Xeritown

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Masterplan of Xeritown. (X-Architects)

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Sustainable features in detail. (X-Architects)

Ali estimates there would be a 30% reduction in water consumption through use of native plants.

The key to X-Architect's sustainable approach is creating a city that works in harmony with its natural environment, explains Ali.

"We are not trying to build this Arabic city that is only ours to live in because that is impossible nowadays, but rather to take something that works for everybody but [that is] also built within this region, for this region in terms of its environment and challenging factors," he says.

In a briefing on the project, the company states its case more plainly.

"Instead of considering the site as a tabula resa, Xeritown takes the desert and local climate as a context within which the urban form emerges by working with the natural environment instead of against it," it says.

Comparisons between Dubai's Xeritown and the more famous Masdar City sustainable masterplan in Abu Dhabi are inevitable. But Ali says that creating Xeritown wasn't simply a case of following in Sir Foster's footsteps.

"Actually, this [came] before Masdar. We have been working for two and a half years on it," he notes.

What makes the Xeritown project unique, according to Ali, is its passive approach to sustainability.

"I don't think there is a specific technology that has been used but it is rather the overall outcome of the strategy that has become unique," he comments.

One of the traditional obstacles to the incorporation of more sustainable solutions in design is the perceived higher cost which can deter clients from investing.

But while sustainability can carry a higher price tag - Ali estimates there would be an increase in cost at the outset to realise Xeritown - the firm points out that long term cost and energy savings would more than compensate for the initial outlay.

And despite the current rocky economic climate, Ali is upbeat that now is the right time to push sustainability. Asked if he thinks the economic crisis could slow the advance of the sustainability drive in the UAE, Ali replies that he believes the opposite will prove to be the case.

"I think it will reinforce it," he says. "There is now more need for it than before. Before we had the luxury, we had the money, why did we need sustainability but now sustainability will cut costs at the end of the day."

"Although we designed Xeritown two and a half years before the crisis, I think this is a perfect time for this to happen," he adds.

"Technology of sustainability is expensive and trying to create a sustainable city by using the maximum technological possibilities would [create] a lot of difficulties but now we are giving an example for day-to-day architecture rather than something that is exclusive."

Scheduled for completion by 2012, whether Xeritown will actually come to fruition remains to be seen - the project is currently in the final approval stage with authorities.

But one thing that is certain, says Ali, is that the realisation of projects like Xeritown will help in paving the way for similar projects in the future and generating a greater regional commitment to sustainability.

"Every project that happens will help because you can go there and experience it," he comments.

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