Because even before the desire to win, there is the drive to challenge oneself, to make room for the unknown and the extraordinary.
For the competition of the Pavilion of the University of the Future at UAEU, the design concept emerged from a collaborative workshop that brought together architects, engineers, designers, graphic artists, modelers, craftsmen, and creatives. An international team striving to bridge Arab and European cultures, with the ambition not merely to design a space, but to craft an experience.
The client’s request was to highlight the university’s forward-looking academic vision, sparking curiosity and inspiration among visitors—particularly the younger generations, potential students of tomorrow. This gave rise to the idea of a path where light, sound, color, material, and interaction converge to create an immersive journey reflecting the passage of time—an allegorical day in the desert, with all its shades, atmospheres, and sensations.
The narrative unfolds as a personal, futuristic, and transformative voyage in which the visitor becomes an explorer, moving through environments that evoke the depths of the ocean along the coast, the haze of a sandstorm, the illusion of a mirage, the surprise of an oasis, and the brilliance of a starlit night that dissolves into a new dawn.
A mystical place where each visitor becomes the architect of their own destiny—while we played with the challenge of imagining infinite landscapes within just over 300 square meters.
And we won