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19 March 2024

Oman to host world's largest botanic garden

Published
By Staff

The breathtaking Oman Botanic Garden will be revealed to the world today, with an area of 420 hectares making it the largest ecological oasis in the world.

The project that Arup, Grimshaw and Haley Sharpe Design (hsd) have collaboratively delivered the engineering, landscaping, architecture and interpretative designs, is located 35 kilometers from Muscat, in the in the foothills of the Al Hajar Mountains, with the site chosen is considered one of only a few locations in the world where the ancient sea bed is still visible after tectonic activity elevated the bed to 100 metres above sea level.

Visitors will experience the entire flora of the Sultanate of Oman in just a few hours. The eight defined habitats of the country are sensitively arranged at the centre of the site, gracefully bounded by Jebel Sufra and the Qurn Mubarak. Visitors will travel around the wadis, mountains and deserts of Oman within an immersive landscaped setting displaying only native species.

Two of the more sensitive habitats are enclosed within separate biomes to mimic the natural temperature and humidity of the unique external environments. The Northern Biome is a sinuous glass enclosure which re-creates the varied habitats of the Northern Mountains, including their ancient terraces. The Southern Biome and its shimmering undulating glass form will enclose the rich and varied habitats found in the Dhofar region, where visitors will be immersed in a moist and green forest ‘Khareef’ setting.

Oman Botanic Garden delicately balances the diverse plant environments with visitor comfort, creating a design that uses passive and active shading, optimises natural daylight, cooling and efficient plant irrigation. Building form, shape and materials have been considered and selected in response to atmospheric conditions and the natural topography. Orientation of the sunlight, weather patterns and human behaviour have informed the design of visitor flow through the site.

Grimshaw Partner, Keith Brewis said: “The Oman Botanic Garden is an astonishing project with many layers of interwoven cultural and environmental significance. Its scale and diversity is truly world-leading, and we are honoured to work as the architects for a project that has the conservation of bio-diversity as a core design driver.”