Dubai Heghts Academy
Dubai Heights academy
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
LOCATION
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Project Facts
Project Dubai Heights Academy
Client Seven Tides
Size 1 million sq. metres
Services Master Planning, Infrastructure and Services, Architectural Design and Engineering, Pre-cast Concrete Engineering, Design and Engineering Management, Project Management, Construction Specifications, Drawings and Documents, Construction Supervision (With Conin).
Status Complete
Budget US$ 200,000
Project Features
Kindergarten with 10 classrooms sized for 22 students/classroom (total 220 students). Each classroom has a dedicated outdoor play area, hand-wash area, en-suite bathroom and store. Staff Room, 2 Parent-Teacher Meeting Rooms, medical Suite, Indoor Swimming Pool, Central courtyard play area and Garden.
Primary School with 30 classrooms for 22 students each (total 66o students), Breakout Spaces, Learning Support Rooms Key Stage Leader Offices; Labs for food tech, music, science with stores, Arabic/ Islamic Studies Room, Library, Multi-purpose Hall, Gym Dining Hall, Commercial Kitchen, Medical Suite, Staff Room, Prayer Rooms, Stores, Staff and Student WCs, Meeting Rooms, Reception, Waiting Area Support Areas.
Secondary School with 35 classrooms for 22 students each (total 770 students). Key Stage Leader Offices, Form/ Tutorial Rooms, Study Area Student Lounge, A Level Staff office, 6th Form Office, Counselling Area, and ICT Suite; Labs for science, design tech, art, drama, music with stores, Library, Teacher’s office, Lounge and WCs, Multi-purpose Hall with Store, Prayer Rooms, Meeting Rooms, Medical Suite, Reception, Waiting Area, Student Locker Area and other support facilities.
Special Needs School with 7 classrooms for 10 students each (total 70 students), 7 Therapy Rooms, 2 Therapy Office/ HODs, Parents Consultation Office, Sensory Gym, Resources Room, Medical Suite, Admin and other support areas.
Full size football pitch with seating, 2 half Olympic size pools and 500 sq. metres of outdoor play areas (50% Shaded), School Bus Parking, Staff and Visitor Car Parking, Student Drop off Area.
Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary
We have 30 years of experience in designing award-winning architecture
Let's TalkHugging the external plot boundary, the buildings are arranged as a series of interconnected volumes planned around densely planted green areas with an additional building storey facing the dual carriageway and junction. Thus, buffering the children from the potential dangers, noise and pollution of the traffic while making a bold statement of the owner’s vision and aspirations.
For the safety of the children’s, movement, and ingress of vehicular traffic within the plot is controlled. Service vehicles are limited to the outer perimeter of the plot while school buses are limited to one side only for entry, parking, and exit. Parents’ drop-off and visitor parking areas are maintained outside the school boundary.
Buildings are clean and pure; the façades are devoid of unnecessary clutter. Articulated only by the coloured vertical louvres with subtle shade difference that create a playful ripple effect along the entire façade for students walking between the school entrances and the school bus drop-off/pick up area. Tree-lined, the walkways are fully pedestrianised with polychromatic tile-work with benches along the way for children to rest.
Master Plan
The design brief for the Dubai Heights Academy called for a safe environment where children of all gender, culture and abilities felt equal; brightly lit and welcoming spaces moulded around the 21st Century teaching principals that would encourage children to want to go to school and foster connectivity, with each other and with nature. The most important element of the design brief was the concern to welcome and nurture every child, particularly those with learning difficulties.
Dubai Heights Academy occupies a prime location adjacent to a major 4-way junction which will experience heavier traffic over time with the increasing density of the neighbourhood. The master-planning of the site ingeniously uses the school building as a barrier to separate the students from this busy urban setting while acting as life-size billboard for the school.
KINDERGARTEN
The design and planning of the single-storey kindergarten is playful, defined by a series of overlapping colourful elliptical forms. There are no corners in this building, and the circulation spaces are wide for the simple reason, children do not run-in straight lines and often collide into corners, hurting themselves.
Primary School
The primary school is designed to cater for the slightly older occupants, and despite being a linear building, it is devoid of lengthy corridors. Teaching year clusters are placed at the ends of the ‘T’ shaped plan with the entrance hall, parent-teacher facilities dining hall and the library at its core. The classrooms are centred on a large, tall flexible space in line with the 21st century mode of teaching. And although these spaces do not have any windows, they are bright spaces flooded with sunlight from the light wells f lanking each space; the light wells fully equipped with irrigation pipelines double up as herb gardens and green courtyards.
