Houses are extended or altered as the family unit expands and with the simultaneous slow-moving changes in habits, in a constant quest for a permanent solution. All that is permanent is the founding action marking out the lines of the boundary wall, tracing the confines of the private sphere and the external appearance of a totally inward-looking home.

By shifting the focus from the fast growing and progressively consolidated urban environment – the scene of the most striking changes, with Abu Dhabi and Dubai to the fore – towards a greater attention on quality of life and the impact of changes to the social unit on the built environment, we can see the other face of a fast-developing area and a nation and population with a strong identity, subject to major change and strain, and the true nature of a living concept that reflects the lifestyle and identity of the United Arab Emirates.