Oman will soon be home to the world’s largest botanical garden.

 Oman will soon be home to the world’s largest botanical garden.

Located 35 kilometres from the capital, Muscat, the Oman Botanic Garden will cover more than 1,000 acres and will feature eight of the varied habitats found in the country, with all of the plants and animals featured in the gardens sourced locally. The garden will showcase the wide variety in Oman’s biodiversity.


Three companies have been drafted in to build the Oman Botanic Garden, in collaboration with the Diwan of Royal Court, which has spearheaded this initiative. British architecture and design firms Arup, Grimshaw and Haley Sharpe Design (HSD) jointly delivered the engineering, landscaping, architecture and interpretive designs of the garden.
 

Located in the foothills of Oman’s famed Hajar Mountains, the site was chosen because of its natural rock formations, ridges and ravines. It is also one of the few unspoiled locations in the world, where people can see the ancient sea bed, before tectonic activity raised it 100 metres above the sea level. Eight different habitats have been set up inside the garden, with two biomes set up for the more sensitive environments.

A curved structure, designed to let in plenty of light, houses the northern biome, which features the flora and fauna of the northern mountains of Oman, while a circular dome features the southern biome and contains the unique biodiversity found in the Dhofar region. A regulated atmosphere within these biomes mimics the environment found in these regions.

Astonishing project

“The Oman Botanic Garden is an astonishing project with many layers of interwoven cultural and environmental significance,” said Keith Brewis, partner in Grimshaw. “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 its core design driver.”

The three architecture firms specialise in designing buildings that coexist with the environment, and in keeping with this, have ensured that the buildings are sustainable and designed to meet the highest global standard of sustainability, LEED Platinum. In addition to these, with water being a scarce resource in this region, the water used for irrigation and aesthetic features are sourced locally and recycled to ensure not a drop is wasted.

“At Arup, we have enjoyed the many unique challenges presented by the Oman Botanic Garden, from designing natural and authentic landscapes to recreating the cool mists of the Khareef,” affirmed Ed Clarke, associate director of Arup.

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