Villa Design in Emirates Living
Emaar laid Emirates Living out in 2003 around lakes and a championship golf course. The Springs, The Meadows, The Lakes and Hattan were each built to repeating house types, so a villa here began life as one of many rather than as a single commission. That is the interesting part. Design in this community is mostly a question of what one house can become inside a pattern it shares with every neighbour on the street.
Villa design in Emirates Living covers The Springs, The Meadows, The Lakes and Hattan, four of the residential communities Emaar groups under Emirates Living, a gated development established in 2003 around an eighteen hole championship golf course and some seventy lakes. Emaar is the master developer, and its community management states that any alteration to a villa has to be approved by Emaar, with owners applying for a no objection certificate through the community portal. The building permit for a house in Dubai is issued by Dubai Municipality through its Building Control and Building Permits Department, which publishes permit procedures for residential villas. LKYOOB designs villas for plots in Emirates Living and lodges its own permit applications. The studio is registered with Dubai Municipality in the name KYOOB ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY L.L.C and is classified to G+4, so one practice can carry a scheme from the community review through to the permit file.
Emirates Living at a glance
| Master developer | Emaar, which established Emirates Living in 2003 as a gated community around an eighteen hole championship golf course and some seventy lakes |
|---|---|
| Developer consent | Any alteration to a villa has to be approved by Emaar; owners apply for a no objection certificate through the community portal under home modifications |
| Permit authority | Dubai Municipality, through its Building Control and Building Permits Department, which publishes separate permit procedures for residential villas |
| Typology, The Springs | 4,856 homes across fourteen sub-communities, mixing two to four bedroom townhouses with detached five bedroom villas; homes of roughly 1,857 to 3,902 square feet |
| Typology, The Meadows | Nine sub-communities of two storey detached villas of three to seven bedrooms; three bedroom houses from about 3,089 square feet and five bedroom houses to about 6,151 square feet |
| Typology, The Lakes | Six sub-communities, Deema, Forat, Ghadeer, Hattan, Maeen and Zulal, of detached villas and townhouses commonly between about 2,100 and 3,100 square feet |
| Typology, Hattan | 162 villas of four to seven bedrooms spread over two or three levels, with uninterrupted views of the surrounding golf course |
How does approval work in Emirates Living?
Emirates Living is an Emaar community, and the developer keeps a say over what happens to a house inside it. Emaar Community Management states plainly that any alteration to the villa has to be approved by Emaar, and owners apply for a no objection certificate by logging on to the community portal and selecting home modifications. That reach is broad. It covers work an owner might think of as private, not only what shows from the street. Separately, the building permit for a house in Dubai is issued by Dubai Municipality through its Building Control and Building Permits Department, which publishes permit procedures for residential villas. Emaar's own page does not set out how its certificate and the municipal permit sit in sequence, so LKYOOB confirms the order for the specific plot before a submission is prepared rather than assuming it. What does not change is that both readers have to be satisfied by one coherent set of drawings, prepared once.
What did Emaar build here, and how does that shape a brief?
The four communities covered here were built to repeating house types rather than as individual designs, and knowing the type tells a designer where the structure, the services and the room to grow actually are. The Springs is the largest, with 4,856 homes across fourteen sub-communities, its stock a mix of townhouses from two to four bedrooms and detached five bedroom villas. The Meadows is arranged in nine sub-communities of two storey detached villas running from three to seven bedrooms, with garden and porch space given over to outdoor living. The Lakes is divided into six sub-communities: Deema, Forat, Ghadeer, Hattan, Maeen and Zulal. Hattan sits at the corner of Emirates Living and holds 162 villas of four to seven bedrooms spread over two or three levels, with uninterrupted views of the surrounding golf course. A brief that starts from the original type tends to cost less and clear review faster than one drawn as though the plot were empty.
How much can each house type take?
