Landscape Architecture: ICON
Location: Al Maqta, Abu Dhabi
Area: 97,000 sq m
At Al Qana, landscape is inseparable from movement.
The Abu Dhabi waterfront development brings together 11 low-rise buildings, landscaped public spaces, four pedestrian bridges and a 2.4-kilometre waterfront promenade. ICON’s landscape scope included landscape design, furniture, water features, horticultural studies, irrigation, lighting and wayfinding.
Rather than treating the waterfront as a single promenade, the landscape establishes a sequence of experiences. Piazzas, pathways, planting, seating and water features create different moments along the journey.
This is an important shift in thinking.
Good public landscape does not simply give people somewhere to walk. It gives them reasons to pause.
A change in paving can slow the pace. A planted edge can create intimacy. Water can provide sound and reflection. A carefully positioned seat can turn a circulation route into a destination.
At Al Qana, these elements work alongside the architecture to create a waterfront environment that is active without feeling purely commercial.
The landscape becomes the connective tissue—the element that allows the individual buildings and destinations to read as one larger experience.
The best public landscapes understand that movement itself can be designed.
