Simply Abu Dhabi XXXVI

contours of the land. The Asian financial crisis at the end of the 90s meant that this vision was not to be realised until much later, with construction not starting until 2002.” The right architect appeared when a relatively inexperienced young architect from London was given the chance to apply his considerable vision and talent. Gary Fell, now the Architect & Principal of GFAB Architects, explains, “When the project started, I was a struggling architect with a small practice of 10 or so architects. To be entirely frank, what excited me most was getting a job which allowed us to show what we could do and get paid for it. Here we were presented with a fabulous site with incredible views – what architect wouldn’t be excited by the prospect of designing for such a place?” Reflecting on how he managed to integrate nature into such a luxurious development, Fell says, “Initially when planning the development what I found especially interesting and inspiring were the massive rock outcrops that litter the site. I elected, very early on, to use these as anchors for each villa, allowing the rocks to become part of the houses. As we are dealing here with houses across several levels, I used landscape for roofs and looked to treat the progression through the house as one through nature or garden. The blurring of the distinction between indoor and outdoor was a very deliberate decision, though in all honesty it might be better to say that I couldn’t imagine how one might do it differently.” Samujana was conceived with some fundamental ideals: a vision of unprecedented magnificence in 2 5 8 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I