How UAE Creatives Find and Fit Out a Studio or Gallery Space
A studio or gallery lease in the UAE only works if the space can be fitted out for the way you make and show work, and that depends on who designs it and who signs it off. Antonovich Group, an architecture and interior design company in dubai with its own showroom, has delivered over 500 projects across 20 years of practice, holds ISO 9001 certification and runs architecture, interiors, landscape and fit-out as one team. That joined-up approach is the reason a fit-out brief is worth writing before you sign a lease, not after.
Key figures
Start with the unit, then the designer, then the approval route. This guide takes them in that order, and points to the pages on this site that help with each step.
- Choose a designer before you commit to a unit, and walk the unit with them.
- Ask the landlord which municipality covers the building and who handles the completion certificate.
- Write the brief first, using a staged framework, and send the same document to every designer you approach.
- Compare designers on portfolio and licence, not on listings alone.
Who can design your studio or gallery?
The Overture Maps Foundation lists 246 architectural designers in the UAE, 158 of them in Dubai, and 863 interior design businesses nationwide. The choice is wide, so the useful question is which of them have fitted out a comparable room.
A photography studio needs blackout and floor loading, a gallery needs wall length and lighting, and a print workshop needs ventilation and power. Ask each practice for finished examples of the type you need, and visit one of them if you can, because a built room tells you more than a rendering does.
Shortlist three or four practices, ask each for finished projects of the same type, and check each firm's licence directly. If the work is more than a layout change, you will want an architect as well as an interior designer, so ask who coordinates the two.
Which authority signs off the finished space?
The UAE government portal states that municipalities in the respective emirates issue the building completion certificate once a building is completed under the relevant laws, regulations and procedures, and it lists a separate municipal route for Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain.
In practice that means the route depends on the emirate your unit is in. Before signing, ask the landlord which municipality applies and who holds the responsibility for the completion certificate, the landlord or you. Put the answer in writing with the lease, and share it with the designer so the drawings follow the right municipal procedure from the start. While the space search is under way, keep an eye on current opportunities for UAE creatives, and look through the profiled creative spaces in the UAE to see what existing studios and workshops offer.
How do you brief an architect for a fit-out?
The RIBA Plan of Work organises the process of briefing, designing, constructing and operating building projects into eight stages. You do not need to learn every stage to benefit: use the structure to settle the brief first, before drawings begin.
A workable brief for a studio or gallery states what the practice makes in the space, how many people work in it, what equipment it needs, what the public sees and which services it relies on, such as ceiling height, electrical load and acoustic separation.
Brief checklist for a studio or gallery fit-out
Our creative project brief worksheet gives a starting format, and the creative project budget guide helps you decide what the fit-out should cost you before you ask for proposals.
- Use | What to state: What the practice makes or shows in the space
- People | What to state: How many work in it and how many visit
- Equipment | What to state: Machines, lighting rigs, storage and display needs
- Services | What to state: Ceiling height, electrical load, ventilation and acoustic separation
- Approvals | What to state: Which municipality applies and who holds the completion certificate
Who else belongs on the project team?
A fit-out is rarely only construction. The opening exhibition, the website and the signage need other people. Read the guide on choosing a production partner for creative work before you commission any of them.
Fix the order of work in writing: lease terms and approvals first, design second, outside services last. A studio that opens with its approvals in place and its brief signed by everyone involved spends its first months making work instead of correcting the room.