Gulf Construction Online - Masterplan of ADU unveiled

UAE Focus

Sheikh Hamdan inspects the masterplan.

Masterplan of ADU unveiled

01 April 2005

The Abu Dhabi University (ADU) project crossed a significant milestone following the approval of the preliminary designs of the Phase 1 facilities by founder and patron, Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The master plan for the new Dh200 million ($54.45 million) campus was completed on target as part of a fast-track development to accommodate its intake of 5,000 students for the academic year beginning September 2006, says a spokesman for the developer.
The new campus for the rapidly growing private university has been designed with separate wings for teaching both male and female students. The first phase includes two auditoria, of 1,000 and 350 seats respectively, and a state-of-the-art library designed to serve the university throughout its growth period.
With its Abu Dhabi and Al Ain campuses already showing rising student numbers, the increasingly popular university has built into the new master plan additional laboratories, a student union, restaurants, a gymnasium, a multi-purpose hall and a student clinic, he says.
Teaching staff will be provided with a complex of offices and support facilities in a central location. The initial phase will also include the administrative headquarters of the university, as well as staff and student accommodations. A central services complex will provide the energy centre, main delivery and storage, central kitchens, workshops, offices and accommodations for support staff.
The new ADU master plan includes areas set aside for a teaching hospital, a mosque, a school for students from kindergarten through grade 12, a graduate centre and sports fields. Space has been set aside for the long-term development of further new facilities, whilst an area already has been identified to meet the needs associated with the growth of student and staff populations, the spokesman adds.
Care has been taken to ensure convenient access through the proper provision of car parking, an area for cars to drop-off and collect students, and for bus arrival and departure. The new campus site provides options to expand in a flexible way to the target population of 10,000 students. The facilities will enable the university to add colleges and degree programs to meet emerging demands.
The classical façade of the new university will have strong, distinctive lines, which will be easily recognizable and enduring. Landscaping of the campus has been planned to provide a pleasant setting in which students will live and study and care has been taken in the selection of plantings and materials to conserve water and energy.