Evolution Of Dubai Racing Club: Our Concept Design Plans Explained

The project brief

We were contacted by the organization behind one of the most iconic horse racing venues in the world, the Dubai Racing Club. They were looking for a design for the Nade Al Sheba stable complex, quarantine barns for horses arriving at the venue ahead of race day, and a fully equipped riding school block for general use. These buildings would be added to the existing Mayden Racecourse site, where the annual Dubai World Cup is held – the world’s richest race day, with prize money of over $26.25 million. The current racecourse encompasses an impressive grandstand and a 2,400 metre turf course, and the venue accommodates up to 60,000 spectators.

On non-race days, the venue is still a frequently visited location, with the site also including a horse racing museum, a gallery, five-star hotel, and The Track, a nine-hole golf course. The racecourse also serves as a corporate hub, with an ample conference centre used by international organisations all year round.

We have been successfully shortlisted from many other UAE design studios, and we’ll be submitting some concept designs that showcase how we would approach the work.

Bringing ambitious plans to life

This proposal began with an in-depth design consultation, and this was an integral first step in bringing the organization’s vision to life. Our design team orchestrated this process; determining as much detail as possible about the proposed works, by sharing inspirational images and mood boards with the client to piece their plans together. We covered significant detail at this point, exploring aspects beyond aesthetics, and touching on material components, to understand how we could create the best solution for this specific project.

We also took some time to clarify our own understanding of our clients’ goals – this is going to be a substantial development, serving several different, unique purposes, so we needed to account for this in the entirety of our approach. For each aspect of the development, we made note of the purpose and usage requirements for the spaces we would be designing. Beyond this, we also began gathering the practicalities and physical aspects of the new developments, making note of the dimensions of each new development to pass onto our technical designers.

How cultural factors impacted our approach

In Arabian culture, horses are viewed as a gift from Allah to humanity, and writings in the Quran state that these creatures should be cherished, respected, and worshiped. This ancient understanding has travelled through to modernity, and the Dubai Racing Club finds plenty of subtle ways to demonstrate this belief. This cultural understanding impacts our design, too – we had to come up with a design solution that conveyed this belief, in the way that the magnificent existing racecourse already did; the Meydan Racecourse was built on the basis of this, and the original intention for the venue was to create the biggest racing club, with the largest race course in the world. The proposed new stable complex was also an acknowledgement of the heritage of this venue, as its planned namesake would be the ‘Nade Al Sheba’ – a nod to the name of the venue that preceded the Meydan Racecourse.

Our concept design needed to demonstrate an adherence to this, while serving as a new phase in the evolution of the venue in its own right.

How we formulated a design approach

To create a blueprint for the new developments, we used a series of inspiration images of racing clubs from other countries. Using this as a starting point, we created several different design approaches for stable complex, quarantine block, and riding school, and organic architecture was a common thread through each option. Organic architecture involves blending a proposed development with the surrounding landscape, through the materials, textures, and structural choices that are made. Approaching our plans for the project in this way meant we could create harmony with the existing racecourse. The racecourse already carves out an impressive physical presence, and our new developments needed to convey a sense of synergy with this.

To give our clients a variety of concepts to consider, we deviated from the ‘organic’ approach slightly, offering some designs for the project that had the hallmarks of ‘natural architecture’. In this style, we incorporated more naturally-occurring materials such as stone, wood, and sand, adding glass fixtures to introduce more natural light, and making use of self-contained, minimal shapes.

Once the client had identified their preferred style, we refined our concept design process to find any outstanding features that we could add to ensure we were meeting their needs completely. At this point, we considered things such as space planning, bespoke architectural details, and the aspect of the new developments in relation to their surroundings (natural) and the existing racecourse.

Next steps for our Dubai Racecourse redevelopment project

If our proposal is selected, we would refine our development plans until we are confident that the client is happy; and from here, our project management team would start their involvement, ensuring that everything is in order from a legal point of view. Once all of the applicable Dubai Municipality regulations have been adhered to, our site management team would begin their role in the work, briefing our team of skilled labourers. In this way, we would organise every aspect of this design and build project up until the work begins.

Got a similar redevelopment project in mind in Dubai? We’re proud to serve as a design partner for many trusted organisations in the city. To arrange a free design consultation with our team of Dubai architects, simply Whatsapp us or get in touch online now.