NCI Interiors designed and executed the interior of the main entrance lobby at Jumeira University. The space is a double-height arrival hall in travertine, marble and warm timber, designed to work as the university’s public face and as a place where students and visitors actually sit down.
The brief
A university lobby has to do several jobs at once. It is the first impression for prospective students and their families, it is a waiting and meeting space during term, it handles reception and wayfinding, and it hosts events. It also has to look institutional without looking municipal.
The brief was for an arrival hall that read as premium and distinctly Emirati, held up to heavy daily footfall, and gave the university a space it could photograph and use for open days.
The design
The volume
The lobby is double height, with a mezzanine edge overlooking the floor. Rather than fight that height, the design uses it: full-height timber wall panelling runs floor to soffit, broken by tall arched niches infilled with book-matched marble, so the wall reads as a rhythm of solid and light rather than as one flat plane. The university’s bilingual signage sits on the mezzanine fascia, at the height you naturally look when you walk in.
The centre
A circular upholstered banquette wraps a planted island with a mature tree at the centre of the floor, set on a contrasting dark stone inlay in the travertine. It solves three problems in one move — it gives the room a centre, it provides informal seating that does not need to be booked, and it stops the floor plate reading as empty when the building is quiet.
Reception and lounge
A curved solid-surface reception counter in white marble sits to one side under a backlit signature wall. Lounge clusters of curved tub chairs and low tables are arranged along both edges, keeping the central circulation route clear. A large media screen is set into the timber wall for campus content and event use.
Materials
- Large-format travertine-effect porcelain flooring with a dark stone feature inlay
- Book-matched marble to arched niches and the reception counter
- Warm timber veneer wall panelling, full height
- Brushed metal trims and concealed linear lighting to panel joints
- Sculptural suspended decorative lighting to the double-height void
- Upholstered curved seating in neutral and sage tones
Design and execution under one contract
NCI Interiors carried this project through design and execution. On a live campus that matters more than it does on a private project: the work has to be sequenced around the academic calendar, materials have to be ordered against a fixed handover date, and the finishes have to survive footfall that a residential lobby never sees. Running design and build under one team removes the gap where a design intent gets value-engineered into something else.
Scope
- Concept and detailed interior design for the main lobby
- 3D visualisation
- Joinery and stone shop drawings
- Lighting design
- Furniture specification and procurement
- Fit-out execution and site supervision
- Authority and landlord approvals
Institutional and commercial interiors in Dubai
Universities, offices, clinics and hotel lobbies share the same underlying problem: high traffic, a fixed handover date, and a client who has to keep operating during the works. That is the work NCI Interiors has been doing across the UAE for over 25 years, through interior design, turnkey fit out and project management.
Get in touch
To discuss a campus, office or lobby project, call +971 50 564 2209 or send us a brief. More work is on the projects page.