SAFA British School leads the way in Dubai

John R Harris Partnership (JRHP), located in Dubai, designed and completed the new 20,000 sqm foundation and primary school campus for 1500 children in the Al Safa 2 area of Dubai for the SAFA British School. The two informally planned schools are designed to enclose a large central landscaped courtyard featuring the Safa river and a fully landscaped perimeter to provide privacy and to enclose the site.

The Safa British School, Dubai, established in 2004 is located within a short distance of Safa Park and offers an enriched British curriculum to children from Foundation Stage to Secondary education levels. Completed for a budget of AED 65m in 2020, it has over 50 nationalities and cultures within its global family.  SchoolsCompared.com quoted upon its opening in 2020 that, ‘’Today, in our view, Safa British School qualifies as the most architecturally beautiful school in the UAE’’.

JRHP provided architecture, interior design, Architect of Record and site supervision services to create two 3-storey buildings each containing 16 classrooms and amenity spaces per floor, and a separate administration block surmounted by an auditorium. The design uses timber and sloping roofs incorporating themes of biophilia and biomimicry that align with the school’s philosophy of experience-based learning.

The Safa School was the last building designed by the late Frank Nowacki, a co-founder of JRHP, established in Dubai in 1970 to complete the iconic World Trade Tower building.