Abu Musa Apartments

Apartment blocks on this scale are usually built to a formula, with balconies treated as leftover space and the ground floor given over entirely to parking behind an open grille.

Two changes were made here. Every unit gets a balcony deep enough to actually use, with a planter built into the edge so the greenery is permanent rather than dependent on the tenant. And the parking level is screened behind vertical timber battens with planting in front, which gives the building a proper base instead of a dark void at street level.

The elevation alternates render and stone in vertical bands to break up the mass, and the stair and lift core is expressed as a separate element to one side.