Biophilic design Heriot Watt campus Dubai, New UAE Building, United Arab Emirates Architecture News
Biophilic design at Heriot Watt campus in Dubai
23 August 2022
Bringing Life To The Desert With Biophilic Design
Design: BDP
Location: Dubai, UAE
Heriot Watt Campus Dubai Biophilic design

photo : Rebecca Hobday, BDP
When visitors cross the threshold of Heriot Watt?s new university campus in Dubai, they leave behind the searing heat of the desert for climate-controlled comfort, where diffused lighting offers relief from the harsh glare of the sun.
In such an extreme environment, where summer temperatures can reach 50C, this alone would create a sense of ease, but it is just the first in a series of subtle features and carefully considered themes that run like a green thread through every level of the campus. The redevelopment of a seven-storey office block overlooking the Arabian Gulf into a unified vertical campus for a Scottish university, has been realised using biophilic principles. Here, human affinity with nature has informed the orientation of learning spaces; the choice of materials for walls, floors and furniture; the flow of air, and even hanging felt screens that absorb sound and provide privacy in open-plan staff areas.
Biophilic design has been shown to enhance wellbeing, and it?s not just about plants although, as in Heriot Watt?s Dubai Campus where interior green walls run through all levels, these can form an important part of the design. It is also about te...