Blurring the boundaries

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Kolkata Airport.

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Huawei Research and Development Centre.

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Detail Al Ain.

It was this blurring of boundaries that attracted Chatterjee to landscape architecture as a profession, he adds. "I'm interested also in art and fashion design and I thought landscape gave a huge opportunity to integrate those together as part of the design process. It's about different ideas all coming together."

Strata was set up by RMJM approximately four years ago, and has been growing as a division ever since. Work that the company is currently doing in the region includes the masterplan of Al Ain, while internationally the firm is working on projects in China, India, Vietnam and the Philippines. Its international project portfolio includes the Beijing Olympic Green Convention Centre, and winning the masterplan for the Huawei Research and Development Centre in Nanjing, China.

The Dubai office is the first branching out of the Strata brand beyond Hong Kong, and a major step for the landscape service division of RMJM.

Chatterjee says the time is right for such growth. "I think there is a huge opportunity here," he comments.

Having the backing of such an established architectural firm has undoubtedly helped Strata's entry into the region. RMJM is well known for its architectural work in the GCC and has a number of high profile projects to its name including the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre in the capital, and Dubai Towers, Doha in Qatar.

Nonetheless, the arrival of the global financial crisis in the gulf inevitably makes it more difficult for a firm, however well backed it may be, that is a relative newcomer to the region.

Chatterjee says that to date the firm's plans for Strata have not been affected even though RMJM is rumoured to have cut a number of staff from its regional design division. "There is no change for the plan for Strata but we will see what happens," he says.

He is optimistic, he adds, about the region's ability to withstand the current economic storm. "I am very optimistic about this region," he says. "This region developed because of a lot of visionary people who took this whole thing forward. I think it's temporary, it's always ups and downs and I think the Middle East is resilient."

As for future plans for Strata, Chatterjee says the US is likely to be the next point of entry. "RJMJM has a very big presence in the US. I think there is a huge opportunity for us to interact further with colleagues there," he comments.

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