Rawdah transforms the plaza adjacent to the American University of Sharjah (AUS) Library into a regenerative landscape and interspecies refuge — a garden-as-classroom that integrates nature-based learning, biodiversity support, and student-led design into the heart of campus life.
Rather than imposing a new design over a blank slate that would generate demolition waste, the project embraces a palimpsestic approach, working with existing site conditions to weave in new architectural elements.
Designed and developed by AUS students of ARC497: Regenerative Design, the project builds upon a semester-long inquiry into the ecological, cultural, and pedagogical roles that architecture can play in the UAE’s shifting urban and environmental context. It proposes a series of nature-forward interventions — that expand the existing planters into an immersive arid garden that introduces 130 new seats, cast tables, shading provided by new trees and fabric canopies, new pathways, and a series of new planting beds.
The project is designed using component-based logic that allows for modularity, reusability and eventual disassembly, aligning with low impact, sustainable construction practices. It also foregrounds sustainable materials designed for circularity. The architectural components are made from Datecrete — a locally made cementitious material made using discarded date pits.
Beyond its physical form, the project functions as a pedagogical prototype: it cultivates ecological literacy, design agency, and community stewardship through its making. It aligns with AUS’s sustainability mission and several of the United Nation’s SDGs. Timed to coincide with the AUS Library’s 20th anniversary, it also responds to the Green Libraries Memorandum, positioning the campus library not only as a hub of knowledge, but as a steward of ecological futures.
The design integrates a layered set of sustainability strategies spanning material, ecological, hydrological, and social dimensions, all grounded in the UAE context and the specific environmental conditions of the AUS campus. At the core of the approach is regenerative design, where interventions aim not only to reduce harm but to restore ecological relationships, support biodiversity, and seed new patterns of stewardship.
The planting strategy prioritizes native and adaptive species selected for their drought tolerance, ecological function, and role in attracting pollinators and birdlife. Planting zones are organized based on sun path orientation, with deeper-rooted or heat-tolerant species located in exposed areas and understory species placed where shade is cast from trees or built structures.
Commissioned by Abwab for Dubai Design Week 2024, ReRoot is a prototype for a bio-based, medium-term shelter. Using mycelium grown on local agricultural waste, its lightweight, thermally insulating, fire-resistant modules can be DIY-assembled and aggregated into dignified dwellings and essential civic spaces. After use, the bio-based components return to the earth, advancing a circular, regenerative approach to shelter. Designed by Dalia Hamati, Dima Al Srouri, Andy Cartier and Rosa Hämäläinen
ReRoot embodies regenerative design by imagining an ecological vernacular that uses mycelium—a material derived from fungi grown on local palm waste—as a primary construction material.
ReRoot's kit-of-parts modular frame includes a raised floor to prevent against ground borne disease, a ramped entry for accessibility, and a recessed front door for privacy and security. High level openings provide natural light penetration, while a mono-pitched roof encourages water or snow shed. A mezzanine accommodates additional family members or storage of belongings.
Rawdah, An Ecological Commons at the American University of Sharjah, 2026
A Worm’s-Eye-View, Architecture Fellowship Exhibition AUS, 2024
Twin Villas Renovation and Expansion in Dubai 2023