Highway petrol stations are located outside the main cities in the UAE. Connecting these remote petrol stations to power plants requires trenching for poles or underground cables as well as countless hours of work. The integration of PV solar panels and smart materials such as chromogenic glazing into the design and structure reduces the cost and the environmental impact. Even though solar energy is one of the cheapest sources of energy worldwide, it is challenging to achieve a design that reflects the identity of the city. Modern technology makes it difficult for designers and architects to balance themes such as sustainability, formation, and identity. The goal of the research is to explore the potential of using smart technologies to improve performance and to demonstrate, simultaneously, the most suitable design for optimizing energy for highway petrol stations in the UAE. As an example, the national Ghaf tree of the UAE is a cultural and historical symbol of stability and peace that can withstand harsh environment. This study introduces a reference design for the petrol station. A three-dimensional model using Autodesk Revit and an energy model using the Autodesk Insight program is built for the reference case. Several designs for the petrol station with different surface areas, shape, orientation, and window-towall ratio are studied to optimize the energy consumption. Variables such as the location of the oasis, its area, and its services will remain constant. The study concludes that the dynamic characteristics of smart glazing materials can combine not only one objective sustainable design quality, but more than one, including energy efficiency requirements to harmoniously integrate with the surrounding environment

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

The site of Al Ain Civic Centre consists of major vacant lands and scattered development. This site is facing many issues such as car dependency, disconnectivity, low-density development, poor quality of life, and lost identity. Even though Al Ain city is well known for its green and open spaces, yet still such spaces cannot serve this site efficiently. This is because of the poor connectivity among open spaces and oases in Al Ain. One of the suggestions is to provide major connectivity plans and functional open spaces to solve such a situation and revitalize the area as a requirement made by Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council. This is achieved through the demonstration of green fingers in a way that collects/integrates the site as a whole with the surroundings. As a result, introducing green fingers is part of planned solutions as well as a requirement by the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council. Another issue is the major breakage that is represented by Al Slimi wadi. This wadi is known for its transverse site as well as its disconnected pedestrian walkways. Hence, connecting the two areas by a pedestrian bridge is one of the solutions presented in this research. More importantly, the site is considered to handle a neighborhood development with a challenge that aims to preserve, maintain, and protect the traditional Emirati housing. This kind of housing was demonstrated in Fareej form with all its required elements such as courtyard houses, Sikkas, barahas, and maidan. The project turned out to represent a master-planned community. The site claims to work as a zero-car neighborhood, with allocated accesses that lead to a parking space and a golf cart rental station. In conclusion, this neighborhood site plan/the design of this neighborhood can provide an efficiently designed urban plan that is highly walkable, friendly, accessible, and simultaneously protects the environment for its users. The concepts of connectivity and proximity are applied successfully while maintaining the heritage side and Identity of Al Ain.