By: Jade Caluag

“Landscape Architecture is an independent profession and a design & art tradition practiced by designers, combining nature and culture.”
In other words, it bridges the space between landscape architecture and garden design.

Landscape Architecture in the UAE has been continuously driving and pushing the boundaries of imagination by weaving green elements into a landscape based around it’s former livelihood of fishing and pearling. It’s not hard to believe that UAE has undergone a remarkable transformation in a very short space of time and us as designers should feel proud of what has been achieved in the UAE and Dubai in particular.

A very good example of well-designed landscape space in Dubai is La Mer. This modern, quirky and refreshing lifestyle destination has challenged traditional norms of landscape Design in Dubai. It was a pleasant experience to be able to walk through a development where you can dine, shop, relax and play in one contained space. Essentially a place for everyone.

But personally, as a Landscape Architect, the UAE has helped me enhance my appreciation of practicing Landscape Architecture in the city where there are so many constraints, namely the extreme climate! As a young and flourishing designer, working in a vibrant and energetic city where projects have no limits and time is everything has enabled me to develop a strong appreciation of design and how imagination is so integral to realizing a client’s vision.

My first professional experience was with a Landscape Construction company back home in the Philippines and it gave me the taste of the how the real world works and how different it is to studying in College. The second company I worked at was more focused on design and landscape supervision which added to my professional knowledge and gave me my first exposure to Landscape Architecture in a professional context.

While in the Philippines I gained valuable experiences which have given me more freedom to express myself as a designer here in the UAE. I am lucky in the sense that I am part of a highly talented international team and have access to a wide range of software to help me with my work, saying that, you can’t beat some marker pens and a roll of sketch paper!!. I feel fortunate to be in the UAE and be involved with projects where I am given the opportunity to create beautiful and well-functioning spaces which will thrive over time. The key challenge as ever is to meet the needs of VERO’s clients whilst maintaining our overall integrity and design competence.

To summarise, “A great landscape design is deceptive: on the surface, it may seem simple and effortless, when in reality, hours of thought and effort go into its making”