Dubai, UAE · Residential mid-rise · 2025 — Current · FACE Architecture + Design

The Isolana

Ground, two podiums and eight floors on Dubai Islands — a building planned from the inside out, where every unit type had to earn its area, its light and its view.

Location: Dubai, UAE
Year: 2025 — Current
Sector: Residential
Scope: RIBA Stages 0–3 — concept to spatial coordination
Status: Design development
Role: Senior Architect

The project

The brief asked for density without the feeling of density. Working through RIBA Stages 0–3 under the Design Director, the plan was tested as a set of unit typologies rather than a single floor plate: each one measured against GFA targets, circulation efficiency, privacy between neighbours and the regulations.

The façade answers the same question from outside — proportion, depth and shading tuned so the building reads calm from the street and open from within. Structural, MEP, lighting and approvals consultants were coordinated through the concept so the geometry that survived was the geometry that could be built.

Render — view 2

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The Isolana — Render — view 4 — Render — view 4

The Isolana — Render — view 5 — Render — view 5

The Isolana — Render — view 6 — Render — view 6

The Isolana — Render — view 7 — Render — view 7

The Isolana — Render — view 8 — Render — view 8

The Isolana — Render — view 9 — Render — view 9

The Isolana — Render — view 10 — Render — view 10

“Every unit type had to earn its area, its light and its view.”

Render — view 11

The Isolana — Render — view 12 — Render — view 12

The Isolana — Render — view 13 — Render — view 13

Render — view 14

Process

Planning studies run from the podium up through the typical floors. Unit typologies were refined against GFA targets, circulation efficiency and privacy, and the façade was developed as a section through the vertical cladding.

Ground floor plan
Podium level — pool deck
Podium parking level
Typical floor plan
Upper floor plan
Ramp section
Unit typology studies
GFA and area studies per level, extracted from the Revit model
Ramp sections and façade details — vertical cladding and parapet

What I did

Led a team of 4 through RIBA Stages 0–3 under the Design Director
Directed junior architects on planning layouts and Revit studies
Refined unit typologies against GFA, circulation and privacy targets
Developed the façade concept
Coordinated structural, MEP, lighting and approvals consultants
Set material and FF&E direction

Colophon

Location: Dubai, UAE
Year: 2025 — Current
Sector: Residential
Typology: Residential mid-rise
Scope: RIBA Stages 0–3 — concept to spatial coordination
Status: Design development
Role: Senior Architect
Client: Hayaat Developments · Projenco Global Consulting LLC (project management)
Storeys: G + 2 Podiums + 8 Floors
Software: AutoCAD, Revit, Adobe CC