a sitting area with gray seating and green accent walls to the left and right
In the office of Her Excellency Rym Abdulla Al Falasy, Levitt chairs by Ludovica+ Roberto Palomba pair with Caementum tables by Marco Merendi and Diego Vencato and the Shape Up pendant fixture by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio.

December 5, 2022

Words: Jane Margolies

Photography: Chris Goldstraw

Roar Breaks the Mold With the Design of This Government Office in Abu Dhabi

2022 Best of Year Winner for Government/Institutional

A huge custom ottoman in the shape of a teddy bear stretched out on its back is not the sort of thing often found in the office of a government agency. Nor is a fluffy armchair the color of a pink flamingo standard bureaucratic furniture. But when the innovative Dubai-based interiors and architecture studio Roar was commissioned for the Abu Dhabi office of the Supreme Council for Motherhood & Childhood—an agency that sets policy in matters concerning the welfare of women and children in the U.A.E.—there was no question that the firm would put its own spin on the workplace. After all, founder and creative director Pallavi Dean and her team’s portfolio spans a pop-up bakery, a state-of-the-art rental deposit-box facility, hotels, and spas. This project takes cues from residential design and is undeniably stylish, colorful, comfortable, and, above all, fun. “In many ways it’s a community space for moms,” Dean says, herself the mother of two. “It’s kind of like our home.”

This is not the first time an arm of the Emirates government has turned to Dean: Roar recently completed the Office of the Early Childhood Authority (which took home a 2021 Interior Design Best of Year Award), also in Abu Dhabi. Yet that project was a modest 1,800 square feet. The Supreme Council encompasses nearly 38,000 square feet across three floors.

It wasn’t only the size of the space that was challenging, however. The project, which includes a reception area, an auditorium, and a nursery, library, and playroom for the children of staff and visitors on the ground level, and executive offices, a training room, and a boardroom on the upper floors, would not occupy one of the jazzy new towers for which this city is known—and which often provide design firms with a blank slate, along with impressive views—but rather an existing building tucked in a residential neighborhood. The long floor plates had elevator banks on both ends. Dean didn’t want the staff to feel like they were endlessly trudging down long corridors, so the Roar team threw some curves into the layout: a screen of vertical wooden slats, for instance, swoops around a space that’s perfect for impromptu confabs or pre-meeting prep; elsewhere, a lounge spreads out beneath a curvaceous ceiling cutout.

For all the spatial ingenuity, the concept is very much rooted in tradition, incorporating familiar “touchpoints,” as Dean puts it. Reception evokes a traditional Emirati outdoor courtyard, with its ombre green–painted walls and contemporary renditions of the breezeblock patterns used in local homes. Its sculpted arches for the doorway and seating niches evoke vernacular architecture. Arches reappear in other parts of the office, too.

the reception area of the Abu Dhabi office features seating options and a white coffee table
In reception, Lee Broom’s Hanging Hoop chair joins the Hortensia armchair by Andrés Reisinger and Júlia Esqué, which stands on flooring of Volakas marble, the same stone used for the custom desk.

In the training room, they’re printed on fabric wallcovering in dusty shades of pink, blue, and beige. For the ex­ecutive suite, they’re in the form of a brushed brass partition system, and throughout the workplace they’re incorporated in the built-in cabinetry.

Roar Prioritizes Comfort With Soft Colors and Furnishings 

That curviness extends to the freestanding furniture, which Dean describes as “feminine,” in tune with the Supreme Council of Motherhood & Childhood’s focus on women. But feminine doesn’t mean dainty here. “The furniture has a lot of rounded, rotund forms. That’s intentional,” she says. “A lot of it feels like a hug, like it’s cocooning you.” The aforementioned flamingo-reminiscent armchair, called Hortensia, by Andrés Reisinger and Júlia Esqué, is a prime example.

a reception area with green ombre walls and various arch built ins in Abu Dhabi
In reception of the Supreme Council for Motherhood & Childhood, a government-agency office project by Roar in Abu Dhabi, U.A.E., a womblike concept is introduced via the rounded ash-framed Kav armchair by Alp Nuhoglu and Morph loveseat by Tanju Özelgin, while the breezeblock screens and arches evoke vernacular architecture.

The material palette furthers that sense of comfort. Greek white marble in reception is softly striated. Carpets and rugs in rhythmic patterns are plush underfoot. Natural oak, ash, and maple are used extensively—on floors as well as in the custom furniture and pieces by the likes of Alp Nuhogˇlu. “When you think of luxury interiors, you think of wenge and dark wood. We were steering clear of that,” Dean explains.

The Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Motherhood & Childhood, Her Excellency Rym Abdulla Al Falasy, was
involved in shaping the color scheme and other aspects. And not just for her own domain, which is slightly more formal in feeling, as befits a place where she might greet high-level officials from her own country as well as delegates from other nations. Here, for instance, one finds paneled walls and an alcove with a raised platform.

An Inclusive Space in Abu Dhabi for Parents and Children Alike

But the design pays just as much attention to those who are too young to express their aesthetic preferences. In the children’s restroom, which has a marine-life theme, walls are enlivened with blue-and-white mosaic tile, metal-mesh sea creatures hang from the ceiling, and pendant globes are encased in the same jute netting that fishermen use. In the children’s library, under concentric ceiling circles, a climbable circular enclosure corrals beanbags and a bench resembling one of those balloon dachshunds brought home from kids’ birthday parties. Then there’s that big teddy bear. It rests on an oak base, under a ceiling with a traditional sadu composition of woven palm leaves. Its paws are upholstered in traditional Emirati weaving done by Bedouin women in rural parts of the country.

a long table in front of colorful acoustical fabric
In the training room, a long table by Jonathan Prestwich and GamFratesi chairs are backdropped by a sliding partition covered with acoustical fabric printed with custom graphics.
Vertical oak slats partition off a corridor’s work area
Vertical oak slats partition off a corridor’s work area.
a colorful climbing wall for children in the Abu Dhabi office
Amid a climbing wall, padded flooring, and foam mounds, standing swings hang from the ceiling of the playroom for children of staff and visitors.
a room with geometric patterned carpet with blue accent chairs
Oak-veneered paneling and custom carpet appoint the mezzanine overlooking the auditorium.
a lounge area with brown sofa and green accent chairs creates an inviting space for guests in the Abu Dhabi office
Patricia Urquiola’s Rift sofa faces Baixa chairs by Busk+Hertzog in the lounge, where the custom LED fixture overhead follows the feminine form of the ceiling cutout.
a sitting area with gray seating and green accent walls to the left and right
In the office of Her Excellency Rym Abdulla Al Falasy, Levitt chairs by Ludovica+ Roberto Palomba pair with Caementum tables by Marco Merendi and Diego Vencato and the Shape Up pendant fixture by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio.
a glass-enclosed office flanked by green lounge seating
A glass-enclosed office allows the executive assistant to monitor the arrival of visitors; the base of PerezOchando’s Idra side table in the waiting area has a similar transparency.
a partition system made of glass and brushed bronze
In another part of Her Excellency’s office, a custom partition system of glass and brushed brass archways surrounds Francesc Rifé’s Ant Lite coffee table and a custom rug in wool and polyester.
a bathroom with blue and white mosaic tile walls
The sea-themed children’s restroom features mosaic wall tile, Mattias Ståhlbom’s Fisherman pendant fixtures, and a stainless-steel sink installed at kid-height.
a nursery with a custom teddy bear ottoman
The nursery’s custom teddy-bear ottoman is 5 feet long and upholstered in a commercial fabric, except for its two “paws,” which are covered in a traditional Emirati weaving by Bedouin women.
different shades of oak flooring between rooms in a nursery
Different shades of oak flooring flow through the nursery’s nap room and foyer, where there’s a bench by Yilmaz Zenger.
a children's library with an oak round with a bench shaped like a dog
In the children’s library, an oak-veneered climbable, custom round contains a beanbag and dog-shape Attackle bench, both by Fatboy.
a lightbulb tilted to the left on an orange and purple background

See Interior Design’s Best of Year Winners and Honorees

Explore must-see projects and products that took home high honors.

2022 WINNERS
PROJECT TEAM
Roar: tamara taamneh; anna de florian; ana carreras; nadeem asharaf
summertown interiors: woodwork
PRODUCT SOURCES
FROM FRONT
b&t design: wood-frame chair, loveseat, round coffee table (reception), tan chairs (training room), loveseats (waiting area), bench (nap room)
karman: pendant fixtures (reception)
bestuhl: task chair
arper: stools, high tables (hall)
inclass spain: round table, pink chairs (training room), task chairs (library)
la chance: stool (training room)
estiluz: pendant fixture
pedrali: tables (training room, office), lounge chairs (library)
Lee Broom: hanging chair (reception)
Moooi: furry armchair
moroso: sofa (lounge)
viccarbe: chairs (lounge, office), tables (mezzanine)
softline: green chairs (lounge), chairs (mezzanine), tan chairs (office)
carpet crafts: custom carpet (mezzanine)
Roll & Hill: pendant fixture (office)
kendo mobiliario: tables (waiting area, office)
flos: pendant fixture (nursery)
Carnegie Fabrics: bear fabric
fatboy: bench, beanbag (library)
sensi: tile (restroom)
zero: pendant fixtures
THROUGHOUT
ege: custom carpet, custom rugs

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