CallisonRTKL provides lead-consultant design services for Mamsha Al Saadiyat

The global architecture, planning, and design firm has worked on the luxury property and retail development on Saadiyat Island from design to delivery

 Global architecture, planning, and design firm, CallisonRTKL (CRTKL), have provided lead-consultant design services from the conception to the completion of the luxury beachfront residential development on Saadiyat Island, developed in collaboration with Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s biggest property firm.

With three plots, consisting of nine residential towers, and one plot, consisting of a beach promenade which overlooks the waters of the Arabian Gulf, Mamsha Al Saadiyat evokes the crisp, clean architecture of the iconic Miami Beach in its design. Located in the Cultural District of Saadiyat Island, properties are only a short distance from the Louvre Abu Dhabi, as well as the future sites of the Guggenheim Museum Abu Dhabi and the Zayed National Museum. A range of dining, entertainment, and retail outlets are available along the signature element of the project, a 1.4km promenade that stretches along the shoreline of Saadiyat Island.

Matthew Tribe, Executive Director at CRTKL, commented: “Mamsha Al Saadiyat has been a fascinating project to work on, from the initial conception of the project to its eventual completion. We sought to create a development that provided its residents with much more than a place to live, and made use of the superlative global arts and culture scene available on Saadiyat Island as well as the backdrop of the Arabian Gulf to provide a home quite unlike any other.”

Throughout the development of the project, CRTKL undertook multiple rounds of energy modelling, alongside studies of sustainability and materiality, to ensure that Mamsha Al Saadiyat is as energy efficient as possible in its development. In consequence, Mamsha Al Saadiyat received a 2 Pearl accreditation from the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council’s sustainability rating, Estidama.

Continuing, Geoff Ford, Associate Director at CRTKL and project lead, said: “In its development over the past five years, we have sought to not only create a luxury residential destination, but also ensure that the construction and use of Mamsha Al Saadiyat does not impact the pristine natural marine beauty of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. This comes in line with CallisonRTKL’s wider ‘sustainability first’ approach, which we implement on projects we work on across the world.”

CRTKL’s teams developed the respective locations of each of the buildings in Mamsha Al Saadiyat to be responsive to local climate conditions, and undertook a range of assessments throughout the design stage to ensure strong views of the Arabian Gulf and Saadiyat Island’s cultural district. Early works commenced in 2015, with main works commencing in 2016. Construction works on Mamsha Al Saadiyat concluded in June 2020, with the first residents of the development moving in shortly thereafter.

About CallisonRTKL

CallisonRTKL (CRTKL), a global architecture, planning and design practice, began over seven decades ago and has evolved into a cultural agency to advance positive outcomes in our local and global communities. Through a human-centric design approach our team addresses the imperatives of resiliency, wellbeing and technology and their influence in the built environment.