frontage, the change in roofline and the entrance tower mediate between the two brands; the evening lighting makes the brick screen legible as a porous enclosure.

A common frontage accommodates two brands without asking them to share the same architectural language.
The changing roofline mediates between the linear showroom and the taller arched screen.
Pointed arches introduce the language of the majlis into an automotive setting.
Repeated openings break the long enclosure into bays scaled to the pedestrian frontage.
The entrance tower marks the junction between the two showroom identities.
GAC's continuous fascia brings signage and the glazed display floor into a single street-facing composition.
The display floor addresses passing visitors directly through the glazed frontage.
Closely spaced fins give the broad fascia depth without interrupting its horizontal line.
The entrance remains part of the display frontage, keeping arrival close to the cars on show.

“A shared building can give each brand its own address.”

Each brand remains distinct after dark through its own approach to signage and façade lighting.
The lit showroom extends the display beyond opening hours to the street outside.
Backlighting reveals the permeability of the brick screen while retaining the outline of the arches.
The smaller brick openings provide a second scale of detail within the larger arched bays.
Lighting reinforces the entrance tower as the point of arrival between the two buildings.

Process

  • Area study — separate showroom and parking allocations establish how the two brands share the site.

  • Majlis ground floor — display, consultation and handover spaces form a customer route, with vehicle storage behind.

  • Majlis mezzanine — management and meeting rooms sit above the customer-facing programme.

  • GAC ground floor — display areas connect with the customer lounge and café, while storage occupies the rear.

Colophon

Year
2024
Sector
Automotive
Typology
Automotive showrooms
Scope
Concept design
Client
Gargash Enterprises
Size
Mercedes-Benz Majlis ≈ 1,285 m² (ground + mezzanine) · GAC showroom ≈ 1,400 m²