The secluded Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa has won yet another international award for its style, design and dedication to conservation.
The Arab Cities Organisation has presented Al Maha with the Eighth Arab Cities Award for Architecture.
The prestigious Arab Cities Organisation presents its awards in three categories once every three years in the categories of architecture, environment and landscape. As the awards are presented only once every three years, the competition to win them is enormous, once again highlighting the excellence of this achievement by Al Maha.
Set up in 1967, The Arab Cities Organisation is an international, non-governmental Kuwait City-based organisation established to raise the standards of local authorities, municipal services, development of quality living environments, and utilities in Arab cities. Membership is open to all cities in the Arab world.
Rashad Mohamed Bukhash, director general of projects for The Arab Cities Organisation and the head of the selection committee for entries from Dubai, said: “We chose Al Maha from ten Dubai rivals for this Award. We carried out extensive studies on all the contenders, including conducting site visits, and concluded that Al Maha meets all the architectural and artistic criteria required under the scheme.”
Al Maha, owned and managed by Emirates, was first nominated in August 2004 to represent Dubai and had to go through a rigorous qualifying processes to qualify for the highly sought-after award. The resort, listed for the scheme’s architectural category, was chosen because of its distinctive style and traditional Arabian architecture, reflecting Dubai desert heritage, while contemporising these designs for the need for modern comforts, technology, and of course the tranquillity associated with this unique location.