Hands on Flora
A year-long pro bono research project on all native plants and trees in the UAE
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Simone van de Wiel
Senior Planting Designer, Landscape Architect
Location
UAE
Year
2017 — 2019
Role
Researcher and author
Challenges
Hands on Flora is a handbook for native plants in the UAE written by SLA’s planting specialists, biologists, and anthropologists through extensive fieldwork and desktop research.
The handbook is the result of SLA’s year-long internal research project, which mapped and categorized all the different plant- and tree species that grow naturally in the UAE.
For each species, SLA’s experts gathered data and information about size, shape, growth rate, flowering, life form, and irrigation guidelines as well as their aesthetic and cultural meaning and importance.
“Our Hands on Flora is the foundational document for our work in the UAE. With this handbook we can create projects and planting designs that truly celebrate and promote the unique nature and culture of the UAE.”
— Rasmus Astrup, Design Principal & Senior Partner
Hands-on Flora is our foundational document for working in the UAE.
The book provides us with deep knowledge and a clear overview of all the UAE’s native plants and species, allowing us to create projects and planting designs that radically lower water usage and irrigation needs, strengthen biodiversity, and improve the local microclimate
And thus to celebrate and promote the unique nature and culture of the UAE.
