An installation reimagining the garden as three interconnected spatial experiences, exploring roof, enclosure, mound and hearth through planting, colour, material and filtered light.

This year’s winning proposal for Urban Commissions, Three Gardens and a Room, is by NAO Architects, a Dubai-based architecture practice founded by architect Reem Nassour.

Three Gardens and a Room reimagines the garden as a series of interconnected spatial experiences, exploring four fundamental architectural condition: the roof, mound, hearth and enclosure. Arranged around a shared central space, the three gardens bring together foliage, colour, shade, thermal comfort, materiality and filtered light to create distinct environments that visitors move between and inhabit. The composition of the three gardens results in an enclosure in between – a room to gather, pause, observe and connect. Drawing on the garden as both an architectural and social space, the proposal explores how relatively simple elements—walls, thresholds, shade, vegetation and light—can shape different ways of gathering, pausing and experiencing place.

Set within the hardscape of Dubai Design District (d3), the project introduces a deliberately softer landscape, using trees and vegetation to create shade, sensory contrast and moments of respite within the urban environment.

About NAO Architects
Established in 2023 by architect Reem Nassour, the Dubai-based studio works across architecture, research and urban design, with a particular focus on the relationship between people, place and the narratives embedded within them. Nassour’s practice is informed by context, climate, materiality and the everyday rituals through which people inhabit and share space.