RK-03
Warehouse 09
An industrial shed kept cool, dark and almost untouched — the cheapest square metres we ever saved.
- Program
- Gallery, adaptive reuse
- Location
- Al Quoz, Dubai
- Area
- 1,150 m²
- Status
- Built 2022
A 1990s logistics shed with good bones and terrible thermals. The client's budget said demolish; our audit said keep. We added a ventilated second roof — a parasol over the existing one — and the shed's summer ceiling temperature fell by 17 degrees before a single interior work began.
Inside, we did as little as the programme allowed: a polished slab, three inserted volumes for services and storage, and a lighting rig hung from the original trusses. The galleries read as found space because they mostly are.
The carbon ledger is the project we're proudest of: reuse saved an estimated 640 tonnes of embodied CO₂ against the demolition scheme.
Design moves
- Parasol roof: −17 °C ceiling temperature
- Three inserted volumes; the shell untouched
- Original trusses carry all services
- ≈640 t embodied CO₂ saved vs rebuild