UPA Italia by Paolo Lettieri Architects

Desert Box is a small mixed-use center for shops and offices located in Madinat Zayed City, an oasis city in the middle of the desert in the Western Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

The customer's idea was to make the architecture look like commercial transport boxes, so as to give the project uniqueness and character, despite the simple functional program. The use of standard dimensions derives from the boxes. This meant that composite volumes and façade projections could be created like a sort of toy volumes. This allowed to give the building a less rigid and more informal look.

On the ground floor, there are spaces for shops and possibly small cafeterias on the street. On the upper floors, there are shops and businesses with internal windows and office spaces. On the first and second floors, there are terraces with pergolas to be able to go out and have an outlet to the outside. These terraces offer the spectacular view of the nearby desert dunes. The roof level is occupied by systems shielded by parapets up to almost 3 meters high. On each floor there are services and bathrooms.

The Desert Box Center is envisaged as the possible business and retail catalyst for a small city nestled in the middle of the desert.