DUBAI - Nakheel's upcoming project, Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall, will be the setting for an authentic Chinese garden in the UAE.
Australian based company, DesignInc, has been involved in creating the concept of the China Court Garden, which includes three garden cafes as well as adjacent seating pavilion areas. The garden forms a link to the retail mall leading into the China Court. Nakheel Executive Chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, adds, "At Ibn Battuta Shopping Mall, we are committed to raising the level of quality of the mall environment for customers to enjoy and appreciate. The central idea is that the garden will be an area of tranquillity within the extensive retail space of the mall. By incorporating the Chinese Garden into the mall, we are creating a space for visitors unlike any other.''
''Our goal is to reinvent the shopping experience, and the Chinese Garden enables us to offer this concept to mall visitors by transporting them to another world. As soon as the visitor enters the mall the visitor will experience various entertainment options within the Chinese court."
"The entertainment elements are reflected in the landscaped garden, architecture and water features, these lifelike features will be unique to the Mall and will be a definite attraction for visitors," added Sulayem.
Carolyn Varney, Principal at DesignInc, said one of the main areas of research for the garden is the plant life.
"The DesignInc team travelled to China to study and research first hand what components make up an authentic, traditional Chinese Garden; these ideas were then exported to Dubai.''
''We also brought in a landscape designer to advise on the possible plants we could use that are native to China but would withstand the Dubai climate," she explained.
© Khaleej Times 2005