Primary School
The primary school is designed to cater for the slightly older occupants, and despite being a linear building, it is devoid of lengthy corridors. Teaching year clusters are placed at the ends of the ‘T’ shaped plan with the entrance hall, parent-teacher facilities dining hall and the library at its core. The classrooms are centred on a large, tall flexible space in line with the 21st century mode of teaching. And although these spaces do not have any windows, they are bright spaces flooded with sunlight from the light wells f lanking each space; the light wells fully equipped with irrigation pipelines double up as herb gardens and green courtyards.
Special Learning
Juxtaposed between the primary and secondary schools, the specialist teaching area is a dedicated and protected zone offering various therapies for children with learning difficulties.
Secondary School
The secondary school is a ‘mature’ building, just like its occupants. Appealing to an impressionable age group that likes to hang out at malls, and invest in developing relationships with goods, brands, and people, the design of the of this school provides a platform to nurture this while delivering the curriculum in a more engaging manner.
The school’s auditorium is the jewel in the crown of the Dubai Height Academy. Intended for school use and by the neighbourhood, it is conceived and thus designed as a community theatre reached by the ascending a grand staircase where patrons are greeted by three sets of double doors. Opening the doors reveals the massive 18-metre wide column-less space housing the 500-seat auditorium that truly is a breath-taking moment.
Secondary School
The secondary school is a ‘mature’ building, just like its occupants. Appealing to an impressionable age group that likes to hang out at malls, and invest in developing relationships with goods, brands, and people, the design of the of this school provides a platform to nurture this while delivering the curriculum in a more engaging manner.
The school’s auditorium is the jewel in the crown of the Dubai Height Academy. Intended for school use and by the neighbourhood, it is conceived and thus designed as a community theatre reached by the ascending a grand staircase where patrons are greeted by three sets of double doors. Opening the doors reveals the massive 18-metre wide column-less space housing the 500-seat auditorium that truly is a breath-taking moment.
Location

Dubai, United Arab Emirates
PROJECT FACTS
Project Dubai Heights Academy
Client Seven Tides
Size N/a
Services Master Planning, Infrastructure and Services, Architectural Design and Engineering, Pre-cast Concrete Engineering, Design and Engineering Management, Project Management, Construction Specifications, Drawings and Documents, Construction Supervision (With International Consultants Conin).
Status Complete
Budget US$200,00
PROJECT FEATURES
Kindergarten with 10 classrooms sized for 22 students/classroom (total 220 students). Each classroom has a dedicated outdoor play area, hand-wash area, en-suite bathroom and store. Staff Room, 2 Parent-Teacher Meeting Rooms, medical Suite, Indoor Swimming Pool, Central courtyard play area and Garden.
Primary School with 30 classrooms for 22 students each (total 66o students), Breakout Spaces, Learning Support Rooms Key Stage Leader Offices; Labs for food tech, music, science with stores, Arabic/ Islamic Studies Room, Library, Multi-purpose Hall, Gym Dining Hall, Commercial Kitchen, Medical Suite, Staff Room, Prayer Rooms, Stores, Staff and Student WCs, Meeting Rooms, Reception, Waiting Area Support Areas.
Secondary School with 35 classrooms for 22 students each (total 770 students). Key Stage Leader Offices, Form/ Tutorial Rooms, Study Area Student Lounge, A Level Staff office, 6th Form Office, Counselling Area, and ICT Suite; Labs for science, design tech, art, drama, music with stores, Library, Teacher’s office, Lounge and WCs, Multi-purpose Hall with Store, Prayer Rooms, Meeting Rooms, Medical Suite, Reception, Waiting Area, Student Locker Area and other support facilities.
Special Needs School with 7 classrooms for 10 students each (total 70 students), 7 Therapy Rooms, 2 Therapy Office/ HODs, Parents Consultation Office, Sensory Gym, Resources Room, Medical Suite, Admin and other support areas.
Full size football pitch with seating, 2 half Olympic size pools and 500 sq. metres of outdoor play areas (50% Shaded), School Bus Parking, Staff and Visitor Car Parking, Student Drop off Area.
Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary
We have 30 years of experience in designing award-winning architecture
Let's Talk