Because the houses repeat, the question an owner usually asks is how much more a particular type will carry. Homes in The Springs run from roughly 1,857 to 3,902 square feet. Villas in The Lakes commonly fall between about 2,100 and 3,100 square feet. Houses in The Meadows are larger, with three bedroom villas from about 3,089 square feet and five bedroom villas reaching about 6,151 square feet. Those figures set expectations early and honestly. On a townhouse in The Springs the useful moves are often internal: opening up the ground floor, reworking the kitchen and its relationship to the garden, and rebuilding the stair. On a detached villa in The Meadows or The Lakes there is usually ground for a rear extension, a shaded terrace or a pool, and scope to rethink the first floor. Hattan, at four to seven bedrooms over two or three levels, is closer to remodelling a large house than adapting a standard type.
What does a golf or lake frontage ask for?
Emirates Living was planned around water and golf, and a plot's relationship to both guides the early decisions. Emaar records around seventy lakes within the community, carrying more than ninety floating fountains, with an eighteen hole championship golf course at its centre. Where a house looks over a fairway or a lake, as Hattan's villas do over the golf course, the view pulls living rooms and terraces towards it, while the same aspect brings low sun and glare off water. Shading, deep reveals and planting are therefore worked out together rather than added once the glazing is set. Walking trails run through the community, which raises a second question. A rear garden that opens onto a lake or a path is overlooked unless levels, planting and the boundary are handled deliberately. Privacy and outlook are settled in the same move, plot by plot, rather than traded against each other at the end.
How does LKYOOB work in Emirates Living?
Working inside a community of repeated types asks for restraint and a clear record of what is already there. LKYOOB begins an Emirates Living project by establishing what the original house type was and what has been changed since, because many of these villas have been modified more than once in the years since the community opened. From there the scheme is developed to answer Emaar's review and the municipal permit with a single set of drawings, rather than a design for the family and a separate file for approval. A design that argues with the community's pattern tends to spend its budget on approvals instead of on rooms. The studio is registered with Dubai Municipality in the name KYOOB ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY L.L.C, classified to G+4, and lodges its own permit applications. The intention is a house that is individual from inside and quiet among its neighbours from the pavement.
Design studies suited to plots in Emirates Living
These studies were not drawn for Emirates Living. They are shown because the kind of villa they describe, in scale, in plan and in the way it meets its plot, is the kind this community asks for. Every image is a design visualisation, not a photograph.
Questions owners ask about Emirates Living
Do I need Emaar approval to extend my villa in The Meadows?
Yes. Emaar Community Management states that any alteration to the villa has to be approved by Emaar, and owners apply for a no objection certificate through the community portal by selecting home modifications. The building permit itself is issued by Dubai Municipality. LKYOOB confirms the order of the two steps for the specific plot before preparing a submission.
Can I change the outside of my villa in The Springs?
Any alteration needs Emaar's approval, and changes visible from the street are read closely against the community's pattern. On a Springs townhouse of roughly 1,857 to 3,902 square feet, the moves that repay most are usually internal: opening the ground floor, reworking the kitchen towards the garden, and rebuilding the stair.
Is Hattan part of Emirates Living?
Yes. Emaar counts Hattan among the communities that make up Emirates Living, and it sits at the corner of the development with views over the golf course. Property records also list Hattan 1, 2 and 3 as sub-communities of The Lakes. Either way the same Emaar approval requirement applies to alterations.
Who issues the building permit for an Emirates Living villa?
Dubai Municipality, through its Building Control and Building Permits Department, which publishes permit procedures for residential villas. Emaar's approval of the alteration is a separate requirement set by the master developer. LKYOOB is registered with Dubai Municipality in the name KYOOB ENGINEERING CONSULTANCY L.L.C and lodges its own permit applications.
Emirates Living was built quickly and to a pattern, and the interesting work there now is what a single house can become within it. LKYOOB designs villas for plots in The Springs, The Meadows, The Lakes and Hattan, works to Emaar's requirement that any alteration be approved, and lodges its own permit applications. A conversation about a specific house type is the natural place to begin.
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