Insights
Notes from
the drawing
board.
Approvals, climate, detailing and the practical business of getting a building designed and built. Written by the architects, designers and engineers doing the work — not by a content desk.
NOTES
Written by
The studio
Subjects
Five
Published from
Abu Dhabi & Cortina
Frequency
When we have something
Subjects
Five things
worth writing down.
Every article belongs to one of these. If a subject is not on this list, it probably belongs on someone else’s blog.
01
Authority approvals
DMT, ADDC, Estidama and Civil Defence, written from the submission desk rather than from a summary — what gets rejected, why, and what a clean set looks like.
02
Designing for climate
Orientation, shading, thermal mass and glazing in a Gulf summer, and what an alpine practice learned about envelopes before it ever arrived here.
03
Villa & majlis planning
Privacy sequences, guest and family separation, and the plan decisions that quietly decide whether a home works for the next twenty years.
04
Fit-out & detailing
Joinery, junctions, tolerances and material choices — the small decisions that either survive daily use or start failing in month six.
05
Working with a consultant
Fees, stages, programmes and what a single multidisciplinary appointment actually changes about how a project runs.
Latest
Articles.
Newest first. Older pieces stay published — approvals guidance does not expire the way a trend piece does.
Key Things to Consider Before Designing a Private Villa
Khushbu Darji
July 21, 2026
Designing a private villa is a major investment, so careful planning is important before the design process begins.
Why Architecture and Interior Design Should Be Planned Together
Khushbu Darji
July 21, 2026
Architecture and interior design are often treated as separate stages, but the best results come when both are
How Good Architecture Improves Everyday Living
Khushbu Darji
July 21, 2026
Architecture is not only about how a building looks. Good architecture improves comfort, movement, natural light, privacy and
Editorial standard
Why a practice
publishes at all.
Not for search traffic. Because the questions in our inbox repeat, and a written answer is more useful than a fourth phone call.
01
Written by the people who drew it
Nothing here is outsourced to a content agency. If an article describes a junction, someone in this studio detailed that junction.
02
Specific, not inspirational
A named authority, a real constraint, an actual dimension. If we cannot be specific about something, we do not publish it.
03
Useful before it is promotional
The test for every article is whether a reader could act on it without hiring us.
Who reads this
Written for four
kinds of reader.
If you recognise yourself here, the articles will be worth your time.
Private clients
Planning a villa or a majlis and trying to work out what the process actually involves before committing to it.
Developers
Weighing consultant structures, approval risk and programme against a fixed handover date.
International design teams
Entering the UAE and needing to understand what an Architect of Record appointment covers.
Fellow practitioners
Comparing notes on codes, details and how a drawing set survives contact with a site.
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Beyond the reading
Have a project,
not just a question?
Send us the site, the brief and the programme. We will come back with the services you need, a stage programme and a fee — usually within two working days.
P+A