Dubai Creative Clusters Authority

DCCA is a multidisciplinary government organization that deals with building approvals and licensing functions. They foster Dubai’s creative industries to establish Dubai as a global innovation hub.

The space to be renovated initially revealed a standard aesthetic one would typically expect from a government customer service entity. Due to the large amounts of people coming in and out, a main concern of theirs was that a lot of traffic is usually generated within the waiting area, which easily creates confusion.

The initial client brief wanted Swiss Bureau to achieve a contemporary and modern design that still provides the essence of a governmental organization. A main concern of theirs in the refurbishment was to alleviate the abundance of traffic and to reinvent their operational approach to ensure a seamless user-friendly journey for its customers through assistance at reception and include a self-servicing kiosk to streamline its operations.

The newly designed center, located in Studio City, is a Customer Service Center where applications and drawings for building works are reviewed. Crucial to the design of the space was to ensure a smooth flow of people throughout. The space has been zoned to have three distinct spaces; a main customer zone, a meeting zone and a private work area, which can double up as a co-working zone after hours.

An elegant minimalist color palette was used throughout the space as an aid to ensure the space can be brightly inviting and effortlessly flooded with light. The color palette consists of a light champagne color with tones of light blue. These soft accent colors are used mainly in the seating and are complementary to the light wood tiles.

The high ceiling was painted with a light concrete texture, adding a slight touch of contemporary industrial accents to the space. This gives the illusion of a slab ceiling but without any services ensuring the ceiling is not too busy, especially with the addition of the suspended lighting system that is a key feature of the design.

To create a distinctive identity with a small space, shapes and forms have been played with. To make the waiting area less rigid and formal, a playful seating arrangement with modular shapes has been incorporated which provided a more spacious appearance. Wireless charging points have been integrated into the waiting area side tables. Sleek screens were used for display purposes and these have been cleverly integrated into the design.

With a footfall of nearly thousands per day, the DCCA Center has been designed to be not only aesthetically pleasing but also durable in terms of the materials and also efficient in terms of functionality.