From desert gardens to Kashmiri weaving: What to see at Dubai Design Week 2026

The National · Razmig Bedirian · 2026-11-04 11:35 UTC

Installations explore how architecture, materials and traditions shape how we experience world

Standing in the centre of Dubai Design District, Three Gardens and a Room is hardly a secret. But walk into any of its spaces, past the curved walls painted pink, ochre and yellow, and you’ll find yourself amid desert trees, wondrously removed from the surrounding glass and steel. The spaces resemble secret gardens, sequestered from the rush of the corporate and commercial district.

Three Gardens and a Room won this year's Urban Commissions, an annual initiative of Dubai Design Week. Developed by NAO Architects, it shows how a few precisely placed architectural elements can transform a setting. The work responded to this year’s theme of Atmospheres, which sought to explore how spatial conditions can affect a person’s emotional and physical state.

“It was a very inspiring open call,” says Reem Nassour, founder of the Dubai-based NAO Architects. “It was very intuitive. It asked us to think as architects about colour, materiality, texture, shade and temperature.”

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